ABSTRACT

Although the language needs of ethnic minorities in the Hong Kong primary andsecondary education sectors have been addressed, the needs of language diverse preprimarystudents have not. Nine parents of South Asian ethnicity were interviewed regardingtheir experience of pre-primary education in Hong Kong. Sixteen Hong Kongeducation documents were examined using a simple analysis technique of countingthe number of times a word or phrase related to early childhood education or ethnicminorities appeared. Interview results indicated that families from ethnic minoritybackgrounds face significant challenges because of language. Few documents regardingthe provision of pre-primary education to ethnic minority children and no policiesto support Chinese language acquisition exist. To keep up with international developmentsin early childhood education and facilitate integration and/or inclusion of ethnicminorities into society, the Hong Kong education system should review its policiesand provide support for language diverse children from the earliest years.

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