READ & WRITE: A Jockey Club Learning Support Network

In July 2006, the Hong Kong Jockey Club launched a project with an endowment of over HK$100 million to provide comprehensive educational support to children with specific learning difficulties (SpLD). "Read & Write" comprises research and development of assessment tools as well as training of Chinese language teachers at primary schools in Hong Kong. It also includes provision of school and district-based support and development of learning packages aimed at establishing best practices of programs for SpLD students. Collaborators of the project team come from different educational sectors, including the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Education Bureau (EDB), Heep Hong Society for Handicapped Children, and Society of Boys' Centres.

Teacher Development for Students with Specific Learning Difficulties

Prof. Cheng Pui-wan of the Department of Educational Psychology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, leads a team in charge of the "Read & Write" project's five-year teacher development program. The Jockey Club has allocated more than HK$35 million of the project funds to teacher development; this training program will provide high-quality professional development to improve the success of educational interventions for students with literacy difficulties. The program will address, among other initiatives, theories and methods of SpLD identification, development of materials for curricular reinforcement, and practices of literacy intervention. The scope of teacher training will be sizable: between six to eight Chinese language teachers from each primary school in Hong Kong will take part in the training and more than 5,000 teachers will be trained in the five-year period.