A training framework will be developed for teachers to improve their capacity to support students with learning difficulties in the five years starting from the 2007-08 school year.

The Education & Manpower Bureau said thematic courses on specific learning difficulties for English- and Chinese-language teachers will also be available.

The Ombudsman today published a report on the assessment of children with specific learning difficulties. It said the current figures of students assessed to have the problem and the corresponding prevalence rate may not reflect the real situation.

There is a need to review the assessment criteria and the educational psychology service, it added. There should be better co-ordination in assessment services the bureau and the Department of Health provide, and the two units should clearly delineate their roles.

Recommendations welcomed

Welcoming the report, the bureau said it will follow up and put into practice the feasible recommendations. It said while the Ombudsman's direct investigation was underway, a number of additional measures had been introduced, including the five-year Read & Write Project, and a leaflet on understanding and helping children with special learning difficulties.

This year the bureau will continue improving the assessment tools and will publish guidelines for secondary school teachers to help students with problems, and a mathematics resource package to support primary school pupils in need.

To raise parent awareness of the issue and related services, the bureau will revise the leaflet on the early identification and intervention of learning difficulties programme to depict the assessment procedures.

Parent assistance

Officers will also hold case conferences with school personnel and parents to discuss appropriate support measures for the students.

Where necessary, parents can obtain from the bureau a copy of the educational psychologist's assessment report.