Study on Challenges, Effective Policies, and Best Practicesof Ordinary Schools in Educating Students with Special
Educational Needs in Hong Kong
Equal Opportunities Commission

In 1994, the unesco Salamanca Statement was announced at the World
Conference on Special Needs Education held in Spain by the unesco.
It was the first United Nations document addressing special educational
needs (sen) and inclusive education. The statement emphasized the importance of recognizing the right to education for all children, including thosewith sen, and advocated against limiting educational opportunities forchildren (unesco, 1994). The statement called for the inclusion of inclusive education in the discussions on education and urged society toaddress the needs of students with sen to ensure that their learning opportunities are not compromised by their needs. In response to the principles
outlined in the Salamanca Statement, Hong Kong initiated a pioneeringresearch in inclusive education.
Another significant legislation that accelerated the promotion of inclusive education (IE) in Hong Kong was the Disability Discrimination
Ordinance (ddo) enacted in 1996. The ddo clearly states that educational institutions cannot reject admission applications or deny participation in any activities within the institution based on the disabilities ofstudents, unless the institution can demonstrate unreasonable difficulties
or inability to provide necessary activities or curriculum for students withsen. To fulfill the obligations and responsibilities outlined in the aforementioned documents, the Hong Kong Government began to implement inclusive
teaching in the public education system and launched a pilot programme for
IE in 1997.

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Education in 2021
In 1997, the Hong Kong Government launched a pilot project on IE in sevenprimary schools and two secondary schools. The programme focused on“whole school approach” (wsa) with the goal of “creating an inclusive
school culture” (Education Bureau, 1999). The related documents indicatedthat the pilot project aimed to encourage all stakeholders in the school towork together to promote individual education plans (ieps) and enable
students with sen to receive education within the ordinary school environment through guidance teachers, accommodations to the curriculum
and teaching content, and assistive devices. The end-of-term evaluation
report of the programme after two years showed that the IE programme
performed well, but improvement was needed in areas such as leadershipand teacher training. The report also stated that the interaction mechanism between teachers and parents, as well as the division of responsibilities
among stakeholders in the school, were important for IE. Based on the report, the programme was expanded to twenty primary and secondary schools
in the 1999/2000 academic year and increased to forty in the 2000/01 academic year with the support of school management, teachers, students withsen, and parents.
At the same time, the Equal Opportunities Commission (eoc) published the “Code of Practice” in 2001, attempting to clarify the legal responsibilities of educational institutions under the ddo, explain how todevelop equal opportunity policies, and provide examples of the roles andresponsibilities of school management and teachers.
Intensive Remedial Teaching Programme in 2001 and Learning Support Grant
in 2003
The Intensive Remedial Teaching Programme (irtp) was launched by
the Hong Kong Government as a follow-up initiative to the Pilot Project on
Integrated Education in 2001, after the latter ended. The irtp was mainly
divided into two parts. It allowed each school to set up additional classes foreight to fifteen eligible students and allowed the school to retain one “enhanced class” teacher and grant. The goal was to provide schools with anopportunity to move away from the traditional class-based teaching modeand use additional resources to allow students with sen to get the help

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they need (Education Bureau, 2019a).Starting from 2003, the Hong Kong
Government suspended the provision of the irtp to primary schools.
Schools that had adopted the irtp could retain the programme, but new
schools or those that had not used the irtp before had to use the Learning
Support Grant (lsg) to hire staff and purchase services (Education Bureau,
2019a). The lsg subsidy level was divided into three levels according to theseverity of students’ sen, with more resources allocated to students withmore severe needs. However, there was a limit on the amount of subsidy foreach school, with a maximum allocation of hkd 1.65 million.
“Operation Guide on the Whole School Approach to Integrated Education” in2008.
In 2008, the Education Bureau (edb) launched the “Operation Guideon the Whole School Approach to Integrated Education” (the Guide) tofurther assist schools in promoting the wsa model. The Guide included
multiple areas of school operation, including school management andorganization, learning and teaching, student support and performance,collaboration with external stakeholders, as well as monitoring and promoting effectiveness (Education Bureau, 2020). The Guide was also updated
and some content was removed according to the Government’s funding
model for special education and IE.
2019 Learning Support Grant Updated Measures
According to an edb document in 2019, the edb believed that the current
system lacked flexibility and failed to provide appropriate adjustments forstudents with sen. As a result, they proposed a reconfiguration of IE,
merging the irtp and lsg into a single funding model. The schools fully
adopt the lsg model. This would enable schools to adopt a more flexible andefficient approach to funding allocation (Legislative Council, 2019).
Support for Students with Special Educational Needs
Three-tier Support Model
According to different edb documents, Hong Kong currently adopts
a three-tier support model, which provides support to students based on
their individual situations (Education Bureau, 2020):

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Tier 1 - Students with mild or short-term learning or adaptationdifficulties will be identified early and their needs will be addressed
through optimized teaching.
Tier 2 - If students continue to experience learning and adaptationdifficulties in classroom learning or daily life, the school will arrange
group training, additional support or counseling for them. Teachers
should allow students to practice the skills and knowledge acquired inTier 2 in regular and Tier 1 support classes.
Tier 3 - If students have persistent and severe learning or adaptation difficulties, the school will plan the students’ individual learning goals through an iep, and repeatedly allow students to apply theknowledge and skills learned in Tier 3 support classes in Tier 1 and 2
support classes (Education Bureau, 2020).
Individualized education system refers to the use of systematic assessments, including questionnaires filled by teachers, scales filled by parents,and observations of relevant education workers, to develop a tailored learning plan for the student. Each student will have corresponding crossdisciplinary professionals to assist in analyzing the data and defining
suitable learning goals for the student (Education Bureau, 2020). In orderto help Tier 3 students apply the skills they have learned in different situations, the iep is not limited to one-on-one counseling, but is a plan that spans
the three-tier support structure, ensuring that students can use the skills
they have learned in regular classes, specially designed support groups, andindividual counselling. At the same time, parents can use the tools developed by professionals at home to practise and train their children indifferent skills. Through individualized intensive and specialized support
and training, the individualized learning system hopes to supplement the
shortcomings of students in Tier 1 and 2, ensuring that students can practise, apply, and master skills in different situations.
The edb stated that the three-tier support model aims to identify students in need early so that teachers do not have to wait for assessment andfunding before providing assistance. Some scholars also agree that such arrangement can address the issues of “Test and Treat” and “Wait-to-Fail” in thepast, thus providing better quality education and practicing IE in Hong Kong
(Lu Xiuxia and Cheng Peiyun, 2009; Education Bureau, 2020). However,there have been cases reflecting loopholes in the three-tier support model,

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including the fact that the model is mainly based on school-based support
and cannot provide individualized assistance to students. Classes that offer
additional training also require a certain number of students to be opened,
and complaints have been made about the lack of transparency in theseclasses. The school may also not proactively report to parents the level of
support their child is receiving, the services they have received, and whether
the grant has been used on their children, raising doubts about whether
the services can effectively improve the learning experience and outcomesof students with sen (Oriental Daily, 2019).
Whole School Approach
According to the Guide, wsa refers to the coordination of school policies, culture, and measures (Education Bureau, 2020), and it has seven major characteristics:
Table 1. Characteristics of Whole School Approach proposed in the “Operation Guide on the Whole
School Approach to Integrated Education”
Characteristics of WSA
Whole School Consensus

All staff of the school acknowledge the responsibility of establishing an inclusive
environment to cater for the needs of all students;

Curriculum Accommodation

The school curriculum can be adjusted or expanded to cater for students’
diverse learning needs;

Accommodations in Teaching

Diversified teaching techniques and assistive equipment to cater for
students’ diverse learning needs;

Peer Support

Learning groups, peer tutoring and circles of friends are strategicallyorganized;

Teacher Collaboration

Teachers work together and support each other, for example, bycollaborative teaching;

Classroom Support

Specialists collaborate with teachers in improving the learning environment,e.g., arrange collaborative teaching for the benefit of all students;

Assessment Accommodation

Assessment methods are adjusted to facilitate students’ demonstration of
their learning outcomes.

The Guide also lists various performance indicators for schools andhow to achieve a culture of inclusion, clearly indicating that the edb hopesthat every member of the school community can be respected and the differences among different members are understood. Through integrated measures, students, whether with or without sen, can receive quality education.
The Guide provides the basis for schools to promote IE, such as what

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measures to take, what documents to compile, and what professional
personnel to hire, so that schools can start with the basics, assign roles toall educators in the school, and enable students with sen to integrate into
ordinary schools.
The edb has also developed various tools to identify students withlearning difficulties, including the “Checklist”, the “Observation Checklist
for Identifying Students with Speech and Language Impairment”, the“Chinese Literacy Assessment”, the “Child Assessment” and other assessment tools. Regarding students transitioning to secondary school, schools
can also obtain “the specialist assessment reports” and the scores of “PreSecondary One Hong Kong Attainment Test” from primary schools for a
detailed understanding.
It can be seen that the edb has already provided a timetable for schools
to identify and assist students with sen, as well as providing multiple tools
to help teachers identify students in need as early as possible. However,this system cannot avoid being questioned by many parties. First, the current
sen assessment procedure is mainly through teachers’ observation before
referral to professionals. If teachers have not received relevant professional
training, some students may be overlooked, or some students’ problems
may be exaggerated, thus delaying their learning. Moreover, becausesome students did not study in Hong Kong in their early years and are often
ignored when they transfer to primary schools in higher grades, students
are only identified when they enter secondary school, reflecting the loopholes in the current system - only identification during the initial stagesof Primary 1 and Form 1, ignoring transfer students or students who enter
higher grades (Hong Kong Economic Journal, May 21, 2018).
Establishment of “Student Support Team” and Special Educational
Needs Coordinator
Members of the “Student Support Team”
As mentioned above, the school will be advised to establish a student
support team, whose main members include the principal and vice-principal, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (senco) and sen support
teachers (sensts), the school-based speech therapist, teaching assistants
responsible for supporting students with sen, subject teachers responsible for related students, curriculum development director, counseling
director, counselors and school social workers. Educational psychologists

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(EPs) or other professionals dispatched by the edb will attend when needed(Education Bureau, 2020).
Home-School Cooperation
An important part of IE is to ensure good cooperation between
schools and parents for accommodating information exchange about thestudent’s situation and developing the most appropriate strategies. To
maintain good operation of home-school cooperation, each school should
establish a continuous communication mechanism. At the beginning of thesemester, teachers will explain the “Three-tier Support Model” to parents,
provide detailed information, and establish contact channels. During the semester, if students are identified as being in Tier 2 or Tier 3, meetings withprofessionals will be arranged as needed, and progress reports, such as reporting student progress on parent day, will be used to report student progress and explain relevant information. At the same time, the school will also
encourage parental involvement, proactively contact parents and express
understanding, care, and sympathy for their performance (Education Bureau,2020). The home-school mediation mechanism will also be an effective
mediation channel when there is any conflicts or disputes between thetwo parties. The school will also follow the consistent personal data privacy
protection system to protect the rights and interests of parents and students.
Home-school cooperation plays an important role in the promotionof IE because communicating with parents helps to ensure that any adjustments to the curriculum, teaching, and assessment can incorporate
parents’ opinions. In addition, parents generally accept IE, believing thatit helps their children to interact with different people and develop goodqualities such as care, tolerance, and responsibility (Hong Kong Institute of
Education Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Education Centre, 2012).
However, insufficient channels for parents to receive information can prevent
students from receiving corresponding services. Even though the edb now
provides schools with different levels of support, establishes a senco, provides subsidy support, and arranges professional services, some schools may
be concerned about their reputation and may not want outsiders to knowthat there are students with special needs in the school, thereby choosing
not to disclose the information (Lu, 2016). This situation was also reflectedin the report of the Audit Commission (2018), which showed that the School
Profiles published by the “Committee on Home-School Co-operation” only

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disclose a small amount of information about supporting special education,
making it difficult for parents to find suitable schools and adding anotherlayer of difficulty to home-school cooperation. In short, the most important
issue with home-school cooperation is actually related to public perception.
Parents and the public lack understanding of special education needs, andeven if their own children may have different learning difficulties or special
needs, parents may refuse to recognize or avoid discussing them, resulting
in students not being diagnosed and intervened in a timely manner.
Current Situation and Data of Integrated Education in Hong Kong
The number of students with sen in Hong Kong has been steadily increasing
in recent years, from around 43,000 students in the 2016/17 academic year
(Figure 1), to nearly 60,000 students in the 2021/22 academic year, of whichapproximately 40 percent are students with specific learning difficulties(sld) and the rest have other types of sen (Legislative Council Secretariat,
2022).
Figure 1. Number of students with SEN in Hong Kong Public Sector Ordinary Schools (Legislative
Council Secretariat, 2022)

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Figure 2. Types of SEN students in public sector primary and secondary ordinary schools(Legislative Council Secretariat, 2022)

In addition, the number of students with sen participating in public examinations has also increased. According to data from the edb, the numberof students who applied to be special needs candidates in the Hong Kong
Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, and requested special arrangements such as modified test papers and response formats, assistive
devices, and extended examination time, has increased from approximately
2,700 in 2018 to about 3,200 in 2020, accounting for an increase in the
proportion of the total number of candidates from 4.5 percent to 6 percent(Education Bureau, 2021b).
Distribution of students with Special Educational Needs
In the IE model currently promoted by the Hong Kong Government,
the “three-tier support system” is an important tool for supporting students
with sen. The number of students who continue to have special needs in the
Tier 2 and Tier 3 is an important indicator for understanding and observing
the overall distribution of students with sen in Hong Kong and their integration into ordinary schools.
In terms of the number of Tier 2 students in each primary and secondary school, the number of students in primary schools has increased

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from just under 28,000 in the 2019/20 academic year to over 30,000 in
the 2021/22 academic year. For secondary schools, the number of students has increased from over 21,000 in the 2019/20 academic year to over
24,000 in the 2021/22 academic year (Education Bureau, 2023) (Table 2).
The number of Tier 3 support students has increased from just under 2,100
in primary schools in the 2019/20 academic year to over 2,300 in the 2021/22
academic year, and from over 1,500 in secondary schools in the 2019/20 academic year to over 1,800 in the 2021/22 academic year. This reflects that more
schools are accepting students with more severe sen, and more schools are
implementing IE. (Education Bureau, 2023)
Table 2. Number of Tier 2 and Tier 3 students with SEN in Hong Kong Public Sector Ordinary
Schools (Education Bureau, 2023)
Tier of support
required by
students

No. of students
Primary

SecondaryPrimary

SecondaryPrimary

SecondaryTier-2 support

27,95921,50228,60923,03330,02824,377

Tier-3 support

2,094

1,552

2,252

1,671

2,324

1,836

2019/20

2020/212021/22In terms of the number of schools, the overall figures were lower before
the 2018/19 academic year as schools could support students with sen fromother resources. In the 2018/19 academic year, only three hundred eightyone primary schools provided Tier 2 support services and t h r e e h u n d r e d f o r t y - n i n e primary schools provided Tier 3 support services.
However, as of the 2020/21 academic year, the numbers had increased
to f o u r h u n d r e d f i f t y - f o u r primary schools providing Tier 2 support
services and four hundred thirty-one primary schools providing Tier 3 support services (Education Bureau, 2022) (Table 3). In secondary schools,
there were three hundred eighty-four schools providing Tier 2 support services and three hundred thirty-five schools providing Tier 3 support services in the 2018/19 academic year. However, in the 2020/21 academic year,
these numbers had slightly increased to three hundred eighty-nine schools
providing Tier 2 support services and three hundred forty-two schools
providing Tier 3 support services (Education Bureau, 2022) (Table 3).
This reflects that more ordinary schools are gradually accepting more
students with sen requiring Tier 3 support, while also illustrating the continuous increase in the overall number of students with sen in Hong Kong.

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Table 3. Number of public sector ordinary primary and secondary schools providing Tier 2
and Tier 3 support (教育局，2022)1
Tier of support
required by
students

No. of schools
Primary

SecondaryPrimary

SecondaryPrimary

SecondaryTier-2 support

381

384

455

389

454

389

Tier-3 support

349

335

427

340

431

342

2018/192019/20202/21

Study on Challenges, Effective Policies, and Best Practices of Ordinary Schools
in Educating Students with Special Educational Needs in Hong Kong
In view of the fact that IE has been implemented in Hong Kong for sometime, the eoc has commissioned the Centre for Excellence in Learning andTeaching from the Education University of Hong Kong (referred to as theresearch team below) to carry out a project entitled “Study on Challenges,
Effective Policies, and Best Practices of Ordinary Schools in Educating
Students with Special Educational Needs in Hong Kong”. This Study collected data and stakeholders’ opinions through methods such as questionnaire
surveys, focus group interviews, individual interviews, and case studies, tothoroughly examine the overall effectiveness of IE in primary and secondary
schools at present, and to provide relevant policy recommendations for the
future development of IE. The entire Study began in October 2019. Due tothe outbreak of covid-19 in 2019, all research data collection was completed
in December 2021.
Key Findings of School Questionnaire Survey
The entire school survey was conducted from October 2020 to November
2021, and the collected data was based on the 2020/21 academic year. Afterthe data compilation, a total of one hundred forty-one ordinary schools participated in this Study, with sixty primary schools and eighty-one secondary
schools. There were one hundred forty-one principals, one hundred fortyone sencos and 1,532 teachers participated in the questionnaire survey,
including seven hundred four primary school teachers and eight hundred
twenty-eight secondary school teachers.

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Challenges of Implementing IE and effectiveness of support measures
The majority of the school principals (81.6 percent), teachers (85.3 percent)and sencos (85.8 percent) surveyed agreed that the most difficult aspectof implementing IE was the tight teaching schedule/heavy teaching workload. Besides, over 70 percent of principals (70.2 percent) and sencos (70.9
percent) expressed that the administrative work brought about by IE was
heavy, while 68.8 percent of the teachers surveyed considered the lack of
manpower as the second difficulty in implementing IE.
Principals thought that the setting up of the post of senco was the mosteffective support measure with the overall mean score of 3.48 (in a 4-point
scale from 1 to 4, where 3 represents that the policy/support measure is helpful). sencos considered that the promotion of School-based Educational
Psychology services and the provision of more systematic and adequate
teacher training were the most effective support measures with the meanscores of 3.48 for both items. Yet, teachers considered adding the post of
School-based Speech Therapist as the most effective support measure withthe highest mean score of 3.21, while primary school teachers rated a higher
mean score of 3.24.
Stress Level Perceived when Handling Students with SEN
According to the survey, both sencos and teachers pointed out that theyfelt quite stressed when facing students with Autism Spectrum Disorder(asd) or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (adhd). While taking
care of students with mental illness, the stress experienced by sencos was
significantly higher than that of teachers.
Findings of Individual and Focus Group Interviews with School Stakeholders
The research team conducted interviews with various stakeholders involved
in IE, including principals, sencos, frontline teachers, professional support
personnel, and parents, to collect their opinions on the implementationof IE and explore the overall policy effectiveness and the impact of support measures on schools, teachers, students, parents, and professional
support personnel. In addition, individual and focus group interviews
were analyzed through triangulation analysis to provide preliminary

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Educating Students with Special Educational Needs in Hong Konginterpretation of the questionnaire results. Therefore, this Study had amulti-category design, conducted focus group interviews with different
stakeholders and had a sample size that is representative to a certain extent.
Interview Samples
The research team interviewed a total of one hundred six stakeholders
from twenty-seven schools, including fifteen primary schools and twelve
secondary schools. Half of the schools were considered more successful
in implementing IE, while the other half still had room for improvement. The
team conducted individual interviews or focus group interviews starting in
June 2021 and completed them in December 2021. The details are as follows:
Table 4. Sample details of interview respondents
Stakeholder

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Total No. of
Respondents

Principals

15

12

27

SENCOs and SENSTs

15

16

31

Professional Support Personnel

15

13

28

Parents

10

10

20

The interview transcripts quoted below (information within parentheses) are coded using the combination of the school code and participant
code, representing individual schools and participants.
Individual Interview and Focus Group Interview Findings
Status of Curriculum Implementation (Teaching, Learning, and Assessment)
Curriculum and Assessment in Secondary Schools
Stakeholders in both primary and secondary schools (including principals, sencos, and teachers) clearly pointed out that the biggest problem
in the current implementation of IE is the tight schedule of the existing
curriculum, which makes it difficult for schools and frontline teachers toallocate sufficient resources to effectively address the needs of students withsen.
“Our timetable is packed, completely packed, and the biggest problem we face is that in a classroom, the class timetable

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is very intense, and basically there is no free time.” (Secondary
school principal) (SS02-PR)“In schools, lessons are resources that colleagues notice. If
you allocate some of the lesson periods to support moral education, and you allocate some of them to [IE], instead of tellingteachers to teach outside of their normal classes, it affects themoral education of some students, and I did allocate a lesson
period, so I know you value it.” (Secondary school principal)(SS01- PR)
They also unanimously agreed that requiring students with sen to
simultaneously receive mainstream education courses and assessment criteria is the root cause of educational inequality in Hong Kong.
“Our principle for extra time [during exams] is that for
students in Form 1 to 3, if there is a medical certificate and arequest from their parents, basically we would approve it andarrange a special room for them with extra time. However, forForm 4 students who are considering extra time, they needto think again if they really need it for their dse (Diploma of
Secondary Education) [examination]. Even if they are in a lower
form, if they don’t take extra time, they can still rejoin this line
(apply for extra time) later, but whether it is approved or not is
up to the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority.”(Secondary School senco) (SS02-SE)
Currently, secondary school students still need to take the Hong
Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (hkdse). This not
only brings heavy pressure to schools but also prevents students with senfrom keeping up with the curriculum and affects their overall learning effectiveness throughout their secondary school years.
“The teachers have high expectations for themselves andhope that their students excel. They also feel that going to university is the only way to a good future. Sometimes, teachers
themselves think that going to university is the only option.
Students with sen reflected to counselling teachers and social
workers that ‘Teachers always told us to enter university at lessons and which subject to study. I feel like they are letting everyone down because they cannot get into university’. Somestudents may even lose motivation and feel like it’s not worth
trying. So it is important for teachers to understand that there
are different pathways available for students.” (Secondary School
Principal) (SS03-PR)

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“If a family sees that a certain subject or career path is suitable for their child with sen, [they should think] whether [thechild] should be able to take the public exams. There are somecases where students with anxiety or physical conditions may
struggle to cope with the stress of exams at the expense of theirhealth. It would be good to give parents some choices, say inForm 3, that are widely accepted and recognized by everyone.”(Secondary School senco)(SS04- SE+SW+ST)“There are challenges in terms of academic performance forstudents with sen. Their abilities are limited and there are gaps
in their learning. It is especially difficult for higher grade students, even with all the support provided by teachers such as
study groups and tutoring from alumni. This may not necessarily
result in a significant improvement in their grades and performance, and it may be difficult for them to pass the dse exam andenter university.” (Secondary School senco) (SS05-SE)“We know that they are a bit behind others, they are backward, not just two years of difference. Some of them may only beat the level of junior primary school when they enroll in secondary school. If you make them take the dse exam, you’re basically pushing them too hard.” (Secondary School senco) (SS16-SE)
Teachers also cannot adjust their daily assessments given the difficulty of
the content in public exams, which further undermines their students’ motivation to learn.
“Hong Kong places too much emphasis on academic performance. I think if we can change this mindset— there are many
ways to learn, right? Each student with sen has [his/her] own
strengths. For example, we know that some students with sen
may have weak reading skills, but they may be good at drawing.... If you ask them to take the dse exam and answer so manyquestions, they will definitely fail. No matter how you adjust it,
it’s not about their ability. I think what you need to do is givethem something they can excel at, rather than something theyknow they will fail. It’s about changing our mindset.”(Secondary
School senco) (SS16-SE)
Although students with sen can apply for various exam accommodations, they are not very effective for them.
“Although you provided resources, does it mean that a student with MI in an ordinary school can definitely handle thedse? I don’t think so. They still have to study the dse curriculum,310

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which I think is quite challenging.” (Secondary School senco)(SS16-SE)“Actually, for students who are weaker in terms of learning abilities, extra time and other accommodations may not get
many scores for them. In contrary, sen may imply some behavioural problems or relatively complicated family backgrounds,
support [in this regard] is more inadequate. For them, there
are more problems, most likely about emotions or behaviours.”(Secondary School Social Worker) (SS09-SW)
Primary School Curriculum and Assessment Situation
In primary schools, due to the need to regularly take the Territorywide System Assessment (tsa) and the Pre-Secondary One Hong Kong
Attainment Test (Pre-S1 hkat), the curriculum schedule is also very tight,
and teachers have actual difficulty in having sufficient room to effectively cater to the learning diversity of students with sen.
“I think sometimes teachers’ primary concern is not to hinder classroom progress, of course, if it seriously affects the progress, I understand. Or sometimes they may not have the time orwillingness to deal with it, because teachers have to deal with
TSA, Pre-S1 (hkat), and various assessments. If there is a problem, it may take half a lesson to handle, and teachers may notwant to lose this half lesson and affect the progress afterwards.”(Primary school senco) (PS04-SE)
However, as the school has a curriculum development leader (CD), theinterviewed senco stated that the Tier 1 (T1) assistance of the CD in improving classroom support effectiveness is crucial and helps improve overallteaching outcomes.
“The new CD was willing to think together on how to
improve lessons of all colleagues to reduce individual differences, and the EP is also very helpful.” (Primary School senco)(PS02-SE)“So I think the CD is promoting the T1 support, helping toaddress the learning diversity in T1, promoting a positive school,
putting people first...and can take care of the learning diversityof students. So, the first step is to adjust the learning when thesubject ability is not good. Then, we can focus on improving theabilities of the top students. Because I think this is what theywant to do. If I can also help with this, they will be very moti-

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vated to start, and it will also make the teacher feel better andhave a sense of ability and success in teaching.” (Primary School
senco) (PS06-SE)
Impact of Current Education System and Environment on the
Implementation of Integrated Education
Some interviewed primary and secondary school principals believethat the current school system lacks space and flexibility in curriculum
accommodations. Relying solely on daily homework and exam accommodations do not help improve the learning effectiveness of students with sen.
“As for class hours, our timetable in Hong Kong is fixed, or
what is called flexible class hours, it is a concept that is flexible
to the extent that the students know how to move around automatically. It’s like some kindergartens I’ve seen, where once youenter, the children know exactly what they want to do and moveon to the next activity. Can this degree of freedom be introduced
into our primary and secondary schools, which have very structured systems?” (Primary school principal) (PS06-PR)“In the overall [educational] environment, teachers face certain difficulties, especially in how to help these students [withsen]. It seems to me that controlling them in the classroom forordinary learning is a huge [challenge].”(Secondary school principal) (SS01-PR)
The interviewed sencos, social workers, and clinical psychologists
from primary and secondary schools further emphasized that due to theovercrowded curriculum in Hong Kong, subject teachers often say thatclassroom progress cannot be hindered, or there may not be too much time
to care for students with sen. The relationship between teachers and students is mostly built in the classroom and in learning, lacking other exchange opportunities. Teacher-student dialogue is focused only on learningand it is difficult to establish good communication with students, and support for students is not comprehensive enough. This is indeed an unsatisfactory situation at present.
“I think that for the T1 support, I may not really be able tosupport teachers in learning. Maybe in terms of student behavior, for example, he may have asd or adhd, I have some feasible
solutions for colleagues, but in actual teaching, how to teach,maybe I majored in Chinese and I can help with Chinese, or
our CD can help. But maybe for colleagues who teach English
or mathematics, it is difficult for them to effectively take care of

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the differences in classroom, and the curriculum is too rushed,so they feel the difficulty, which is understandable.” (Primaryschool senco) (PS03-SE)“The teaching and learning aspect are actually something
we have always struggled with. The edb may hope that we cando it well, but it really depends on the situation of each school.
While we understand that learning diversity can be promoted,
simply sharing the message doesn’t mean it can be implemented
or that certain teachers, who may have had exposure to training and so on, can [try to] carry out the practice in their own
classrooms or subjects.... It can be difficult for them to try it out,
unless they are, say, already a subject head. So, I find this aspect
challenging.” (Secondary School senco) (SS02-SE)“However, within the entire education system, there is noplace for teachers to relieve some of their workload and provide more space for teachers and students to have some informal communication, instead of just exchanging knowledge fromtextbooks. I am certain that this can reduce many cases of emotional difficulties and the negative effects of hyperactivity disorder.” (Primary school social worker) (PS08-rsw)“I actually reflect on the concept of inclusion, the whole ideaof IE, when I look at clinical practice. I personally think that thisis a vision. That is, we actually hope for social inclusion, thatsome students with learning difficulties can also learn in thesame environment. However, from actual observations, I feelthat different schools will share: some students, or actually thestudents’ behavioral problems are not too serious. When teachers may not be able to handle them, it not only affects the individual students themselves but also affects the learning of thewhole class. Maybe after the teacher spent half of the class timedealing with their emotional problems, there are only 15 minutes
left.” (Secondary school clinical psychologist) (SS02-CP)
In addition, sensts interviewed also said that some teachers have reported losing a sense of success when teaching students with sen, which isconsistent with the survey data and an area for improvement in the future.
“Half of the class are students with sen. How can we teach?
Many colleagues say they do not feel successful in their teaching,because no matter how much effort they put in, the students still
end up with a U grade (ungraded). For example, there aresome “helicopter parents” (parents who excessively intervene intheir children’s lives).They always ask me, ‘please tell them notEducating Students with Special Educational Needs in Hong Kong313

to take the exam, or ask them to be absent?’” (Secondary School
senco) (SS15-SE)
Based on the above interviews, in terms of curriculum arrangements,
both primary and secondary schools face the problem of a tight curriculum and difficulty in accommodating, making it difficult for teachers tocare for students with sen in their daily teaching. In terms of assessment arrangements, both primary and secondary schools make accommodations forstudents with sen, such as extra time, reading papers, etc. However, due tothe restrictions of the hkdse, secondary schools face greater constraints inmaking accommodations for exams, while primary schools still have someflexibility. However, such flexibility may not be a real help for students, as
using the same exam to assess students with sen is inherently unfair, andaccommodations are merely a “fair” arrangement in terms of policy.
In the implementation of IE, education is the key. However, theexam culture and curriculum arrangements established in Hong Kong formany years have made it difficult for schools and teachers to improve the effectiveness of education under the policy of IE. For secondary schools, they
have to face the hkdse, and some compulsory courses and designatedskills have become content that students must learn in secondary school.
In order for students to be in line with the public exam, schools andteachers are unable to make curriculum cuts in the form of school-based curriculum. For primary schools, facing the tsa and the Pre-S1 hkat, thecurriculum frameworks and teaching objectives set by the edb in the
curriculum guidelines of various subjects also limit the accommodation ofprimary school curriculum. Based on the curriculum and policies establishedover the years, the inclusion of IE at present has not given primary and secondary school teachers room to make changes in the existing curriculum,and it is the tight curriculum that makes it difficult for teachers to do the“education” work in IE, and also makes it difficult for teachers to abandon theelitist thinking that has been established for many years.
Effectiveness of Government’s Continuous Investment in Integrated Education
Functions and Roles of SENCO
With the development of IE, the edb began to establish the positionof senco in every school starting from the 2017/18 school year to sup-314

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port students with sen. However, the scope of work involved in the role ofsenco is extensive and the workload is enormous. It is difficult for a senco
to handle everything alone. The interviewed sencos reflected that the work
involved in supporting students with sen is diverse, including early identification, planning support, and setting up ieps. The work cannot be done
independently by the senco alone and requires the support of students,
parents, teachers, and other professional support personnel to implement
the WSA.
“Because sen work involves many interconnected aspects.
After identifying a Primary 1 student with sen, you need to provide support, and after providing support, you need to forma support group. Within that group, some students may havepractical needs, such as adhd or autism. There are many things
that are interconnected. When I need to create an iep, for example, I may not be able to do it alone. I need to train my colleagues
on how to create an iep and how to handle different types ofstudents. There may not always be support from colleagues, butthat does not mean I have completed everything. When I need
to follow up, I need to communicate with colleagues A, B, C, or
the whole school on how to adjust for exams or how to handledifficulties encountered in assignments. Most of the time, colleagues or parents will come to me for help.” (Primary school
senco) (PS03-SE)
In addition to being responsible for serving as a bridge to communicate
and negotiate with stakeholders, the time, skills and effort required for sencos to handle complex administrative work has been a long-term source ofpressure. Based on the need to coordinate the opinions of various stakeholders and support students with sen according to the edb’s procedures,
sencos’ work often require a long-term effort to gradually take effect.
“The senco really has to take care of everything. I have tofollow up on the curriculum, but I can only slowly learn something, and I can’t follow up in depth. I’m just a bridge to coordinate things, such as exam adjustments. My team has someone who goes into the exam committee, and I have a colleague
who specializes in exam accommodations for students withsen, including dse arrangements.” (Secondary School senco)(SS06-SE)

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In interviews, sencos in primary and secondary schools also indicatedthat current school policies and support staff are insufficient to meet theirwork demands. Within the schools, sencos often need to collaborate withsubject teachers or administrators to provide students with different accommodations, but they lack the ability to strengthen collaboration among
teachers.
“In fact, the learning support team is in the academic sideof edb...it requires some effort to push forward... I asked for amathematics vice teacher, a Chinese vice teacher, and a support
teacher for English. For Chinese, English and Mathematics, I canpush forward in junior forms, but for some curriculum-related
matters, I need to rely on the three subject panel [heads], but
how do I get them to listen to me?” (Secondary School senco)(SS09-SE)Interviewed primary and secondary school principals agreed that caring for students with special learning needs should not be the sole responsibility of the senco, but rather should involve the participation and promotion of all teachers in the school. The senco needs to be empowered
to enhance their coordination ability to promote the overall development of
IE in the whole school.
“I think it is important for all colleagues to agree to a mindset that we need to join forces to teach students with sen, notjust the responsibility of the senco, but also for all colleagues tohave the heart to make our school inclusive. In addition, in thepast, everyone was very taboo about privacy, but if we know
the symptoms of the child’s syndrome to some extent, we will beable to handle it better. All teachers in the school know about
it, so when it comes to handling it, we understand it somewhat
and reduce conflicts.” (Primary School Principal) (PS05-PR)
In addition, general teachers also have the responsibility and awareness to assist the senco in providing early support for students with special learning needs so that students can feel the care and assistance of theschool as a whole.
“I think communication in terms of information is very important. Because if there are some more severe cases, sometimes
even students with self-harm tendencies, it is only a momentary
thing, so we need to grasp [the situation] more to provide sup-316

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port. I understand that it is really difficult to handle in private,but I think if the teacher often meets this student, they actuallyneed to know.” (Secondary School Social Worker) (SS15-SW)
From the interviews, it can be seen that the edb has established theposition of senco in each school, and has formulated relevant work
guidelines and procedures. Sencos in primary and secondary schools
also expressed that they can clearly understand the criteria and arrangements for their work. However, the relevant work cannot be completed
solely by themselves, and the lack of understanding among other teaching
staff also hinders support for students.
At the secondary school level, the needs of students with sen are notlimited to learning, and may involve emotional management, social skills,
etc. All teaching staff need to participate and prevent dangerous situations
in order to effectively support students in need. However, sencos lacksufficient ability to promote cooperation among teachers. Most of the
support is still led by the sencos, which makes their situation very difficult. The problem faced by primary schools is to identify students whoneed support early. The identification process also requires the participation of all teaching staff, including daily observation, communication withparents and students, etc. However, teachers are burdened with the busy
teaching work and do not have time to establish good communication withstudents beyond teaching, which also affects the efficiency of identification. After identification, various support work and plans also require theimplementation by all teaching staff together. However, ordinary teachers
still rely on the senco’s planning and instructions, rather than supporting
students’ needs based on their own understanding.
Current School Support on Integrated Education
Although different professionals, such as EPs and speech therapists,
regularly visit schools to provide professional assistance, resources arestill insufficient. EPs reflected in interviews that due to inadequate visits toschools, they were unable to meet the needs of too many students withsen, which prevented students with special learning needs from receiving
continuous assessments and made it difficult to adjust their support according to students’ changes.
“Perhaps the work of EPs is also limited, that is, now EPs
serve alone, with a ratio of one to seven. Therefore, what canbe done must be limited to the emergency cases. Then, when

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it comes to schools hoping to implement something, after theylisten to my advice on how to do it, they can work in pairs withthem or I can demonstrate it, and then they try to do it themselves. At least, I think that more confidence in the overall teachers will make it easier for them to implement in their own classes
or with their own students... If the ratio of EPs in schools continues not to decrease, and the number of students with sen ina school is so high, the ratio of one EP to students is constantly
increasing. Therefore, I believe that more manpower is more important than money.” (Secondary school EP) (SS01-EP)
Interviewed social workers also stated that because EPs are not able
to be stationed at schools, sometimes teachers and social workers at theschool need to replace EPs to provide support, but the different professional
skills weaken the effectiveness of support.
“The division of labor on sen work may belong to the groupof EPs, with more support available. There is also a senco, andon our social work level, we also have EPs. Unlike in the past
where EP was full-time at school, our division of labor does nothave such a distinction. But now in schools, EPs only visit school
according to schedule. So I think, in this situation, students with
sen will be taken cared of by teachers or supported by in-schoolsocial workers.” (Secondary School Social Worker) (SS05-SW)“That is to say, I guess now only a psychiatrist can diagnose
whether a student has MI [mental illness], EP, CP (clinical psychologists), we all can’t do it. Waiting for this takes the longest
time, and I can only refer them to some very urgent services.
Some students, I cannot immediately make referrals and can
only chat with them, provide some temporary support, or referthem to go to public hospitals and wait, etc.” (Secondary School
Social Worker) (SS01-SW)
Regarding ieps, the sencos interviewed stated that the plans canbring significant impacts on students. However, ieps require the participation of different stakeholders to achieve its ideal effects.
“Because we have three meetings a year, the first one is actually for planning, and the second and the third one are for reviewing how the first half of the year went or the progress for thesecond half of the year. We need to adjust our support direction
among us, which I think is very important. It’s more systematicto plan some support for the students, different units also know
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unit is doing, how students’ progress is adjusted, whether it’sgoals or strategies, we will try to do it again, I think it’s very important in the process.” (Secondary School EP) (SS03-EP)“Actually, the Tier 3 of iep is necessary because some students may not really benefit from Tier 2 support, or we used toonly provide some individual counseling, which is not perfect.
In fact, iep needs to be complemented with many things, including regular meetings, regular contact with parents, and EPs,
maybe together with writing some learning plans for each case,so the plan actually sets some small goals for the students. Iep isa focused project that can help children, especially cases of ID[intellectual disabilities] and asd, where progress is significant.”(Primary School EP) (PS01-SE)
The sencos of primary and secondary schools interviewed stated that inorder to ensure that students can receive practical support, schools will
select students based on their urgent needs and circumstances to ensurethat ieps can be effectively implemented. In primary schools, schools tend
to prioritize students who have difficulties in both academic, self-care, andpersonal growth aspects, such as students with autism or adhd, while students with only special learning needs are usually not the first choice.
“For iep to be opened, it is best to provide individual support, but I don’t want to open it and then fail to provide the quality of Tier 3 support that he needs. Because there are many meetings to follow up on for iep, and the current staff of our support
team cannot handle iep.” (Primary School senco) (PS02-SE)
Secondary school sencos stated that due to restrictions of public examinations, ieps are mostly for students in Form 1 to Form 3 to provide moretime for support.
“For students in Form 1 to Form 3, emotional management,
daily routine, and interpersonal relationships may require [iep],for example, for students with adhd, asd, or MI, there is achance that they may be the target of our iep. For sld, we may
also consider whether we can help them while promoting theirpersonal growth. We don’t want to waste the positions for iep,but we can’t be excessive. Because an iep is not just written, we
examine several categories, so colleagues are busy, our subject
teachers need to help, our Resource Teacher needs to support
subject teachers, sometimes some parts may require senst tohelp, and sometimes social workers are needed, such as personalemotions or communication with family members. So we cannot be excessive. If not, if you write so much, everyone cannot
do it, it is meaningless.” (Secondary school EP) (SS01-EP)

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Regarding the Tier 3 support model in IE (i.e., iep), both primary andsecondary schools agree that the plan can effectively provide students withmore comprehensive support, and this kind of support needs the joint efforts and implementation of different staff within the school to achieve
results. However, primary and secondary schools also face a common
problem, that is, the shortage of resources and staff, which leads to theneed for schools to make choices when implementing the Tier 3 support inorder to ensure the effectiveness of the support plan. In particular, secondary schools need to make choices in response to the restrictions of public
exams, and student academic performance may also be a factor to consider.
Primary schools tend to choose based on the student’s personal growth andself-care abilities. These criteria are also based on the school situation andthe school’s approach to decide which students to support, which meansthat this effective support model cannot be widely used in more students.
For primary and secondary schools, the role of EPs is to assess students
and provide professional support and advices. However, both primary andsecondary schools have reported that EPs visit schools infrequently, andoften rely on teachers or social workers to provide support measures forstudents. The difficulty is that social workers do not have publicly recognized
qualifications in student assessment, and all support plans are only recognized with reports from EPs or psychiatrists. This situation means that themost commonly engaged professionals (such as social workers), who know
students and understand their needs best, must wait for the judgments ofother professionals before they can provide further support. This has a greater impact on primary schools, as the focus of primary education is to identify and support students early, and the need for long-waiting professional
reports makes it difficult to achieve this “early” support. Therefore, teachersand social workers who work at the school can only identify individual cases
early and provide support as soon as possible.
Resource Deployment and Flexibility
Stakeholders in primary and secondary schools, including principals,
sencos, teachers, and various professional support personnel, have allindicated that the Government’s sustained increase in resources hashelped schools promote IE. Schools can use lsg to employ different professional support personnel, which can be used for different students, suchas non-Chinese speaking students.

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H U M A N R I G H T S E D U C AT I O N I N A S I A - PA C I F I C · V O L U M E 1 3 , 2 0 2 3“For example, when you talk about ncs (non-Chinese speaking students), it is also a way of caring for diversity... Personally,
I think that non-Chinese speaking is also a branch of IE. If wehave some funding or professional support that can be flexibly
used according to the school’s situation and needs, I think it
would be ideal.” (Secondary school principal) (SS03-PR)“We use funding of lsg to hire some support teachers andassistants. I mainly coordinate the work of these teachers, ask
them to divide the administrative and in-class support work. In
addition, basically all students and support group administrative work have to be handled. The most time-consuming thingis contacting parents and meeting with parents, as well as contacting parents of students with sen, which takes up more time.”(Primary school senco) (PS02-SE)
However, when utilizing related lsg, the sencos pointed out that they
are constrained, and the sensts they hire may not be able to fully support
their work because it is difficult to find suitable staff to assist schools in
implementing IE, especially the lack of professional support personnel
specialized in caring for a certain type of students with sen.
“Nowadays, the Government’s IE is mainly in ordinary
schools. The benefit is that they can integrate into mainstream
society and live with ordinary people. This can enhance their social skills. However, on the other hand, although the Government
has provided a lot of resources in recent years, we still lack theso-called expertise to take care of a certain type of students. It
depends on the overall school atmosphere and team because if
it is not handled properly, it is easy to have bullying, but if handled properly, of course, it can achieve their educational goals.”(Secondary school principal) (SS15-PR)“Is it really that way? The current policy is to give you money to solve it anyway, but the problem is that I can’t find it in thecommunity, not that I can’t find the people, but whether I canfind suitable people who have the willingness and ability to help
with IE.” (Primary school principal) (PS06-PR)
Moreover, most of the resources are used to hire professional support
personnel, which does not help solve the problem that sencos have too
many administrative tasks but insufficient working hours.
“There is a lot of paperwork involved in our work, such as
helping students with their dse. The process of obtaining exemp-

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tions involves a lot of paperwork and is very time-consuming.”(Secondary school principal) (SS15-PR)
Therefore, to address the issue of staffing, it is recommended to establish permanent positions for professional support personnel to attract relevant professionals to join schools and provide support. This can help createa supportive atmosphere on campus and achieve a more ideal model of wsa.
“If this [position] is not stable and is always filled throughcontracts, it is not enough to simply increase lsg and hire moreteachers to deal with the increasing number of sen paperwork.
Students and parents require support, and using contracts is not
ideal.” (Primary school senco) (PS06-SE)
In addition, some school principals pointed out that simply increasing
resources without changes in the education system does not help improvethe difficulties faced by IE.
“In fact, for everything to be implemented, it is said thatthe whole school should participate. I think the edb should
offer some flexibility to schools. The edb has implemented somany policies. Will there be priorities? We are not saying that
we won’t do the others, but we will gradually do them. Because
there are too many things, our teachers don’t have enough time.
Sometimes teachers say, ‘to take care of students’ mental health,I also have to take care of my own mental health.’ So one of ourstaff development is to take care of teachers’ mental health.”(Secondary school principal) (SS03-PR)
From the above interviews, it can be seen that the Government’s increase in resources for IE allows primary and secondary schools to havemore funding to hire additional teachers or assistants. Secondary schools
will use these resources to support more student groups, such as nonChinese speaking students, while primary schools will use the resources
to handle time-consuming administrative work.
Although primary and secondary schools have more human resources
to support IE, they still face the challenge of finding support teachers or
assistants with professional knowledge in IE, which hinders the optimaluse of funds. This situation is related to the establishment of relevant positions. The edb allocates funds for schools to hire teachers or assistants,
which only allows primary and secondary schools to hire relevant person-

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nel on a contract basis. Such instability results in high turnover rates forthese positions and affects the continuity of support.
Professional Development of Teachers in Integrated Education
All interviewed principals believed that enhancing teachers’ awareness is an important factor in implementing IE. Through training, teachers can deepen their understanding of IE, improve their skills in caring
for students with sen, and help teachers in different roles, including
discipline/guidance team, career planning teams, and class teachers, understand how to support students in different roles. This reduces theover-reliance of teachers on student support team or sencos and promotes the participation of the whole school in implementing IE.
“In fact, everything we do, such as the whole school lesson
planning system we just talked about, is based on Continuous
Professional Development (cpd). Because we know that our
professional development as educators will inevitably involve
cpd at a certain stage. The most important thing about cpd isthat you learn while doing it, and it’s not just about you as anindividual, but your team as well. So our belief is that the teamis very important. We have put in a lot of effort in the past few
years in building the team, and we believe that if we integratestudents with sen into it, it will be easier to achieve our goals.”(Secondary school principal) (SS01-PR)“Wsa means a role for everyone. Everyone has something
to contribute, and there is a whole-school policy. Every year, theedb provides some sen training, even mental health training,
and ngos also have similar training. We arrange colleagues toattend these training sessions, not just in the counseling teamor sen team, but gradually in other teams such as the discipline
team, career planning team, class teachers, and even other colleagues. We have invited relevant professionals such as psychiatrists, social workers, and clinical psychologists to come andtalk to us about how teachers should deal with students’ growth
problems and mental health issues.” (Secondary school principal) (SS03-PR)
For teachers, encountering students with special learning needs at
campus and in classroom is common and inevitable. Therefore, the interviewed principals stated that most teachers are willing to attend various
training to help themselves deal with the possible situations they may face.

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“They are very cooperative with the school’s arrangements.
When colleagues in charge require other colleagues to takecourses on Tier 1, 2 and 3 or special courses on sen, generally speaking, colleagues are very willing, possibly because theyknow there is a real need. In class teaching, they will definitely
have the opportunity to encounter these students. Therefore,
when they know that it is helpful to strengthen sen teaching,colleagues are very willing to comply with the policy.” (Primaryschool principal) (PS07-PR)
However, interviewed teachers also expressed some pressure on
training. Currently, in-service teachers mainly improve their skills throughtraining courses offered by tertiary institutions. But the quality and content
of the courses can affect their effectiveness. The edb and different tertiary
institutions organize various types of training activities, including sharing
sessions and lectures, but some teachers expressed that some course content overemphasizes theory and lacks practical applications in teaching.
Teachers can only use the case sharing in the course as a “reference”, butthey may not be able to apply it in daily teaching, especially since course
instructors have limited subject expertise and find it difficult to provide
practical support to teachers of different subjects.
“To be honest, after completing the senco course, I eventook the online version. At most, I could only talk about things
like differentiated worksheets and visual strategies, but I haven’t
really implemented them. Maybe I’ve used them in mathematics
or business, accounting and financial studies, but how do I applythat specialized knowledge to English, Chinese, and mathematics?” (Secondary school senco) (SS09-SE)“I had been senst for two years, we took a lot of courses, but
none of them were really formal, and I believe they wouldn’t havehelped me much. Because they were still categorized, and theytaught you how to do things, the sharing methods used by the
public may not have as much theoretical support.” (Secondary
school senst) (SS09-ST)
As society and the education sector increasingly value IE, the interviewed primary and secondary school principals believe that it is worth
considering adding IE as a core subject in teacher training. This will enable
teachers to have a deep and professional understanding of caring for stu-

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dents with special learning needs and IE before entering the profession, andto understand the characteristics and needs of different students with special
learning needs. This will help them to identify students’ needs early in theirteaching, and to collaborate with in-school support personnel in handlingstudent situations in wsa during the theoretical and practical stages of theiremployment.
“I think that in teacher training, we should add basic training for taking care of students with sen. Taking care of different
students with sen can be an elective, but at least you need toknow about it. Knowing that it is common, you should learn it.
You don’t have to worry about chasing the standard all the time.”(Secondary school principal) (SS04-PR)“Just as in teacher training, now that IE has become mainstream, the sen course will be a core subject. It is a must-read.”(Primary school principal) (PS09-PR)
In the wsa, the awareness of teachers is important, but the IE policies andbeliefs of decision-makers are equally important. Some EPs have pointed outthat while training courses to support students with sen have been implemented for several years, the courses also need to be updated in a timely manner to keep up with policy changes, increase in awareness as well as improvements in treatment methods and standards, so that frontline personnel can
improve the situation more effectively and accurately.
“A few years ago, mental health issues were included in sen,which increased the focus in training and education. During
their studies, they should have less exposure to real cases withmental health problems. EPs should handle some subclinicalcases, even some standard cases of depression or anxiety, andhave the ability to do so. Therefore, they will spend extra timeafter graduation to learn about different treatment methods andmake up for the lack of experience in this area, so that they can
do it with confidence. I think this is one of the areas that can be
improved.” (Secondary school EP) (SS11-EP)
Some interviewed parents believe that the success of IE in schools depends on the belief of the principals. If schools lack an open and long-term
vision in the development of IE, the effectiveness of policy implementation
will be weakened.
“I think the Government needs to educate school principals to accept [IE]. Secondly, they need to be open-minded.
How much resources the school has received and spent on sen

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from the Government and how those resources are allocatedshould be transparently monitored, so that we can make surethat children are not mistreated. I think monitoring is necessary.
If schools use this money, the role of senco needs to be clear.
Parents, teachers, and even training teachers should be educatedtoo.” (Primary school parent) (PS-PA02)
Sencos also believe that the Government can collaborate more with universities to conduct research on IE and review the effectiveness of implementation at local schools. Principals also agree that such research is usefulfor schools to learn from and review their own measures, in order to further
improve their own development.
“I know some research is conducted by universities, or the
edb itself has a team to conduct such research. I think thesestudies need to be localized. Different ngos such as the Jockey
Club have also invested in trying out some work. We need tosummarize our local experiences and find our own methods, because our environment is unique.” (Secondary school principal)(SS02-PR)
For principals of primary and secondary schools, they believethat teacher participation is an important factor in implementing IE.
Professional training not only helps schools establish a team consistent in
its vision, but secondary school principals also believe that it contributes
to the continuous development of individual teachers. The interviews
show that in addition to recommending individual teachers to participate
in external training, primary and secondary school principals also organizedwhole-school teacher training to provide teachers with more opportunities
to access relevant information. Given the current lack of IE training, primaryand secondary school principals also suggest that relevant teacher training should be extended to pre-service teacher education programmes sothat every prospective teacher has a certain understanding of students withspecial learning needs before entering the workplace. This would enable themto have certain abilities and skills to provide support in actual classroom
situations and instructional design, while also alleviating the pressure
brought by teacher development programmes.
For primary and secondary school teachers, in the context of IE,
some teachers also agree that development programmes can help improve or support their teaching in the classroom, such as enhancing theirunderstanding of students with special learning needs and understanding

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various accommodation strategies. However, the quality of courses offeredby external organizations varies. Even after spending time studying, teachers may not be able to apply what they have learned in their own teaching.
After all, IE is a whole-school policy, and the entire school team should continue to progress with policy development in order to achieve more ideal
results. For secondary schools, the special learning needs that schools often face are mental health issues among students. Although mental healthissues have been included in the scope of support in recent years, there isa lack of related professional training, which puts professionals in a “learning
while doing” situation and affects the effectiveness of support. Therefore,
secondary school EPs suggest that when implementing various support
measures at the frontline, relevant training should also be added to training
courses to allow professionals to be better prepared for support work.
Impact of Cross-Professional Support on Integrated Education and Creation of
Inclusive Campus
Situation and Support for Students’ Mental and Emotional Health inGeneral and During the Epidemic
The mental health of students is closely related to their personal growth,and both students themselves and parents and teachers should pay attention to their mental health. In order to enhance school’s attention tomental health, according to interviews with primary and secondary school
principals, schools will conduct mental health education for students,
parents, and teachers through various activities in daily life, to increase
stakeholders’ awareness, and support students’ mental health with preventive strategies.
“Especially in the past year, we have done more preparatory work rather than defensive work. In education, we give
students more understanding of their emotions and let themknow that it is not taboo to talk about their difficulties andtroubles. Sometimes they really cannot concentrate and sleep,
which makes it difficult for them to return to school. It is notabout avoidance, but about seeking help.... In recent years, thecounseling team and sen groups have made efforts to help students understand their emotions.” (Secondary school principal)(SS03-PR)

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However, with the changes brought about by the epidemic in recent
years, such as the reduction of face-to-face communication opportunities
and changes in lifestyle habits, students’ emotional problems have worsened. Especially during online learning periods, students in need may not
actively seek help, making it more difficult to provide professional support
which entails parents’ insight and assistance to a larger extent.
“For students with emotional issues, it is even more difficult
because they may not be willing to seek help themselves and can
only rely on others to actively ask them. However, during the
pandemic, they may be even less willing to actively seek help,
making the situation more difficult.” (Secondary School EP)(SS03-EP)“The first is mental health. For some people, face-to-facecommunication is very important. With fewer opportunities
for this during the pandemic, many students, whether they haveemotional problems or not, may face difficulties with their mental health. During the pandemic, many of their daily routines
were disrupted, and they might not be able to master some ofthe self-care skills. From our observations, especially every time
we resumed classes, they were very confused and unable tograsp the rhythm of going to school. This can also affect manyother things, such as their emotions in learning, which I think isa difficult area for both secondary and primary school students.”(Secondary School EP) (SS02-EP)
Based on the above situations, most of the interviewed social workers
also believe that parental involvement is an important factor in supporting
students’ emotions, and continuous parental education can help parents
understand mental health-related information, such as symptoms of MI,
how to identify students’ mental needs, etc.
“The school counseling team continuously holds some mental health lectures. For example, if you are studying in juniorforms here, there may be three or four times when mental healthis discussed, which enables students to learn about relevant
knowledge, such as symptoms. There are also some large-scale
programmes that the entire grade may participate in. The school
also sets up booths and holds many different activities to give
students some concepts of MI and mental health.” (Secondary
School Social Worker) (SS02-SW)
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mental health problems and make it easier for students with mental healthneeds to receive support and assistance.
“I think what needs to be done is to at least make the wholething more normalized. For example, enhance everyone’s acceptance level of mental health and emotional distress, becausesome students cannot accept these names, or parents cannot
accept these names, and they are unwilling to seek treatment.
Everyone thinks they have this need, but they are unwilling toface it, thinking that such things are weird, like monsters, so they
are unwilling to see a doctor. Therefore, I think that if we canpopularize these things and let everyone know that these things
are normal and many people have them, when their acceptancelevel is higher, it will be smoother and easier for them to receive
support.” (Secondary School Social Worker) (SS01-SW)
Regarding parental education methods, interviewed parents also agree
that some activities organized by institutions or universities, such as talks
and training, can help them and their children, while also establishing a
sense of community support.
“We definitely cannot rely solely on schools, we also needsupport from doctors, nurses, social workers, and the community. [I hope that if the community] has more [lectures], just like
Baptist University has a subject on early childhood education[and] does a lot of research and holds many of these talks. I think
the talks are very helpful because they have a lot of data that canquickly support me in finding ways to help my child.” (Primaryschool parent) (PS-PA03)
In terms of supporting students’ mental health, in addition to improving the identification skills of students, parents, and teachers, more professionals are needed to assist parents and teachers after identifying students
with needs early on. Social workers interviewed in this Study indicatedthat identifying students in need of mental health support often requires theobservation of people around them and early evaluation and referral, which
also depends on the level of awareness of mental health of people aroundthem.
“First, it’s observation, to see if there are any students thatthe teacher has noticed or sometimes it may be a classmate who
noticed that this student is a bit different, or it may be the parents. When we receive this information, the first thing we do is
ask for more information, that is, to understand their perfor-

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mance at school and at home, and then we will contact the student to understand if they have any symptoms of MI. If so, after
we complete the evaluation and think that he may have somemental health problems, we will make some referrals. If it is urgent, there are some community services that will be faster for
him to see a psychiatrist; for those who may not be so urgent,
they may be referred to public hospitals and other services. If heis diagnosed with some emotional problems, he can discuss withthe school what accommodations can be made when he talks
to the school and students.” (Secondary school social worker)(SS01-SW)“The changes in MI cases are significant. Even if students
experience the same low mood, their symptoms and conditions
may be very different. Therefore, it is crucial to provide adequate
training for teachers to support these students. We are used toproviding Tier 2 or Tier 3 support for students, but there aremany resources available for students with MI. We may onlyintervene when their condition worsens and sounds an alarm.
Regarding exam and homework accommodations, I think weprovide relatively little support for students with MI comparedto Tier 2 support.” (Secondary school EP) (SS01-EP)
Although primary and secondary schools now have professionals supporting students, such as social workers, counsellors, and EPs, mental healthissues involve more privacy concerns, making it more difficult for social
workers to collaborate with the student support team in schools. Therefore,
they are unable to provide comprehensive support to students’ study, emotional, and personal growth needs.
“The tension level of MI cases is higher than the other eightcategories, but because of privacy concerns, many people areunaware. When fewer people know, the support for these cases
is unknown. The student support team is not responsible forthese cases. Usually it goes to social workers. However, collaboration is difficult to define, such as how we support students inlearning, and how social workers support them in mental health.
It is challenging to know how to handle this type of students.”(Secondary school social worker) (SS15-SW)
In addition, social workers interviewed in primary and secondary
schools all reflect that the long waiting time for psychiatric diagnosis andassessment currently hinders immediate support for students. The diagnosis by doctors only confirms the student’s condition and may not neces-

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sarily provide support and accommodation methods for the student’s psychological problems, which makes it difficult for schools to provide support.
“If there is a medical certificate the success rate is higher,that is, if the doctor states clearly, when the school sees the
medical certificate, it will be easier to accept, and the successrate will be higher. But sometimes, there are some psychologicalproblems which doctors may not be able to provide too muchsupport or accommodation methods, which will make it moredifficult.” (Secondary school social worker) (SS01-SW)“As far as mental health issues are concerned, if there canbe more resources to shorten their time to wait for a doctor, it
would be a great help, because it really takes too long in termsof diagnosis and assessment. Some students doubt whether they
have emotional problems, and in areas where the boundaries areunclear, it takes a long time for us to take them to see a doctor.
I think that if we can reduce the wait, it will be much better forsupporting them.” (Secondary school social worker) (SS01-SW)
From the above interviews, primary and secondary schools are committed to enhancing the attention of students, parents, and teachers to mental
health. Through educational activities, they increase the awareness of all
stakeholders in order to identify and support students in need early, and toestablish an open and inclusive environment for students and parents whoare in need. School principals are also committed to creating a caring learning environment to reduce the chances of students experiencing emotional
problems and taking preventive measures. However, in recent years, due tothe impact of the epidemic, there have been significant changes in students’learning environment, from school learning to home learning, which has reduced opportunities for group life at campus and also affected schools’ support for students. Due to the lack of direct interaction opportunities, schools
have difficulties in providing timely support to students and need to relyon students or parents to actively seek help before remote support can beprovided, greatly weakening the effectiveness of support.
However, in the support process, primary and secondary schools alsoneed the help of professional staff. Currently EPs or psychiatrists have notbeen able to provide comprehensive support in either diagnosis or support.
This situation means that although schools have spent a lot of effort andtime preparing for parents and students, they still lack sufficient resources,
especially professional human resources, to provide further support, resulting in schools being in a situation where they need to identify cases

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and then wait for support together, which affects the effectiveness of support and gradually affects the progress and results of support.
The interviews show that people whom students come into contact within their lives should also have a certain awareness of mental health, which
is closely related to the understanding of schools and society. Improving
the public’s awareness of mental health can help build a shared participation and early support environment. The above interviews also show thatprimary and secondary schools have been committed to gradually establishing an inclusive school environment through various educational workand then promoting it to the community. However, the changes in mental
health cases are great, and symptoms or conditions can be very different for
students with emotional needs, which is also a severe challenge for parents
and teachers. Schools often only provide individual support when students
raise an alarm, which is not ideal.
Inclusive and Healthy Campus
Schools are places for group activities. School atmosphere and mutual
support among students are extremely important. In interviews, primaryand secondary school principals also mentioned that they actively promotemutual assistance among students at campus, establish integrated andpositive values, and allow students to learn more comfortably and feel moreat ease at school. They also try to make good use of peer support to handle
students’ emotional problems.
“We are very accommodating to students with sen, andthere is no discrimination among students because of sen. Firstof all, we won’t tell students that this classmate has sen, but students can recognize it, especially those with mild ID. In implementing IE, it’s not just about supporting students, but caring
policies should also take care of their health, assistance, andeven discipline. The discipline and counseling team is not justhandling the problems of students with sen. Basically, some students with mild ID are very well-behaved, but there are cases ofbullying towards these students. Our policy is not to punish thebullying students, but to persuade them and encourage mutual
support and help among classmates.” (Secondary school principal) (SS14-PR)“From the perspective of ordinary students, their mentality
is very pure, without the complexity of adults. They just thinkthat the classmate occasionally can’t sit still or is sometimes noticed more by the teacher. We try to maintain a non-labeling332

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campus, which is also the campus atmosphere we want to create. For parents who enroll their children in a school, for theschool to admit students, and for the life of students with sen on
campus, not labeling is the basic premise. We will treat them as afamily and not particularly label two-thirds of the family as ‘ordinary family members’ and one-third as ‘special family members’.”(Primary school principal) (PS07-PR)
Establishing a good school atmosphere relies on the participation ofteachers. Interviewed teachers indicated that all parties should equally value the mental health of teachers and address their needs, in order to gradually instill positive values in students during daily teaching, allowing them togrow up in an open environment, appreciate themselves, and develop theirstrengths from a young age.
“I think it should start with the teachers, because if teachers
themselves are under great pressure or often look worried, they
won’t be happy either. So, I would step back and first address themental health of teachers, and then think about the students andhow to instill positive values in them. It’s something that needs
to be done slowly, and holding large-scale activities can leave
a deep impression on them. Also, the teacher’s personal charmand how to manage the class are also important.” (Secondary
school teacher) (SS06-CL)
With the development of IE, teachers need to face the learning diversity
among students. However, teachers in the classroom need to spend moretime dealing with the special learning needs of students, making it difficult
to care for all students in the class, which is also unfair to students who do
not have special learning needs. Some interviewed primary school principals also believe that while promoting IE, the teacher-to-student ratio andstudent-to-class ratio should be emphasized, allowing every student toreceive comprehensive care.
“In the classroom, there are students with different types ofsen. How to help them is a challenge because each type of students has different needs. I can help one type of students witheducational accommodations, but [I] may not be able to help thesecond type of student, yet they are all in the same classroom.
The most difficult situation for teachers is when there are two or
three students with asd and 8-10 students with adhd in the sameclassroom. It’s not just about taking care of them, but it’s also

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difficult to [do] normal teaching.” (Secondary school principal)(SS02-PR)“The Government wants to promote IE throughout Hong
Kong, but they should also consider whether there are enoughteachers to support this. Many special schools have already beenclosed. So, how do you use your resources? Can the overall ratioof students to teachers get better?” (Primary school principal)(PS05-PR)
In terms of mode of integration, both primary and secondary school
principals and support teachers interviewed believe that placing students
with different types of sen in the same classroom is not always ideal.
Instead, when students have similar needs and characteristics, they canbe taught together using more accommodating teaching methods. For example, if there are students in the class with poor concentration and a needto move around, teachers can design interactive activities in the classroom
to facilitate learning in a more suitable environment.
“If we idealize it, we can put children of similar categories
and situations in the same class, which would make it easier for
us to handle... For example, if there are children with attention
deficit in the class, who need to move around, the teacher shouldincorporate more movement activities in the lesson design, andeven have them do some exercises such as jumping during class.”(Primary School sen) (PS02-ST)
The above shows that primary and secondary schools are committed
to building an inclusive campus and creating an “education for all” school.
Primary and secondary schools also start with teachers to change their attitudes and mental health, so as to create conditions for promoting caring andinclusive culture at school. At the same time, primary and secondary schools
are committed to building a social circle for students, using peer support
to help all students grow in a caring environment, where peers can also beaware of each other’s needs and seek help early.
The “Catering for Student Differences - Indicators for Inclusion” established by the edb indicates that the values of inclusion require all teachersand staff, students, school management committees, and parents to work
together to create an integrated, collaborative, and stimulating campus. Fromthe interviews, it can also be seen that primary and secondary schools are
striving to establish this ideal vision in terms of culture, policies, and measures according to the indicators. However, during the process in which

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learning needs of students, handling the special situations of students inclass, especially taking care of the learning differences is the most challenging part for teachers. If a student with special learning needs affects the class,
the teacher needs to deal with their problems or situations first, then takecare of other students’ learning, and at the same time, also think of appropriate methods to ensure that students have some learning effectiveness.
This increases the pressure on teachers in the classroom. Overwhelmedteachers also find it difficult to cater to the needs of each student, and can
only make trade-offs and sacrifices, which also affect the establishment of
an inclusive culture.
Status of Parental Care for Children with SEN and Home-School Cooperation
Situation of Family Support
Regarding parental attitudes, based on the results of interviews with parents, secondary school parents are more accepting of their children’s special
learning needs than before and are willing to actively seek help and cooperate with relevant support. However, primary school parents are still relatively resistant to accepting that their children have special learning needs.
“Six years ago, parents were more conservative about theindividual needs of students. Many times, we would take a moreproactive role and ask students if they have any learning needs
that we can support. Then, parents would start to submit reports
to the school. But now, many times on registration day, parents
are already very proactive and want you to know about their children’s situation so that they can receive appropriate help. Thissituation is really different from before. Now, parents are much
more proactive.” (Secondary school social worker) (SS15- SW)“If the school only refers students in Primary 1, there is a gap
in the acceptance level of parents, their willingness to participate, and their ability to provide support at home. They may still
not accept that their child has some special learning needs orthat they are different from other children in their grade. In this
aspect, we need to convince parents and children to practise.”(Primary school support teacher) (PS03-ST)
During the interviews, some parents were found to have not let theirchildren receive support early enough during their primary school years,

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causing them to miss the golden period of professional therapy. Therefore,
interviewed sencos and social workers pointed out that parental education is indispensable, and early strengthening of parents’ understandingof special learning needs can help reduce their wariness and enable theirchildren to be assessed and receive treatment as early as possible.
“In fact, we need to educate both parents and students because parents often have a huge influence on their children. For
example, a friend recently discovered that her child has autism,
but the mother was very out of control and would say negative
things. It may be necessary for professionals to provide relevant
knowledge and advice to parents as soon as they get hold of
their children’s diagnosis, as it can actually affect the student’s
growth.” (Primary school social worker) (PS13-SW)
A primary school principal also stated that there have been parents
who did not recognize their children’s special learning needs outside ofacademic achievements, which shows that parental education is necessary
to change their mindset.
“I have seen students who have special learning needs but
have not been reported. It is very obvious, especially for thosewith autism. Their family members refuse to report it, and there
is not much we can do to help. So the student continues to attend school without much progress because their mother does
their homework for them, and their family does not have highexpectations for their learning. Therefore, I think parental education is very important.” (Primary School Principal) (PS01-PR)“Basically, he doesn’t have any talent in studying, or maybe
his talent is not in academics, but rather in crafts or sports. But
parents might think that crafts and singing are not useful at all.
They might wonder what’s the use of being able to run fast on a
sports field if you can’t do well in academics. This can cause frustration for the child, as parents may not be satisfied because they
focus on the child’s grades, which the child is unable to produce.”(Primary School Principal) (PS08-PR)“I have also seen some new arrival mothers say, ‘we havenever encountered such things before. Perhaps our child misbehaved and didn’t listen to us before.’ Therefore, I think parental education is important, and it should start early, not just insecondary school. We hope to identify and provide support tostudents earlier, rather than waiting until problems arise before
remedying them. We need to take action in all areas, and parental
education should start early, even in primary school. Sometimes

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we request parents to give us the records of their child in primary school.” (Secondary School senco) (SS04-SE+RSW+ST)
Quality and Waiting Time of Professional Support Services
Primary school parents interviewed indicated that the waiting time forgovernment services is too long and the other private therapeutic services
are also very expensive. Apart from affordability, it also results in their children with special learning needs being unable to receive timely service support. For example, children with Asperger’s syndrome may need long-term
treatment. If parents cannot afford private therapeutic services, it will affecttheir growth.
“Because I am a single parent, I know that there are some
services available outside, but many of them are very expensive,
so I cannot afford them. The government services are not available to me either because of long waiting time. In fact, there are
difficulties in this regard.” (Primary school parent) (PS-PA06)“My son started music therapy from Primary 2 onwards, it
was private and referred by the principal. It was helpful to thebrain of children with Asperger’s syndrome. Listening to frequencies, it costs $700 per session, and we spent a lot of money[on] listening [sessions] for several years.” (Primary school parent) (SS-PA05)“My son was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, and newenvironment would cause him a lot of stress, which I also haveto bear…. If he stays in the community where the previous kindergarten was, it might be better for him to study in the sameschool with the kindergarten classmates. Everyone would feel
more comfortable, and the transition would be better. They arewilling to accept that he has Asperger’s syndrome, and I am more
willing to accept it too. In the end, there are some resources thatallow us to let him receive treatment at the Heep Hong Society.
Looking back, the resources around us were sufficient, including
occupational therapy and physiotherapy until he was in Primary
5, and later transferred to [Prince of ] Wales Hospital.” (Primaryschool parent) (SS-PA05)
In addition, the lack of suitable support services is also a weakness of thecurrent overall professional support services.
“In fact, there was a community center downstairs from myhome, and they tried their best to help my son with his homework. During the process of registration, I told the staff that hehas dyslexia. I understood that as a tutor, it might be frustrating

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to teach him as a regular student, but I couldn’t find any othersuitable services back then...so we went with it. But who knewthat my son only started going in June, and by August it closed
down. The reason was that the center had been relying on government subsidies, which were just barely enough, but when therent went up, they couldn’t sustain it.” (Primary school parent )(PS-PA0)
Home-School Cooperation
Regarding home-school cooperation, parents stated that if there is regular and good communication with the senco, they will have greater confidence in the school and allow their children to receive support at school.
sencos also stated that gaining the trust of parents is an important partof promoting home-school cooperation and makes it easier to begin supporting students with sen.
“The parents like me very much and they even added me on
WhatsApp. No wonder we have parents willing to volunteer. I
have my own parent group, and parents like to see the one called
coordinator...When I have a good relationship with parents, I
am very honest and say, ‘Mom, you’re not doing it quite right’.
Actually, parents are receptive because we have a good relationship. These are built on relationships.” (Secondary School senco) (SS15-SE)“The vast majority of parents are clearly starting fromscratch, and they are the most difficult to deal with. If we cancontact them well at this stage, it will be very easy for us to referthem to relevant resources. Basically, most parents have agreed
in recent years, but there are three who didn’t agree this year.
However, I will call each of them and say, ‘What will be the consequences if you don’t do this? When you get to secondary school,
the teacher won’t know anything, there won’t be timely support,
you’ll have to queue up to see an EP again. When they get to secondary school, they have a chance to get exam accommodations,which are even more necessary, and it will affect their university
entrance.’ When I talk about these things, they get scared, andthen they agree!” (Primary School senco) (PS02-SE)“I have a work phone and communicate with others throughWhatsApp. I think WhatsApp is a great instant messaging tool
because you don’t have to coordinate times like you used to withphone calls. Sometimes when parents are busy, they might nothave time to answer our phone calls, but with WhatsApp, I canleave a message or a voice recording and they can respond to me

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later when they have time. I think my communication with parents is good and very close. They can also contact me throughWhatsApp if they have any issues and don’t have to worry about
me being off duty. Of course, I may not be able to respond immediately during holidays, but most of the time, they don’t haveto wait too long. These communication tools are very useful.”(Secondary school teacher) (SS06-CL)
The interviewed principals also indicated that the key to promoting
home-school cooperation is to gain parental support, which relies heavily
on the efforts of the sencos. In addition, EPs believe that there is an increasing trend of parent-child conflicts during the school suspension period
due to the epidemic. How parents can improve their communication andinteraction with their children in the future is a major challenge for promoting home-school cooperation, as it will affect the behavior of students withspecial learning needs in school and have an impact on the school.
“Firstly, parents may not necessarily know how to handle
students with sen. During the school suspension period, bothparents and students are at home, so there may be more friction.
Besides dealing with how students socialize and communicate,
we also have to handle some parent-child conflicts, such as how
to help students with hyperactivity to concentrate. Therefore,
this has become even more difficult. Secondly, some schools ororganizations provide some training online, but most responses believe that face-to-face interaction is better. Of course, it is
not completely ineffective, but the effectiveness of face-to-facetraining is greater than that of online training. So I think this is abigger challenge. (Secondary School EP) (SS02-EP)
In summary, parents of primary school students have insufficientunderstanding and tolerance towards students with special learning needs.
Even if primary schools provide assistance, the parents may not accept theirchildren situation and needs. It affects the support and growth of students.
On the other hand, parents of secondary school students are more proactive in seeking assistance when their children are promoted to secondary
school, making it easier for secondary schools to respond to students’ needs
and situations, and establish a good home-school cooperation relationship.
In order to improve parents’ understanding of special learning needs, principals and social workers in primary and secondary schools unanimously
believe that parental education needs to be strengthened to help parents ac-

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cept their children’s needs and dispel stereotypes about students with special
learning needs. In addition to enabling students to receive appropriate
support as early as possible, a culture of appreciation and care should
also be established for parents to appreciate students’ talents beyond academics, so that students with special learning needs can also develop theirpotential and showcase their strengths.
In terms of parental support, some parents expressed their willingness toseek various forms of support, such as government and external organizations’ therapy. However, government treatment has a long waiting time, andparents need to seek services from other organizations. The cost of these
services is high, and parents have difficulty affording them. Also, suitable
services for students’ needs are lacking, and they cannot provide effective
support for students. This forces parents to rely on school assistance, affecting the effectiveness of support and preventing the promotion of inclusive
culture from schools to communities.
When promoting IE, schools and parents should understand each other’sroles and responsibilities and actively strengthen communication and cooperation to provide appropriate support for students with sen. The actual
situation in primary and secondary schools shows that effective homeschool cooperation can establish a relationship of mutual trust, enabling
schools to help students connect with secondary schools early and receive
support early after their transition to secondary school. For secondary
schools, real-life cases illustrate the importance of communication with parents. In addition to working together to support students, a relationship ofmutual trust can enable schools to support parents, deescalate parent-childconflicts, and allow students to grow up in a positive and healthy family
atmosphere.
Certain Social and Cultural Beliefs Remain Deep-SeatedHong Kong’s Exam-Oriented Culture
At the school level, some secondary school teachers still view attending
university as the only way out, which puts a lot of pressure on students
with special learning needs. They may become demotivated because theycannot keep up with the learning pace. Moreover, the entire Hong Kongsociety places too much emphasis on academic achievement, which loses
sight of the personal abilities of students with special learning needs.

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nervous about this, and they are not willing to make accommodations... even if you offer them a chance, they will not want it,
especially in some elite schools... Some children clearly need to
go to special schools, but parents still want them to try, and theschool has no right to refuse them. [Schools would say] ‘We willtake care of them’. However, the problem is that when parents realize that they cannot force their children, they want to go backto special schools, but they may have to wait in line for a longtime and waste several more years.” (Primary school principal)(PS01-PR)
Some parents even claim that their children are more enthusiastic about
taking the hkdse than they are, which shows the great impact of theexam-oriented culture. At the primary school level, the principals saythat the current education system requires primary school students to facevarious assessments, exams, and tests, the only thing the school can do isto try to make them not hate studying. In the long run, in an exam-oriented
culture, whether it is students, teachers, or schools, all may be losers.
“Actually, sometimes I would just cheer up teachers and students. In primary school, you have to make them hold a pen anddo your best to make them not hate studying, because we haveto take the Pre-S1 hkat to evaluate our school. And there’s tsa
tests, some of which even force the students to take it, especiallythe difficult ones, like for non-Chinese classes.” (Primary School
Principal) (PS06-PR)
Level of Social Acceptance and Growth of Students with SEN
Although society’s tolerance for students with sen has significantly improved, there is still room for improvement in overall social acceptance.
During interviews with primary school parents, some mentioned that
other parents were unhappy with their children being disturbed by students with special learning needs during class.
“Of course, parents want their children to learn in a goodenvironment. There are a few students in the class who are assumed to be prone to violence or emotional outbursts, or they
don’t follow the rules in class, which prevents their children
from learning or make them feel disturbed during class...The
contradiction is the view of other parents to this student. If theteacher accommodates this student, the teacher or school will
face great pressure and need a long time to figure out how weEducating Students with Special Educational Needs in Hong Kong341

can accept this student. This is more difficult.” (Primary School
Principal) (PS08-PR)
Interviewed principals, sencos, and social workers also reported instances where parents falsely declared their children as having sen in orderto gain an advantage during exams.
“I used to teach a student whose mother gave them medication to improve their concentration, which resulted in them performing well in their studies. When they were in Primary 5 and
6, I didn’t think they had adhd, and many of my colleagues also
didn’t think so. But the mother was determined to make theman adhd student... if a well-intentioned educator sees this, they
will not only shed tears but also feel very heartbroken.” (Primaryschool principal) (PS06-PR)
In a fiercely competitive environment, some parents still insist on placing their children with severe sen in ordinary schools, ultimately wasting
their entire primary school years. The actual social atmosphere has not
yet become truly inclusive, as some parents still do not accept their children attending special schools.
“In my district, some parents think, ‘Oh, you want my childto attend a special school? I won’t transfer them, or are you labeling my child?’ The overall social atmosphere has not yet reachedtrue inclusion. So when adults are not thinking in this way, how
can children easily accept and discover each other’s strengths?”(Primary school senco) (PS06-SE)
The current examination system in Hong Kong creates a culture where
society and parents place a strong emphasis on obtaining good grades.
Primary and secondary schools are required to conduct various assessments and examinations according to the standards set by the edb andsociety. This leads to schools and parents placing a high value on exams andtraining students for the sake of good grades. Primary schools focus on
improving students’ performance in the territory-wide system assessment to achieve good ratings and analysis. For secondary schools, the Pre-S1
hkat serves as a placement test and also analyzes the abilities of students toreflect whether their level matches the school’s standards. As public exams
result in relevant score analysis and data, schools compete with each other,and these data become a bargaining chip for attracting students. Therefore,
primary and secondary schools strive to improve exam results, forming a

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learning culture focused on grades, which requires students with special
learning needs to receive exam “training”. As for parents, the exam culture
also makes them focus on grades, and they need to act according to theschool’s level and development, viewing grades as the key to their children’s
learning. Parents’ attention to grades also prompts schools to make more
accommodations to meet parental expectations and societal expectations,forming a vicious cycle.
As a result, the existing examination system influences parents, teachers, and schools, promoting the emergence of exam culture, which makes
students more focused on grades than learning itself. The developmentof knowledge and skills becomes a tool for achieving good grades, which
also makes stakeholders strive to improve students’ grades while ignoring
their other potentials and strengths. With the development of IE, parents
can see that the Government and schools are investing a lot of resourcesin students with special learning needs, but they have different attitudes
towards special arrangements for students. Regardless of their views, parents see their children’s learning as a kind of interests, linking learning,
grades, and future prospects, neglecting the purpose of learning forstudents’ growth. Parents who accept IE only see the measures as beneficial,while those who oppose it resist their children learning together with thosestudents, creating conflicts that frontline teachers and schools must bear.
The policy of integration only puts students in the same space, and parents
and students cannot truly view students with special learning needs as theirpeers. The atmosphere of integration often only remains in the classroom
and the school. Therefore, changes need to be made at the parental and societal level to achieve true integration.
Key Findings of School Case Study
Through conducting case studies with schools (including four primaryschools and four secondary schools) with relatively successful implementation of IE, it was found that the good exemplars of IE in primary schools
include the adoption of a small-class teaching approach, rescheduling teachers’ timetables to allow them more spare time, inviting parents to join classactivities for observation and more interaction, explaining students’ performance with parents to reduce their doubts and resistance, and cooperatingwith professional groups to provide comprehensive support.

Educating Students with Special Educational Needs in Hong Kong343

As for the good exemplars of IE in secondary schools, the success factors include adopting a pull-out approach through co-teaching (1:4 or 1:5;
Teacher: Students with sen), encouraging teachers to participate more intraining of IE, conducting research to review and improve teaching andlearning effectiveness of students with sen in tier-1 support and promoting
cross-disciplinary cooperation for whole-person development.
Full Report of the Study
Readers may refer to the full report of the Study, including its recommendations at https://www.eoc.org.hk/Upload/files/research-report/SEN%20
Study%20(Jun%202023)/senrep~4.PDF.
Endnote
1. In the 2018/19 school year and before, ordinary schools were provided
with additional resources under various modes, including the lsg, the Integrated
Education Programme and the irtp, to support students with sen. Since such additional resources were provided under different modes, some of the schools (e.g.,
primary schools adopting irtp) were not required to report to the edb on the tierof support of each student. Hence, the figures for the 2018/19 school year are lower
than the actual figures.