Catering for Learner Diversity in Hong Kong Secondary Schools:Insights from the Relationships Between Students’Learning Styles and Approaches

Purpose:Catering for learner diversity is a key issue in the recent educational reforms in Hong Kong.The present study addresses this issue through an investigation of the relationships between students’learning styles and approaches to learning in Hong Kong secondary schools.Design/Approach/Methods:A total of 6,054 junior secondary students in Hong Kong responded to a questionnaire consisting of two instruments.A series of confirmatory factor analysis,two-way analysis of variance,and structural equation modeling analysis were conducted.Findings:The results identified three types of learning style among the students which are characterized by a cognitive orientation,a social orientation,and a methodological orientation.Some significant gender-and achievement-level differences were revealed.Compared with the socially oriented learning style,the cognitively and methodologically oriented learning styles were more extensively and strongly related to students’approaches to learning,even though these students showed a greater preference for the socially oriented learning style.Originality/Value:It is unwise to blindly cater for students’learning styles in classroom teaching and curriculum design.Teachers should adopt a comprehensive and balanced approach toward the design of curriculum and teaching which not only highlights the congruence between students’learning styles and teacher’s pedagogy but also integrates the constructive frictions between them into classroom teaching.

Gifted Education in Hong Kong:A School-Based Support Program Catering to Learner Diversity

Purpose:This study explores the contributions and effectiveness of the Jockey Club“Giftedness into Flourishing Talents”Project(Project GIFT)in supporting learner diversity in gifted education,including meeting the educational and psychological needs of highly capable and gifted students in Hong Kong.Design/Approach/Methods:This study investigates the effectiveness of Project GIFT in supporting the development of diversity in learning in 20 project schools.Through close cooperation with project schools,Project GIFT comprised six developmental areas:school development,curriculum development,teachers’professional development,parent empowerment,student development,and financial support.To further assess the usefulness of the school-based support provided by Project GIFT,this study examines the implementation of school-based gifted education in two project schools based on the aforementioned components.educational program in gifted education that intervened at both Level 1(whole class)and Level 2(pullout)of the three-tiered policy stipulated by the Hong Kong Education Bureau.One of the few gifted education programs implemented in Asia,Project GIFT focused on six key components to specifically support high-ability and gifted students with diverse educational and affective needs.This study shows that Project GIFT significantly enhanced diversity in learning,its collaboration with two key schools resulting in the successful enhancement of school development,professional development,curriculum development,student development,parent empowerment,and financial support.Originality/Value:The article fills the research gap by examining the effectiveness of a schoolbased gifted education program focused on enriching and differentiating curricula for different regular and pull-out programs.In doing so,this article attests to the success of the program in addressing the educational and psychosocial needs of gifted students at local schools in Hong Kong.