Embracing and catering for Learning Diversity

STMC believes that all students are capable of learning and can make progress in their learning although they may differ in various ways, including their prior learning experiences, abilities and disabilities, cultural backgrounds, learning interest and preferences. To embrace learner diversity, we need to cater for and address not only students’ diverse learning needs, but also their different growth needs.

STMC adopts a whole-school approach, together with joint efforts made at different levels, ranging from the school curriculum (including Key Learning Area (KLA) and subject curricula) and the class/group levels, to formulate and implement policies on how best to address students’ learning and growth needs, to design and use appropriate strategies for learning, teaching and assessing students’ progress and performance, and to provide opportunities for students to experience success.

STMC realises that catering for learner diversity is not only about minimising the difference in student ability and performance but about enabling all students, whether they are gifted or with learning difficulties, to learn and perform to the best of their abilities, and about using appropriate strategies to help individual students to learn better and make improvements through identifying and building on their strengths. Diversity among students is regarded as an opportunity to facilitate peer learning and development of students’ generic skills and potential in different aspects.

STMC Policies and Measures:

a) A symmetrical class structure is adopted. There are four classes in each form from F.1 to F.6 except F.2 in which there are 5 classes in 2022-2023. Class sizes are getting smaller, averaging about 30 students in each class.

b) At the class level:
STMC teachers design enrichment activities for the more capable students and adopt different groupings to help the less capable students. Teachers help realise the potential of students by learning about their strengths, facilitating the development of their multiple intelligences and providing multisensory experiences that match their preferences.

c) At the group level:
STMC adopts flexible grouping arrangements in accordance with their abilities, interests and learning styles; and co-operative learning to develop positive interdependence among students, their individual accountability for learning, as well as their communication and collaboration skills. For instance:

• Small group teaching is practiced in English, Chinese and Mathematics in F.1 and F.2. By small group teaching, students’ learning needs can be catered in a better way.
• Express Classes of English, Chinese and Mathematics subjects are offered in F.2 and F.3. High achievers of these subjects are taught at a quicker pace and are often recommended to various gifted programs organized by tertiary institutions, or the Gifted Education Section under EMB, inter-school competitions in Hong Kong or abroad. By doing so, students’ talent can be fully stretched.
• Remedial Classes and Enhancement groups of Chinese, English and Mathematics are also provided for selected students in senior forms as constant support and consolidation measures.

d) Curriculum differentiation:
The foundation and non-foundation topics in the senior secondary Mathematics curriculum can help cater for the needs of students with a wide range of abilities. Students who are more interested in Mathematics can study M1 or M2, one of the two modules in the Extended Part, in addition to the Compulsory Part of the curriculum.

e) Students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) support (Please read the ‘SEN Group’ under the Students’ Growth Column)

f) Gifted Students support (Please read the ‘Stepping up gifted education’ under the ‘Four Key Tasks” of the Learning and Teaching Column) Every year, about 100 STMC students from the Junior Forms are recruited and join the pull-out programs in such different fields as Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics, Science and Information Technology/Computer/Robots.