What works for teachers of students with emotional and behavioural difficulties in Hong Kong's special schools

In Hong Kong, students with emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) are generally shunned by teachers in mainstream schools both because of their misconduct and as a result of their disaffected attitude towards learning. Consequently, these students are generally placed in special schools. This paper is the first of its kind to report research findings in all seven EBD schools in Hong Kong. Focus group interviews were conducted to find out what were the most effective teaching approaches to meet the needs of these students. The present study found that there are general and distinctive approaches employed by teachers, some of which appear to be culturally oriented. This paper argues that teachers in Hong Kong tend to intertwine their cultural background and life experiences with commonsense logic in managing their disaffected students. It was also apparent from the study that the majority of their practices and epistemological knowledge are underpinned by some sound theoretical frameworks. Several implications are drawn from the findings. Copyright © 2008 Trentham Books.