Catering for Learner Diversity in Hong Kong and the Promise of Multicultural Education in Schools
摘要
Catering for learner diversity is a significant feature of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) (hereafter referred to as Hong Kong) school curriculum reform. The notion of learner diversity has emphasized the curriculum and teacher responses to students’ varied abilities and approaches to learning. Yet, the multifarious language, cultural and religious/spiritual needs of non-Chinese immigrant populations (or more commonly known as “ethnic minority” and/or “non-Chinese speaking” students) prompt a nascent need to consider ethnic and racial dimensions in learner diversity in Hong Kong schools. This chapter attempts to analyze and problematizes the lack of adequate multicultural attention towards the notion of diversity. Multicultural education is then introduced and proposed as a framework for enriching catering for learner diversity as a curriculum policy element. This unified lens hopes to better reflect the evolving diversity in Hong Kong classrooms and to provide a clearer orientation for equity-oriented curriculum provisions.