Challenges and management frameworks of residential schools for students with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties in Hong Kong

This study by Stella Suk-Ching Chong, an assistant professor, and Ka-wai Leung, a teaching fellow, both at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, focuses on the perspectives of hostel staff from six residential schools for students with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties. Individual or focus group interviews were conducted to explore the range of challenges perceived by staff and the strategies they employed to address the needs of the students. The software N-Vivo was used to analyse both qualitative and quantitative data. This study finds that staff met a multiplicity of challenges, of which 67.9% were management-related rather than student-related (32.1%). In relation to effective strategies for staff, co-ordinated and concerted efforts are frequently used between different stakeholders, such as intra-hostel-staff-student collaboration (84%), inter-hostel-community collaboration (8.6%), inter-hostel-home collaboration (5.1%), and finally inter-hostel-school collaboration (2.2). In summing up the findings of various approaches deemed favourable by different residential staff, a residential school management framework is conceptualised and presented in this article. Implications and future research directions are also highlighted. Copyright © 2012 The Authors.