Teacher Development Professional learning for Hong Kong language teachers: Collaborative mode more

Most in-service teachers in Hong Kong schools receive their training through part-time short courses, in which lectures are the major training mode. Traditional approaches that focus on short-term direct transmission to professional development are increasingly regarded as relatively ineffective. This study aims to use a collaborative mode of training for in-service language teachers of special schools for students with intellectual disabilities. Learning communities were organized with the goal of providing participants with a platform through which it is possible to conduct an interactive exchange of ideas and expertise, mutually addressing the issues pertaining to children with language problems. Twelve learning communities were organized. Participants included four educators and 31 expert teachers as trainers, and 101 in-service teachers as trainees. A follow-up survey was conducted to collect information for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme. Significant responses were received from trainees as the learned skills and knowledge could be applied to their own schools.