Development and psychometric evaluation of the Generic Skills Teacher-Rating Scale for students with SEN in Hong Kong

Abstract

Research reveals that generic skills are essential for supporting students to not only finish school education but also transition to the workplace and adult life. However, a comprehensive literature review found limited studies have been done to develop an assessment tool for examining the generic skills of students with special educational needs (SEN). Based on two sub-studies, the current study aimed to develop a short form of the Generic Skills Teacher-Rating Scale (GSTS) to assess six generic skills (i.e., Collaboration， Communication, Problem-solving, Self-management, Information Technology, Critical thinking) of SEN students. A total of 231 Hong Kong students from six special schools (including primary and secondary levels) participated in the two studies. Both CFA and Rasch analyses support a six-factor solution of the GSTS with reasonably good model fit indices. Researchers and educators may view the GSTS as an assessment tool, adding more information on SEN students’ generic skills beyond classroom settings to understand the daily-life functioning of students in special education and inclusive education settings. Implications of the results and future directions are also discussed. 研究表明，共通能力對於支持學生完成學業以及過渡到未來工作和日常生活至關重要。 然而，一項全面的文獻回顧發現，有關評測有特殊教育需要 (SEN) 學生的共通能力的評估工具方面進行的研究非常有限。本研究（基於兩項子研究）旨在開發一項針對SEN學生的共通能力教師評定量表 (GSTS) 的簡短表，以評估六種共通能力，即協作能力、溝通能力、解決問題能力、自我管理能力、運用信息科技能力、批判性思考能力。 來自六所特殊學校（包括小學和中學）的共二百三十一名香港學生參與了這兩項子研究。CFA 和 Rasch 分析都支持 GSTS 的六因素解決方案，表明該量表具有相當好的模型擬合指數。 研究人員和教育工作者可以將 GSTS 視為一項評估工具，用於在課堂環境之外了解有關 SEN 學生共通能力表現，以助提高特殊教育和全納教育環境中學生的日常生活功能。本文還討論了結果的含義和未來的方向。