Students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) may receive support services from various professionals within educational settings, including teachers, speech-language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, SENCOs, social workers, and psychologists. There is a need for these professionals to use their collective knowledge to provide an optimal plan of care for students with SEN through inter-professional practice.

Inter-professional practice begins with inter-professional education in the pre-service training years. The key theme of this platform is interprofessional education, with the aim to allow pre-service teachers and speech therapists in the Faculty of Education to learn more about the professionals who support children with SEN in educational settings. This platform presents interviews from professionals who work in different educational settings: 1) Pre-Primary Special Schools (EETC/SCCC), 2) School-aged Mainstream Schools (Primary/Secondary) , and 3) School-aged Special Schools. In each interview, the professional(s) reflects on the following topics from their professional perspective:

• Part 1: Professional training and responsibilities in relation to service for children with SEN.
• Part 2: Theoretical foundations or conceptual models that drive professional practice.
• Part 3: Discussion of the management of a student with SEN.
• Part 4: Success stories and personal /institutional barriers to inter-professional practice.

The interviews are conducted in Cantonese. A translation of the key points of the interview in English are presented in PDF format with the video.

The creation of these interview videos would not have been possible without the support of our colleagues from a range of professions, including occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language therapists, special education and mainstream school teachers, educational psychologists, SENCOs, and parents.

We thank our research assistant, Ms. Yann Lam (speech-language therapist), for her invaluable coordination of this project and our BSc students from the 2017-2022 cohort Lexi H-T. Ip, Catherine H.-K. Chiu, Michelle Y.-J. Lai and Nicole Y.-C. Hui. We would also like to thank colleagues in the Faculty of Education’s E-learning Team, and Ms. Sharon Keung and Dr. Leon Lai in the HKU Teaching-Enriched Learning Initiative (TELI) for their expert technical advice and support. We thank them all.

We would also like to acknowledge funding support from a Teaching Development Grant from the HKU Teaching and Learning Quality Committee awarded in 2020 to Dr. Elizabeth A. Barrett, Dr. Anita M.-Y. Wong, and Dr. Patsy P.-S. Yeung at the Faculty of Education.