A collaborative,collegial and more cohesive approach to supporting educational reform for inclusion in Hong Kong

Together with the many advantages incurred by educational reform there are concomitantly a number of challenges that have to be addressed. In the field of special education there have probably been more changes in the past decade than in any other area of education. In 2006, Hong Kong is undoubtedly at the cusp of major changes which continue to reflect the paradigm shifts occurring internationally. One area of concern for all is the issue of support for learners with special needs. It is clear that as more learners with disabilities are included in regular classes support services are moving relatively quickly from a withdrawal one-on-one intervention model that is no longer viable, to increasingly providing support in class by co-teaching, or even redesigning support so that it is aimed at the teacher rather than the child. Additionally, support services are becoming more sophisticated as parents demand greater attention to the specific needs of their child and as they expect educational systems to provide the most up to date practices. For every child with a special need there are many stakeholders who seek to provide some form of support. This can become quite overwhelming, staccato in its implementation, and demanding in the extreme, thus resulting in a disjointed unworkable approach. This paper will consider how support can be redesigned to provide a more collaborative, collegial and cohesive approach that is manageable within the current transformations that are occurring in Hong Kong.