The challenge of promoting ethnic minority education and cultural diversity in Hong Kong schools : from policy to practice = El desafío de promover la educación de los grupos étnicos minoritarios y la diversidad cultural en las escuelas de Hong Kong : de las políticas a la práctica

Abstract

El desafío de promover la educación de los grupos étnicos minoritarios y la diversidad cultural en las escuelas de Hong Kong: de las políticas a la prácticaMing-tak Hue & Kerry J. Kennedy * ABSTRACT An important feature of Hong Kong's education reform over the past decade has been the articulation of the "no loser principle". This policy statement was meant to signal that all students are valuable and will benefit from both basic and senior secondary education. Yet barriers remain for the 2.9% of students under the age of 15 who can be classified as ethnic minorities. Until the 2008 Racial Discrimination Ordinance (RDO), the educational needs of these students remained an invisible issue for the school system. This article examines the policy context in which Hong Kong schools have made provisions for ethnic minority students, and reviews classroom practices that operationalize these policies on a daily basis. In an interview study involving 32 teachers' narratives of how they managed the cultural diversity of ethnic minority students in classrooms (Hue & Kennedy, * The Hong Kong Institute of Education (China). MONOGRÁFICO Educación y grupos minoritarios 118Revista Española de Educación Comparada, 23 (2014), 117-134 ISSN: 1137 2012, 2013), it was reported that at the practical level, teachers struggle to meet the diverse needs of students and to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. The implications of promoting ethnic minority education at the three levels of policy, practice and research are discussed. KEY WORDS:Anti-discrimination; Cultural diversity; Ethnic minority. RESUMENUn rasgo importante de las reformas educativas puesta en marcha en Hong Kong a lo largo de la última década ha sido el "principio del no perdedor". Esta afirmación política estaba orientada a señalar que todos los alumnos son importantes y se beneficiarán de una educación básica y secundaria. Sin embargo, se mantiene una barrera para el 2,9% de alumnos menores de 15 años clasificados como pertenecientes a alguna minoría étnica. Hasta la Orden de Discriminación Racial (Racial Discrimination Ordinance, RDO) de 2008, las necesidades educativas de estos alumnos permanecían ocultas para el sistema educativo. Este artículo examina el contexto político en el que las escuelas de Hong Kong han aprobado medidas especiales para los alumnos de minorías étnicas, y revisa las prácticas de aula que a diario hacen operativas estas políticas. A través de un estudio de entrevistas que recogen los testimonios de 32 profesores sobre cómo abordan la diversidad cultural que representan los alumnos pertenecientes a minorías étnicas (Hue y Kennedy, 2012, se pude establecer que al nivel de la práctica, los profesores luchan por responder a las diversas necesidades de sus alumnos y encontrar los medios para atender a la diversidad cultural. Se discuten las implicaciones que tiene promover la educación de las minorías étnicas en los tres niveles: político, práctico e investigador.

Factor Structure of Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale for School-teachers in Hong Kong

“…The teachers rated teaching relationships (cultural harmony) as the most important factor in the tripartite model of multicultural-teaching competency developed in this study. This emphasis on teaching relationships or cultural harmony was also observed in Hue & Kennedy's (2014) qualitative study, contributing to a new definition of multiculturalism among Chinese teachers in Hong Kong, as described below.…”

“…This process of division creates four categories of students: Hong Kong Chinese students, EMSs born in Hong Kong, new immigrant EMSs, and new immigrant students from mainland China. Students in the first category are considered local, and the others non-local (Hue & Kennedy, 2014). These students are grouped differently at different schools.…”

“…In an extensive study of Hong Kong teachers, Hue and Kennedy (2014) explored constructs of multiculturalism observed among local Chinese teachers. They identified four main elements of multiculturalism: recognition of students' different learning styles, management of cultural diversity, promotion of harmonious interpersonal relationships, and creation of culturally integrated environments.…”

“…Students who could be taught in Chinese were streamed into Chinese/local classes, which generally comprised local Chinese students and new immigrants from mainland China. Students who could neither speak nor read Chinese, such as new immigrant EMSs and EMSs born in Hong Kong, were streamed into either ethnicminority/non-local classes or mixed classes (Hue & Kennedy, 2014). The teachers reported that the Chinese students and the EMSs had no opportunities to interact with each other, except when brought together in school contexts outside the classroom.…”

“…Most of their difficulties were caused by a lack of training in multicultural education provided in professional-development courses for Hong Kong teachers. In sum, managing the diverse learning needs of ethnic-minority and Chinese students in Hong Kong was regarded by both the teachers and the school managers involved in this study as an extremely urgent task (Hue & Kennedy, 2014).…”