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Education

Education of Students with Special Educational Needs

Students with more severe or multiple disabilities are referred to special schools for intensive support, subject to the assessment and recommendation of specialists and parents' consent. Others with special educational needs (SEN) attend ordinary schools. As at September, there were 60 aided special schools, 21 of which had boarding facilities, providing about 9,200 school places and 1,150 boarding places. Some 53,180 students with SEN were enrolled in public-sector ordinary primary and secondary schools. The government provides these schools with additional resources, professional support and teacher training. Professional officers from the bureau visit these schools regularly to advise on school policies and support measures in implementing integrated education.

From 2019-20, all public-sector ordinary primary and secondary schools are provided with an additional SEN coordinator post and use the Learning Support Grant, with additional regular teaching posts offered as appropriate, to support integrated education. All public-sector ordinary schools also receive the School-based Educational Psychology Service, under which the ratio of educational psychologists to schools is 1:4 at schools with a comparatively large number of students with SEN. School-based speech therapist posts are created in public-sector schools by phases to implement the Enhanced School-based Speech Therapy Service. At the beginning of 2019-20, about 38 per cent of teachers in public-sector schools had completed structured training programmes of 30 hours or more to help them cater for students with SEN.

The Endeavour Merit Award and Endeavour Scholarship recognise excellence in post-secondary students with SEN at publicly funded and self-financing institutions respectively.

Gifted Education

The government attaches great importance to supporting gifted students in developing their potential. Professional development programmes, together with learning and teaching resources, are designed to equip teachers with knowledge and skills in gifted education. School networks at both primary and secondary levels are organised to promote professional exchange among schools and teachers. Territory-wide competitions in different disciplines provide a platform for students to demonstrate their areas of strength and widen their horizons. Outstanding students thus identified are given further training and nominated to take part in international competitions.

The government-subvented Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education provides gifted students with out-of-school learning through courses, competitions, conferences, mentoring, online courses and advanced learning programmes. For parents of gifted children, it offers the Parent Education Programme, outreach, assessment and consultation.

The Gifted Education Fund, set up in 2016, had received a total injection of $1.6 billion from the bureau by end-2019 to finance a wide variety of advanced learning programmes outside school for gifted students.

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