ERIC Number: EJ1017858
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Jul
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1030-0112
EISSN: N/A
Rhetoric, Accountability, Advocacy: Postschool Transition of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties in Hong Kong
Poon-McBrayer, Kim Fong
Australasian Journal of Special Education, v37 spec iss n1 p4-18 Jul 2013
The international literature reflects the significance of transition services for postschool outcomes of students with disabilities. In 2008, the Hong Kong Government introduced a policy to support students with disabilities, especially those with specific learning difficulties (SLD), to transition to postschool life in inclusive settings. This article focuses on the status of policy implementation in Hong Kong and its link to the higher education participation of students with SLD. Analyses are based on expectations of policymakers for school practices in transition services, parental experiences, and a discussion forum involving postsecondary students with SLD, advocacy groups, and university student affair personnel. Findings reveal a lack of expectation for implementation and school accountability from policymakers, an extremely low participation rate of students with SLD in higher education, a slow development of support systems in higher education, and the significant role played by an advocacy group on moving the higher education support forward in the absence of a policy mandate. By focusing on the close relationship between transition services and postsecondary outcomes, the use of legislation for disability policies to ensure the provision of transition services and the role of self and external advocacy to lobby for such legislation are recommended and discussed.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Transitional Programs, Learning Disabilities, Inclusion, Public Policy, Advocacy, Accountability, College Students, Student Participation, Parents, Experience, Student Personnel Workers
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Hong Kong
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A