http://citers2014.cite.hku.hk/the-fourth-strategy-challenges-for-teachers-of-students-with-special-education-needs/ The Education Bureau of Hong Kong has just published (May 2014) exciting and innovative guidance on ‘The Fourth Strategy on Information Technology in Education.’ The strategy is a challenge for all teachers but in particular it will require ingenuity and creativity from teachers of students with special education needs. Each and every student should be able to benefit from the strategy no matter what their level of attainment or range disabilities. The pedagogical implications have potential to change the mindsets of teachers and to revolutionise the student access to the new information age. This presentation will discuss six special challenges that will permeate the five key actions that are recommended by the EDB.

1. Keith Humphreys,
Honorary International Consultant (UK),
University of Hong Kong
14 June 2014
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2. The new world as seen by the Education Bureau
The proliferation of mobile computing devices and
the availability of rich information on the Internet
enable learning to take place beyond the confines
of time and space.
Learning will no longer be confined to the
classroom or be bound by school timetable and
prescribed textbooks.
It will become more interactive, self-directed and
collaborative.’
The EDB Hong Kong (2014)
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3. Five key actions that will guide the way forward
1. Enhancing schools’ IT infrastructure and re-
engineering the operations mode
2. Enhancing the quality of e learning resources
3. Renewing the curriculum, transforming
pedagogical and assessment practices
4. Building professional leadership, capacity and
communities of practice
5. Involving parents, stakeholders and the
community.
The EDB Hong Kong (2014)
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4. Six significant challenges for teachers of students
in special schools
1. Student attainment levels and diversity
2. Student’s wide range of barriers to learning
caused by disabilities
3. Student earned helplessness
4. Teacher’s educational and special educational
beliefs
5. Special school cultures and size
6. Concepts of who is the major stakeholder
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5. EDB Key Action 1
Enhancing schools’ IT infrastructure and re-engineering
the operations mode
The EDB says it will support a stable high capacity
WiFi infrastructure in each school and provide mobile
computing devices
A special school whose pedagogy is based on whole
class teaching with students sitting in rows or in a
circle will not work
Classrooms will require a different infra-structure
that believes in student centred learning with
students sitting at work stations.
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6. EDB Key Action 2
Enhancing the quality of e learning resources SELTAS
The small size and the diversity of special schools provides
a real challenge.
We need the SELTAS curriculum resource platform.
These may not be catered for on the EDB One Stop Portal
Nor catered for on the EDB Resource Depository
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7. EDB Key Action 3
Renewing the curriculum, transforming pedagogical
and assessment practices (1)
The infra-structure that schools seek to build are dependent
upon their
Educational and special educational beliefs,
pedagogical practices
focus of disability
school culture
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8. EDB Key Action 3
Renewing the curriculum, transforming
pedagogical and assessment practices (2)
 Teachers need to be aware of the range of barriers
to learning created by student’s disabilities
 The majority of students in special schools have
developed a learned helplessness
 Students are often taught to work within teacher
identified objectives that are used as behavioural
outcome.
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9. EDB Key Action 3
Renewing the curriculum, transforming
pedagogical and assessment practices (3)
Teachers still tend to teach the class a whole
 diversity of activity for different students is limited.
 The use of IT as a source of student inspired
retrieval of information is not commonly to be
found
 the information age has not yet commonly reached
the classroom of the student with special needs.
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10. EDB Key Action 4
Building professional leadership, capacity
and communities of practice (1)
Informed school leadership is essential and a real
challenge to the principal’s vision.
The wholesale change of a school’s professional
practice will destabilise many professionals
The speed of technological innovation that is
consumed by students moves far faster than the
teachers can cope with pedagogical change.
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11. EDB Key Action 4
Building professional leadership, capacity and
communities of practice (2)
Collaboration about practice and beliefs amongst teachers is
the key to change.
The barrier will be in the teacher’s mind set and the school
leadership will need to have real conviction if they are to
convince their staff that neither disability nor level of
attainment are a handicap to using information technology.
It is not acceptable to argue that students with special
education needs are incapable seeking information because
of their level of attainment.
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12. EDB Key Action 4
Building professional leadership, capacity
and communities of practice (3)
SAME network for quality education
Began by seeking fundamental pedagogical reform
Establishing a collegial group of schools
Creating collaborative professional practices
Recognising the enormity of the mind-set shifts for
 Principals
 Teachers
 Students
 Parents 12

13. EDB Key Action 4
Building professional leadership, capacity and
communities of practice (4)
 The directive is clear, Education Bureau, Hong Kong
(2014)
 ‘We aim to strengthen student’s self-directed learning,
their creativity, collaboration, problem solving and
computational thinking skills’
 The challenge is to understand what this means when
working with students who are achieving at all levels
attainment.
 The issue is not the information technology dream, the
issue is how to create a new community of educational
practice.
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14. EDB Key Action 5
Involving parents, stakeholders and the
community (3)
 Information technology can provide special
schools with genuine partnership with parents.
 Partnership is not a one way process. It is not only
a process where schools report to parents and tell
them what has been happening.
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15. EDB Key Action 5
Involving parents, stakeholders and the community
We must not let the technology drive the pedagogy
The students are the ultimate stakeholders
The approaches to content rationale, and teaching and
learning must always dominate.
The information age must not pass special education by.
If the students are in control and define their needs they can
dramatically change the teacher’s concept of special education
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16. Critical review of the Fourth Strategy from a special
school perspective
In actions one and two
There is a miscalculation with over-stress on the
technology
and the under emphasis on the information acquisition
In action three
The Fourth Strategy should be addressing fundamental
education reform and not just an IT strategy.
There appears to be a complete lack of appreciation of the
challenges that current teacher pedagogical practices have
on implementing the information age
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17. Critical review of the Fourth Strategy
from a SAME network school perspective
In action four,
 There is insufficient stress on leadership for teachers as
learners and the need to recognise that the success of the
information age will be driven by the teachers and not by
the State
 Establishing communities of good practice requires much
more attention than just rhetoric
In action five
Reaching out to the parents for partnership is a mind set
problem for the teachers not the parents
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