Supporting Students with Learning Difficulties in

Mainstream Schools: The Case of Singapore

Kim Fong Poon-McBrayer

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Abstract

Students with learning disabilities continue to form the single largest category of special needs around the world. Mixed with behavioral and emotional difficulties, their diverse needs are not always apparent and present great challenges to educators. Developed nations, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, have legislations and/or firm commitment through policies on delivering an education with appropriate support for these students in mainstream schools. Singapore is a small and competitive nation in Asia. Singapore’s only natural resource is her four million citizens. Being a small nation, Singapore highly emphasizes the significance of education. The education system in Singapore is built upon elitism. Students with learning disabilities are not defined or identified in Singapore. These students may be considered as having language and reading problems, low academic interest, low motivation, or inadequate family support. Nevertheless, some programs have been established to support the “weaker” students’ learning in mainstream schools. The purpose of this article is to examine and analyze these students’ educational conditions and future prospects through understanding the current mainstream education system, the provisions of special education, and the programs for weaker students in mainstream schools. Insights and recommendations for the education of students with learning disabilities will be presented.

在芸芸各類特殊需要中，有學習障礙的學生仍是最大的一群。但是他們的行為和情緒問題，令他們的各種學習需要並不完全顯露，這給予教師們很大的挑戰。一些已發展的國家，如美國、英國、澳洲等均有法律或政策在普通學校裡來提供適合的教育。星加坡是亞洲的一個極具競爭力的國家，其唯一資源是人才；所以星加坡非常重視教育。星加坡的教育建於精英制度。有學習障礙的學生不會獲得正式的評估和界定，一般祇會被視作有語言及閱讀困難、學術習興趣低、學習動機低或缺乏家庭支援。無論如何，星政府在普通學校設立了一些支援計劃來幫助這些”較弱”的學生。本文的主要目的是審查和分析這些學習情況及從而是瞭解現時的主流教育制度、特殊教育制度、支援計劃來推測他們將來的學習情況。在文章後部會提出及討論一些觀察及建議。

Key words: mainstream support 支援主流學校

learning disabilities 學習障礙

learning difficulties 學習困難

special education 特殊教育