Social and Emotional Development for Diverse Learners: The Addition of Asian Perspectives

This book examines the needs, psychological agents, practices and interventions that are pertinent to developing social and emotional competence among students with diverse needs in the 21st century. It attends to a range of contemporary developmental issues, strategies, and sociocultural contexts that have been much overlooked in the special and inclusive education arena, by showcasing a series of empirical, meta-analytical and review papers. While much has been written about various types of special educational needs, this book takes a broader view of the discipline by capturing topics that are not only related to students with special educational needs, but also those related to twice-exceptional students, left-behind children of Chinese migrant parents, sexually-diverse students, and students who are disadvantaged in various ways.

It focuses on developing social and emotional well-being among diverse learners for the 21st century. Contemporary issues such as developing students’ adaptability, addressing sexuality issues in school, promoting teachers’ emotional well-being, nurturing talents and supporting left-behind children are challenges that researchers, educators and policymakers have to attend to in the coming decades. This book offers valuable insights into addressing some of these key 21st century challenges in special and inclusive education. Showcasing an Asian perspective, this book opens readers to empirical findings, issues and practices beyond the Anglosphere. Taken together, this book is a valuable addition to readers’ collections within the spectrum of practices and perspectives offered by scholars and practitioners from both Western and Asian contexts. This book serves as a helpful resource for researchers, educators, counselors and policymakers who are interested in enhancing the social and emotional development of diverse learners.

Lan Yang, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and Associate Head (Research) in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Education University of Hong Kong. She also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Assessment Analytic Research Centre (ARC). She obtained her PhD from the University of Hong Kong in 2012, focusing on the effects of performance feedback and a combination of performance and attributional feedback on Chinese students’ academic self-concept and achievement. Her doctoral research attained her the esteemed Global SELF Research Network Highly Commended PhD Award in 2013. Her current research centers on leveraging formative assessment through a psychological lens, exploring various influential constructs such as self-concept, achievement emotions, and learning engagement. Recently, she has led the establishment of the Psychology and Assessment Special Interest Group (SIG) under the Key Research Area (KRA) initiative at the Education University of Hong Kong. Email: yanglan@eduhk.hk

Jiesi Guo, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Institute for Positive Psychology at Australian Catholic University, which was recently ranked in the Top 10 most productive institutions in educational psychology worldwide. His current research focuses on three main areas: 1) Investigating how multiple ecological systems, including cultural, social, motivational, and behavioral factors, influence the development of youth and shape their major and career choices, particularly in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. 2) Exploring the impact of students' social-emotional skills on their academic and life outcomes. And 3) Improving the effectiveness of various prevention programs aimed at enhancing the psychological well-being of children and adolescents. He was recently recognized as one of the Top 10 most productive early career researchers in educational psychology and listed among the Top 2% most cited researchers in education globally.

Ricci W. Fong, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, the Education University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining academia, she was an English language teacher at secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong. She later received her PhD in gifted education from the University of Hong Kong. Her current research centers on perfectionism and the social-emotional development of Chinese students, with a special interest in the gifted and talented. She has been serving the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children and the Asia-Pacific Federation on Giftedness (APFG) as a Hong Kong delegate to facilitate knowledge transfer among members from 47 countries and regions.