The work reported here grew out of an on-going investigation of the essential competencies required by teachers working in special schools in Hong Kong (Westwood & Wong, 2003). The earlier study explored the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that teachers in special schools are required to apply in their daily work with students with disabilities. This brief report addresses a slightly different question — namely, the areas of knowledge and skill in which teachers feel they require additional training and development. A total of 76 teachers in special schools responded to an open-ended request for information on this matter. Results indicate that teachers mainly require additional practical advice on teaching strategies, managing the behaviour of students with disabilities, and adapting curriculum to meet the students' needs. The teachers aslo perceived a need for additional information and skills in collaborative teamwork, and in acquiring an understanding of various therapeutic approaches deemed useful in special schools. The paper links the results of the survey with recent and proposed changes within the education system in Hong Kong.
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This small-scale exploratory study investigated Hong Kong primary teachers’ perceptions of bullying in school, and the difficulties they meet when implementing interventions to prevent or reduce bullying. Five primary school teachers from government-aided schools, private schools,and Direct Subsidy Scheme schools in Hong Kong were interviewed. The findings suggest that they are aware of various approaches to controlling bullying, and some use a mixed approach. A few of them use proactive approaches on the basis that ‘prevention is always better than an attempted cure’. Others tend to use reactive approaches that only respond to incidents of bullying when they occur. Most teachers mentioned that whole-school interventions had been implemented in their place of work,yet these interventions were different among different schools. The difficulties teachers had in tackling bullying effectively included time constraints, lack of expertise in behavioural management, the need of providing family education, difficulty in arranging a schedule for whole-school intervention, and problems in developing a specific intervention for individual cases. The findings reinforce a view that different parties need to put more effort in helping teachers develop effective bullying interventions. 這小型探索性研究目的是探討香港小學教師對校園欺凌的看法與其介入事件時所面對的困難。研究訪問了五位來自政府津貼學校、私立學校和直接資助學校的小學教師。結果指出,他們意識到處理欺凌事件的不同方法,部分教師會同時採取多種方法去處理。就大方向而言,有部分教師相信「預防勝於治療」,他們會採取積極的行動去管制校園欺凌;其他教師會「以不變應萬變」,以較為保守的態度應對。多數教師表示其任教的小學有實行全校性的干預措施,但由於學校的校情不盡相同,所以實行方法也有差別。此外,時間限制、缺乏行為管理專業知識、家長配合、學校支援,及欺凌事件的獨特性,都是教師在有效處理校園欺凌問題所面對的重重難關。總括而言,研究結果肯定了教師在介入欺凌事件方面,需要其他持分者更多的協助。
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In Hong Kong, as in all other countries around the world, children with autism remain perhaps the most challenging individuals to teach and manage in schools and at home. The search continues for effective methods to use when teaching these children and when seeking to improve their communication, self-management and social skills. This paper provides a brief overview of autism spectrum disorders and the difficulties encountered by children with such disorders. The writers review some the approaches available for use with autistic children and report views from a sample of local special education teachers (n=54) concerning the extent to which some of these approaches are used in the special schools of Hong Kong. The teachers' views on positive and negative features of each approach were also investigated.
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In 2000, the Education Commission launched a 10-year campaign that strived reform education by reconfiguring the academic system, including redesigning curriculum aims and assessment mechanism. Intense and frequent changes that resulted transformed the ecology of the education system. Local surveys indicated that most teachers suffered a high level of stress and many of them were nearly burnout. A combined inquiry was used to probe the external and internal influences that education reforms had upon teachers in schools for children with physical disabilities in Hong Kong. On the external influences, historical study and document analysis were employed. As to the internal influences, three methods were utilized. First, a four-section modified questionnaire was distributed to investigate these teachers' (n=92) stressors and gather data regarding their professional development. Second, 11 individual interviews were conducted in order to collect in-depth concerns from the representatives of novices, experienced and administrative teachers. Third, a focus group discussion with six experienced teachers was held to collect further data. Results of data analysis were discussed in order to provide recommendations to various stakeholders in supporting teachers along different stages of their career paths. 在2000年，教育統籌委員會啟動長達十年的教育改革，不但重新規劃香港學制，也重整課程目標及評估機制。自此，轉變密集而頻繁，改造了整個教育系統的生態，而本地多項調查顯示大部分教師承受着高度的工作壓力，有許多更近乎耗盡。本文採用綜合方法，深入調查教育改革對肢體傷殘學校教師所帶來的外在及內部影響。就其外在影響，作者運用歷史研究法及文件分析法調查；至於內部影響，則透過問卷調查、個別面談、焦點小組三種方法搜集資料。經過分析資料及討論觀點後，作者向教育官員、學校領導、特校教師提出建議，望後者在不同階段的教學生涯中獲得支援。
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Mathematical disagreements occur when students challenge each other’s ideas related to a mathematical concept. In this research, we examined Hong Kong and U.S. elementary teachers’ perceptions of mathematical disagreements and their resolutions using a video-stimulated survey. Participants were directed to give particular attention to the mathematics embedded within the disagreement and approaches for resolving the disagreement. Results revealed incomplete knowledge structures for the SELECTed mathematical topic for both Hong Kong and U.S. participants. Differences existed between the two groups regarding the resolution of the disagreement, as Hong Kong participants focused on the content within the resolution process while U.S. participants focused on the form of the resolution process. Both groups found value in mathematical disagreements but for different reasons. Hong Kong participants indicated that the mathematical disagreements supported them in identifying students’ misunderstandings. In contrast, U.S. participants reported that mathematical disagreements helped to identify areas in which students lacked prerequisite knowledge. Implications for future work are provided. Copyright © 2016 International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology.

This study aims to understand teacher emotions through interviewing 28 primary teachers in Hong Kong. The study employed content analysis to analyze the data. The results were allocated to three dimensions of teacher emotions—student and learning, teacher and teaching, and the contextual factors. These teachers described 78 emotions of which approximately an equal number were positive and negative. Emotions relating to the student and learning dimension are the most intense, followed by those in the teacher and teaching and contextual factor dimensions. Data also indicated that teachers can hold positive and negative emotions simultaneously (e.g., happy yet pressurized by child's unconditional trust) and can suffer from paradoxical emotions (e.g., regarding education reform). Teachers demonstrated different ways to manage emotions contingent on their demographic background. Given the powerful role that emotions play, recommendations for including teacher emotion education in both initial teacher education and professional development have been proposed accordingly. Copyright © 2018 Education Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

The influx of new immigrant children accentuated the need of immediate attention to the immigrant education. It was necessary for educators to think about modifying our curriculum to make adaptation for newly arrived children and preparing our teachers to meet this challenge. This research was intended to find out about teachers' perception of new immigrant children and their perception of programs offered to these children. None of the teachers have any pre-service and in-service training in teaching newly arrived children. A total of 145 questionnaires from primary schools in five regions were sent and 99 questionnaires were returned. A quantitative approach was used in the data analysis. Most of the respondents agreed that newly arrived children had adaptation problems and tended to regard 'low English proficiency" as the greatest obstacle to newly arrived children. Consequently, about 99% of the respondents thought that newly arrived children needed the service of "English language course". The general impression was that the present adaptation services for newly arrived children were unsatisfactory.
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Integrating students with disabilities in ordinary schools has been a topic of debate in the Iast two decades. Inclusive education, in its broader sense, is still in its infancy in Hong Kong. Educational reforms, such as inclusive schooling, depends on teachers' support in implementing the change. Teachers' attitude towards integration and the changes required in schools and classrooms are crucial to the accomplishment of educational reforms. The purpose of this study was to survey classroom teachers' views toward integrating students with disabilities in Hong Kong. Results indicated that the availability of necessary resources, training of teachers, and the suitability of instruction and services were prime concerns for classroom teachers in providing education for students with disabilities. Recommendations for Hong Kong are proposed on considerations given to the above concerns and on legal mandates in providing education for students with disabilities.
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The purpose of the present study was to explore, from an insider perspective, the work experience of local special school personnel. A qualitative methodological approach was taken and a semi-structured interviewing technique was adopted. An opportunity sample of five Principals, six teachers and three school social workers from six local special schools for students with mild mental handicap participated in this study. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative method and content analysis. The findings seem to suggest that the special school teachers in this study faced the dilemma of having competing roles within the school and that they could function as either caregiver or an educator. The two most pronounced themes that emerged from the data are that the local special school personnel in this study appeared to be isolated in terms of feedback and support and the five Principals were regarded as the only leaders to provide directions for the development of their schools. The results therefore demonstrate the need to develop intra- and inter-school support networks for local special school personnel to become more responsive to the needs of the classroom community. A number of recommendations for improvement in teacher education and in-service training are also discussed.
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Previous studies have suggested that placing students in ability groups for teaching purposes can have negative consequences on the self-esteem and motivation of the students placed in the lowest groups. The study reported here explored this phenomenon in relation to students in a Band 4-5 secondary school in Hong Kong. A self-report questionnaire, with items covering classroom motivation and attitude, was used to elicit responses from 212 students in the first and second year. The students were from three different ability groups, ranging from high ability (relative to a Band 4-5 school) to low ability. Results indicated significant differences between the mean scores for students in the highest and lowest ability groups in seven out of twenty items in the questioonaire. In general the findings indicate a less optimistic attitude and a reduced level of motivation in students from the lowest group. Research evidence has also suggested that ability grouping can have a negative impact on teachers' motivation and expectancy in relation to the lowest-ability groups. This study explored the expectancies, beliefs and attitudes of 25 teachers who work with the students identified above. It was found that the teachers typically held more negative views of low-ability classes. The article includes discussion of the implications of these findings in terms of modifying teachers' attitudes and improving the learning opportunities for low-ability secondary students.
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