Title:
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Teachers' attitudes inclusive education in secondary schools in Hong Kong
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Inclusive education has become an international education issue emerging in many
developing countries over the last decade. As a developed city, Hong Kong has its
own inclusive policies and first implemented inclusive education more than 15 years
ago. Although a large amount of funding is injected into this area in Hong Kong
each year, many researchers still comment that the inclusion in Hong Kong is far from
satisfactory. As teachers are the frontline service providers and commonly
recognized as key agents that lead to successful inclusion, their attitudes towards
inclusive education are important and should be examined. The present study
focused on Hong Kong secondary school teachers' attitudes towards inclusion as well
as factors affecting their attitudes in order to draw a clearer picture of the current
situation of inclusive education in Hong Kong. Furthermore, this study aims to
explore teachers' difficulties in teaching students with special educational needs (SEN)
as well as levels of support from the government in the implementation of inclusive
education in Hong Kong.
In order to investigate this topic, mixed-method research was carried out in this study,
applying a quantitative approach by using questionnaires and a qualitative approach
through interviews. One hundred and fifty Hong Kong secondary school teachers
I responded to a survey in the questionnaire-filling phase while 12 teachers participated
in the interview sessions, during which two group interviews and four individual
interviews were held.
It was interesting to discover that on one hand, the teachers acknowledged the right of
students with SEN to be included in regular classes, but on the other, they considered
that inclusive education presented many challenges. The study concluded that most
of the participants had relatively slightly unfavourable attitudes towards both the
general concept of inclusive education and its implementation in Hong Kong. Five
factors were identified that affected these attitudes: (1) SEN knowledge and training;
(2) availability of personnel and material support; (3) type of disability; (4) severity of
disability and (5) inclusive experience. The difficulties of teaching inclusive classes
in Hong Kong secondary schools were also revealed in this study. They were: heavy
workload; large class size; insufficient support; insufficient training; disciplinary
problems and stress from the examination culture. Besides, the participants'
concerns about the government's inclusive policies and planning were also mentioned.
The teachers also revealed that there were instances of the inappropriate use of
inclusive education funding in their schools. In addition, two special phenomena
regarding inclusive education in Hong Kong were discovered and they were named
'Killing school effect' and 'Tricky inclusion'.
Recommendations are outlined for various stakeholders including education officials,
school leaders, special need educators, and teacher training institutions;
recommendations are also made for future research in Hong Kong in the field of
inclusive education.
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