Special Educational Needs | DSEJ predicts short supply in mainstreaming vacancies

Chow Pui Leng

The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) has estimated that there will be a shortage of mainstreaming places in local secondary schools for students with special educational needs (SENs), especially next year.
However, the head of the Centre of Psycho-Pedagogical Support and Special Education, Chow Pui Leng, reiterated that there is sufficient communication with schools. She also believes that more schools will be willing to provide additional places for SENs after sufficient preparations have been undertaken.
“[For] the issue regarding [mainstreaming] places in schools [for SENs], we can frankly tell you that there is a short supply, especially for the junior and senior secondary [SENs]. Fortunately, although there is a shortage, no student is queuing for places,” she said.
Ms Chow made the comment during a press conference yesterday after the Macau government’s Education Committee.
The head of the centre added that only two students in the early stage of child education are still searching for school places.
Mainstreaming is an educational practice that introduces SENs into regular classes. This practice is based on the belief that by allowing SENs to learn alongside regular students, the former will be able to achieve a higher academic performance, and acquire better social skills. DSEJ believes that it is optimal to have a maximum of three SENs in a mainstreaming classroom of 25 students.
Currently, there are more than 1,300 SENs in Macau for the 2013/2014 school year, with around 600 in mainstreaming classes, constituting around 1.89 percent of the total student population. DSEJ has observed a growth of about 100 SENs in each school year.
Ms Chow suggested that given increased social awareness and the fact that more parents are paying attention to SENs, DSEJ foresees a lack of school places for junior and senior secondary students in future.
Nevertheless, the head of the centre said that school principals were demonstrating great concern for more places for SENs in mainstreaming classes.
“Macau has more than 100 schools. It takes every school to admit a few of [the SENs], maybe one or two of them, then all the SENs [who are eligible can be admitted into mainstreaming classes],” she said.
Ms Chou reiterated that as long as schools have the confidence and enough human resources, all SENs who can be placed in mainstreaming classes should be able to find places in regular schools.
Among all the local schools, the nine public schools are bearing a heavier burden in terms of admitting SENs. There are also 28 private schools that provide mainstreaming places for SENs. Ms Chow said that many principals told them that the decision to provide mainstreaming places for SENs cannot be made only by the school administration or teachers, but that the whole school, including other students and parents, must understand the process.
DSEJ has been doing school-
based promotion on mainstreaming in recent years. Ms Chow said that schools would only be confident to admit SENs once they are well-prepared.
“We have heard positive responses during the recent meetings with the heads of schools. Many schools are willing to launch the relevant promotion in their schools first and gather enough staff members before offering mainstreaming places to SENs,” she said.
In terms of the amount of teachers specialised in SENs, Ms Chou believes that there is no shortage of this type of teaching staff. DSEJ will also continue to foster more SEN specialised teachers through measures such as providing scholarships.
The Bureau’s statistics showed that there are 109 teaching staff in the 2013/2014 school year in Macau who specialize in special needs education.