Showing papers in "Asia-pacific Education Researcher in 2003"

A Late Developer - Gifted Education in Malaysia within a Global Context

Abstract: Gifted education is a relatively neglected aspect of the Malaysian education system, both within the local community and at the ministry level. The absence of a national policy addressing the specific needs of gifted children is surprising not only in the light of other educational innovations within Malaysia, but also because many of Malaysia’s neighbors have well established programs for gifted children. Despite this situation, Malaysia has an opportunity to build a gifted education program that, in the context of educational globalization, is unique in the international community. To guide this development, a generic model for gifted education is described, based on four components (including policy development, implementation, advocacy and research & teacher education). However, this paper argues that Malaysia must develop its own conceptions of giftedness where the individual character of the three major ethnic groups is recognized. Finally, a number of recommendations are made for both Malaysian universities and the National Association of Gifted Children Malaysia in terms of research, teacher education, and policy development that also provide examples for other nations to study when meeting the needs of gifted children within a global society.

Integrating Primary School Curriculum in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China

Abstract: "Learning to Learn" has been highlighted as a key element of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s recent curriculum reform. This is despite the successes achieved by Hong Kong pupils, under existing methods of teaching, ill recent international comparative studies of achievement. It is proposed that the reformed school curriculum should help students to achieve the educational aims of promoting life-long learning and whole-person development. In implementing these changes, the curriculum reform in Hong Kong appears to be moving in the opposite direction to the practice in western countries with a shift away from a subject-based curriculum towards greater integration for an open and flexible curriculum framework. This paper considers the main potential difficulties that the education community of Hong Kong may encounter in seeking to implement a programme of school-based curriculum integration.

Essential Competencies for Teachers in Special Schools: A Perspective from Hong Kong

Abstract: This paper summarizes developments in the teacher competency movements in Britain, US and Australia with particular reference to the field of special education. The writers describe the scope and potential uses of professional competency lists for special education teachers, and discuss methods for developing and validating such instruments. They illustrate one such method using data from a survey in Hong Kong in which 61 Chinese teachers in special schools were asked to self-report essential knowledge, skills and personal qualities they require in their daily work. Data from Hong Kong are compared with research evidence from other countries and also with existing special education teacher competency lists. The results indicate that the teachers in Hong Kong appear to require almost identical knowledge, skills and personal attributes as those described in competency lists for special educators from other countries, thus suggesting there may be reasonable cross-cultural validity in such instruments. Drawing on the data from Hong Kong and overseas the writers then provide a core competency checklist that could be used to evaluate the relevance of curriculum content in pre-service and in-service special education courses.