Multiculltural education in Hong Kong primary schools : promoting equitable learning opportunities

Yeung, SA

Multiculltural education in Hong Kong primary schools : promoting equitable learning opportunities

Yeung, SA

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2009

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Yeung, SA
dc.date.accessioned	2012-07-12T05:02:03Z
dc.date.accessioned	2012-12-15T03:53:45Z
dc.date.available	2012-07-12T05:02:03Z
dc.date.available	2012-12-15T03:53:45Z
dc.date.issued	2009
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/20416
dc.description	University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
dc.description.abstract	The thesis investigates how one local mainstream primary school in Hong Kong is making multicultural education possible. Learner and learning diversity is an increasingly complex issue in schools world-wide. In Hong Kong, the current education policy has as a core value that all students have the right to learn. Yet finding effective ways to manage students with diverse educational needs is problematic for local schools. This research is a case study of one primary school that is trying to implement multicultural educationto improve equitable learning opportunities for all their students. The current research topic emerged following findings from a previous project in which one hundred local Hong Kong teachers were found to have negative perceptions regarding catering for student diversity in their teaching (Yeung, 2005, 2006). The teachers' perceptions of students' abilities were influenced by students' test scores or socio-cultural backgrounds. The local teachers are trained to work effectively with only one dominant culture and they are unprepared to acknowledge the cultural differences in schools. Teaching students from a range of backgrounds with diverse needs brings about feelings of anxiety in schools. In the current study, I emply a constructivist approach, that is, I discuss how teachers re-shaped their perceptions, beliefs and behaviours as they developed and implemented a school-based multicultural education project. I sought to understand and examine how multicultural education was socially constructed and enacted by teachers in one school. The two major research questions are: Firstly, how is multicultural education socially constructed and enacted by teachers in mainstream school through the integration of organizational, collegial and student-teacher factors? Secondly, if there are any barriers, what are appropriate strategies or supportive measures that foster implementation of multicultural education in a local school? This is qualitative study that uses ethnographically-oriented methods comprising document analysis, observations, semi-structured interviews and focus group meetings. I examine Hong Kong education policies and multicultural education theories and develop a transformative and holistic approach to achieving multicultural change in a whole school. In conclusion, it is expected that the study findings all assist educators in Hong Kong to further understand present challenges in the school system regarding managing diversity and attaining multicultural education goals. In particular, the study provides positive teaching and learning strategies that could be implemented to address problems of diverse learning needs, and to promote or develop equitable opportunities for all students.	en
dc.format	Thesis (EdD)	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/20416/13/02Whole.pdf
dc.relation.replaces	http://hdl.handle.net/2100/1365
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/ppc
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	Multicultural education.	en
dc.subject	Primary schools.	en
dc.subject	Hong Kong.	en
dc.subject	Inclusive education.	en
dc.title	Multiculltural education in Hong Kong primary schools : promoting equitable learning opportunities	en
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access

Abstract:

The thesis investigates how one local mainstream primary school in Hong Kong is making multicultural education possible. Learner and learning diversity is an increasingly complex issue in schools world-wide. In Hong Kong, the current education policy has as a core value that all students have the right to learn. Yet finding effective ways to manage students with diverse educational needs is problematic for local schools. This research is a case study of one primary school that is trying to implement multicultural educationto improve equitable learning opportunities for all their students. The current research topic emerged following findings from a previous project in which one hundred local Hong Kong teachers were found to have negative perceptions regarding catering for student diversity in their teaching (Yeung, 2005, 2006). The teachers' perceptions of students' abilities were influenced by students' test scores or socio-cultural backgrounds. The local teachers are trained to work effectively with only one dominant culture and they are unprepared to acknowledge the cultural differences in schools. Teaching students from a range of backgrounds with diverse needs brings about feelings of anxiety in schools. In the current study, I emply a constructivist approach, that is, I discuss how teachers re-shaped their perceptions, beliefs and behaviours as they developed and implemented a school-based multicultural education project. I sought to understand and examine how multicultural education was socially constructed and enacted by teachers in one school. The two major research questions are: Firstly, how is multicultural education socially constructed and enacted by teachers in mainstream school through the integration of organizational, collegial and student-teacher factors? Secondly, if there are any barriers, what are appropriate strategies or supportive measures that foster implementation of multicultural education in a local school? This is qualitative study that uses ethnographically-oriented methods comprising document analysis, observations, semi-structured interviews and focus group meetings. I examine Hong Kong education policies and multicultural education theories and develop a transformative and holistic approach to achieving multicultural change in a whole school. In conclusion, it is expected that the study findings all assist educators in Hong Kong to further understand present challenges in the school system regarding managing diversity and attaining multicultural education goals. In particular, the study provides positive teaching and learning strategies that could be implemented to address problems of diverse learning needs, and to promote or develop equitable opportunities for all students.

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