Seeking equity in education for Asia’s ethnic minorities

Abstract

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part covers both policies and everyday classroom practices in relation to educational responses towards the ethnic diversity in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan societies. It reviews the education policies for new immigrant children of Taiwan over the last three decades of 21st Century. The part argues that the major shift in education policy is largely due to issues of international competitiveness and enhancement of human capital. It examines the school factors that influence ethnic minority young people's school failure in Hong Kong schools. The part suggests that commonly attributing school failure for ethnic minority students in Hong Kong to problems with Chinese language education and thus addressing only the Chinese language issue is a limited approach from the government's side. It aims to report Hong Kong teachers' narratives about their classroom experiences in terms of promotion of cultural responsiveness.