對於澳門特殊需求學生教育的體驗: 來自自閉症兒童家長的聲音

隨著相關制度立法和特區政府的資源投放,澳門特殊需求學生的教育近年來得到長足發展。然而,目前已有的研究對於澳門在落實和實踐融合教育的過程中,相關制度和配套舉措在多大程度上能夠為特殊教育需求學生提供適切教育的探討不是很充分。有學者提倡展開對於特殊需求學生的安置狀況和後續追蹤的研究,以對融合教育的實施做出更為全面的評估。由此,本研究旨在從家長的視角出發,根據其親身體驗,對本澳融合教育的相關制度和措施的實踐情況進行反饋。
為合理控制分析變量,本研究的研究對象選擇是被評估為不同程度自閉症兒童的家長。按照特教生進入教育的過程,瞭解他們對子女評估安置、就學體驗和學習效果三個階段的經歷和反饋。本研究採用多樣的抽樣方式,其中包括立意抽樣、便利抽樣及滾雪球抽樣的方式,以半結構式深入訪談開展研究,訪談了就讀於本澳融合班、特教小班和特教班中自閉症兒童的 16 位家長。結構-能動性理論被用作分析框架,以更好地理解家長在現有教育系統架構下的角色。
研究結果顯示家長在特教生學校教育過程中扮演著不可或缺的角色。他們既是特殊教育需求子女受教育過程的參與者,也是為子女追求符合發展需求的教育的行動者。雖然不同組別的家長對子女的受教育過程和效果有不同反饋,但是研究顯示所有組別的家長們由發現子女的特殊教育需求開始,便不斷行使其能動性,為子女爭取適切教育。這些能動性體現在他們通過申請和參與評估,擇校入學,親師溝通,家校合作,轉學等過程中。與此同時,澳門現行的教育政策和措施作為制度層面的結構,亦為特教生家長提供了相對寬鬆的制度空間,使得特教生家長在使用相關教育服務和措施過程中能夠根據子女需求做出調整。這些制度空間體主要體現在:評估結果使用的非強制性,為家長提供的多元溝通管道,以及特教生的轉學機制。

Along with the establishment of related law and the allocation of resources provided by government, the education for students with special needs (SEN) has developed significantly during the past two decades. However, not sufficient research has been devoted to understand to what extent the current educational system can provide SEN students with proper education that fits their special needs. Some scholars suggested that in order to better evaluate inclusive education, it is important to carry out follow-up studies that traces SEN students’ school allocation and educational experience. Therefore, the current research project takes the perspective of parents with SEN children and investigates their feedback about the experience of using related educational services and system.
In order to control the analytical variables, the research focuses on parents with children that have been diagnosed with autism disorder. Based on SEN students’ process of schooling, I investigated parents’ voice about their experiences on three aspects: evaluation and school allocation, school experience and learning outcomes.
Semi-structured interview is adopted as the main research method with purposive sampling, convenience sampling and snowball sampling strategy. Sixteen parents of children with autism disorder from all three types of SEN classes (including inclusive class, small-size special education class and special education class) were interviewed. Structure and Agency Theory is deployed as the analytical framework to understand parents’ role under the educational system.
Research result shows that parents play critical roles in SEN students’ schooling process. They are important participants of SEN students’ formal educational process as well as “actors” that always try to fight for proper education for their children. Although parents from the three interview groups provided different feedback on their experiences and hold different expectations about inclusive education, the research result from this study shows that along the educational process, parents of SEN students exercise their agency in seeking for educational opportunities that match respective special needs of their children. The exercise of agency can be observed during the process of application and evaluation, school selection, teacher-parent communication and school transfer. At the same time, the research also found that as the structure, current educational policy and system in Macao provides institutional room for SEN students which allows their parents to have certain level of flexibility. The institutional room of flexibility is manifested in mainly three aspects: non-mandatory policy of evaluation result in school allocation; multiple-communication channels among parents, schools and government agencies; and the school transfer mechanism for SEN students.