From the Hollywood film "Dangerous Minds" (非常教師) and Japanese TV show "Great Teacher Onizuka" (G.T.O.), we may have an impression that it is not an easy task to tackle a class of mixed abilities, which have behavioral problems at the same time. In reality, though, students' behavior may not be as exaggerated as those shown in films, students' abilities and needs are mixed and diverse in the ordinary classes, not necessary in special schools. Students are never a homogeneous group. Each child is unique; therefore their needs in education are diverse. Dealing with individual differences between students within a classroom can be viewed as one of the most challenging tasks of a teacher. We need to be sensitive about the individual needs of students and be able to appreciate the individual differences between the students, in order to develop the potential of students into fullest.
The introduction of compulsory education in 1978 for all children up to secondary 3 in Hong Kong means schools have to cater for students with varied abilities and learning needs. Regardless of which type of school we are teaching at, we often find a wide range of ability within a class of students. Even when students fall within a very similar range of overall ability as a result of streaming, they may still vary in their abilities in one way or another. We can easily point out the brightest students and low-achievers in every class. Those academic high-achievers and bright students may be gifted children. They may have high intelligence, with creative thinking and production, most probably have better school performance then their classmates. For a better development of the giftedness, special cares and educational programmes are needed. However, compulsory education is for the equality of the society, as too much emphasis on excellence will create an elitist society, just like Singapore. Then, mainstream schools may not be an ideal place for those gifted students. On the other hand, too great an emphasis on equality has the drawback of neglecting and wasting outstanding potential in some children. How to make a lesson plan and design assignments for the gifted children without elitism in class became one of the main challenges of teaching in Hong Kong schools. By achieving so, teachers may give more chances for the giftedness to be the leader of study groups, presenting task which are challenging, with complex ideas and sophisticated methods, and adopt an accepting rather than a judgmental attitude towards the ideas and products of the students. It is important for us to recognise and understand the characteristics of gifted children, so that their potential can be developed as early as possible, and suitable educational programmes are provided to cater for their needs. There is still no definitive "best method" of educating the gifted, however, it is the teacher, the curriculum, the teaching methods used, as well as accelerated learning in groups which make the difference, rather than administrative arrangements or programme types alone.
Special education is not just for those in special schools or special classes but is for students who may need more help than their classmates. We call them as "children with learning difficulties" (CWLD). CWLD is not a defined group, nor have readily identified characteristics. In fact, everyone is likely to have some difficulty with learning at some time. Therefore, how to help such students is not only one of the main challenges of teaching in Hong Kong schools, but a common problem of teachers. We should bear in mind that when we talk about learning difficulties, what we are talking is students' academic abilities in most of the times. Perhaps children who did worse is not because of something called "low ability" but because they have poor and ineffective strategies for learning and problem solving. These strategies are which can be taught. Bruner (1965) suggested that "any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development." Therefore, we must remain optimistic in our approaches with students who are claimed to have "low ability". Every teacher has a responsibility to prevent learning difficulty and to support all students' learning. In fact, those with learning difficulties do learn many things, but may not necessarily be what the teacher wants. Therefore learning difficulty can be defined as a mismatch between the curriculum available and the experience, the interests and the abilities of the student. The syllabus is not immediately available for reform by teachers, but the methods and organisation of learning and teaching are. Just as the giftedness, there is no one single method has proved to be effective for all situations. In dealing with students with learning difficulties, we need to be flexible in our choice of methods and approaches, bearing in mind individual differences between students and the goals of learning. In order to achieving so, we must move away from the sole use of lecturing approaches and try to meet individual and special needs by creating more cooperative classrooms. Student-centred approach may be better for students' growth and development.
Teaching should never be constrained within a classroom, just as the mission of our schools are not limited to develop the intellectual abilities of students. Gardner (1985) suggested that intelligence is composed of 7 frames. He calls these "multiple intelligences", includes linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences. To Gardner, a measurement of intelligence should be a full measurement of the seven frames that he proposed, and so all the seven multiple intelligence frames should be given opportunities for development in schools. Gardner and many others argue for the view that intelligence is made up of a facet of factors of which the "academic" qualities of a person is only a part, and not the whole. Students are born with the potential to learn and to process the knowledge we, the teachers are teaching, and it is our job to develop such potential to the fullest. How to give our students, with diverse needs and abilities an all-rounded and fair development is another major challenge of Hong Kong teachers. We should be knowledgeable about the resources and opportunities available to and suitable for our students, be sensitive about the individual needs and be able to appreciate the individual differences between the students.
Besides the three main challenges discussed above, there are some constraints also played a major role in teaching. They are the large class size (which will reduce teacher-pupil interaction), time constraint (resulted form the tight teaching syllabus) and not enough professional training. The first and second constraints are institutional problems, which are not under teachers' control. The last factor is something that can be solved. Teachers may read articles and books, or have further study on education.
In conclude teachers must cater for every kind of child, no matter they are
gifted or with learning difficulties. If teachers are viewed as key persons
in developing the thinking and learning of children, we are then the engineers
shaping the intellectual ability of children into their future. We have a definite
role to play in the process of developing and assessing the intelligence of
children through the daily teaching of our students. As no one single student
is the same, we have to be flexible in planning lessons, and try to adopt student-centred
approach in teaching.
David Wong Wing Chung
January 2001
〔學術研究〕