Education Bureau: SEN Students Should Not Be Held Back; May Increase Social-Emotional and Mental Health Risks

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The education sector has been paying increasing attention to students with special educational needs (SEN) in recent years. The Education Bureau earlier updated the School Administration Guide, stating that schools should not let students repeat a year, and in general should not arrange for SEN students to repeat, recommending instead the use of "appropriate support measures" as an alternative to retention. Cross-professional teams must also discuss such arrangements with parents to ensure decisions are in the best interests of students.

📋 Retention Should Be Avoided as Far as Possible; Should Not Be Concentrated at One Level
The updated School Administration Guide makes several revisions regarding student retention arrangements, stating that schools should avoid retaining students as far as possible, especially avoiding repeated retention, and should not concentrate a large number of retained students at one level. The authorities state that schools should not arrange for SEN students to repeat, particularly students with intellectual development disabilities or severe mental illness, describing retention as only exacerbating their social-emotional adjustment difficulties and increasing mental health risks. The authorities said schools should, according to students' SEN needs, comprehensively consider their emotional and social adjustment, and provide appropriate support measures as an alternative to retention. When considering retention arrangements for SEN students, schools must, through cross-professional teams including the student support team, teachers and school-based educational psychologists, discuss with parents, and may also refer to the views of professionals such as psychiatrists when necessary.

⚠️ Retention May Reduce Interest in Learning; Should Not Be Used to Punish Students
The authorities stressed that without appropriate counselling and follow-up, retention will only have negative effects on students, including reducing interest in learning, damaging self-image, increasing the chance of dropping out and increasing mental health risks. Schools should not regard retention as the only way to help students learn, still less use it to punish students. When making decisions, schools should comprehensively review students' results, conduct, learning attitude, extracurricular performance or other learning needs, as well as the wishes of students and parents. As for the overall proportions of retained or repeating students in primary and secondary schools, they remain at no more than 3% and 5% of the total student population respectively.