Taiwan Education at the Crossroad When Globalization meets

Taiwan Education at the Crossroad: When Globalization meets localization Chuing Prudence Chou (周祝瑛) Professor, Cheng-chi University, Taiwan Email: iaezcpc@nccu. edu. tw Aug. 5, 2011

You are going to learn about Taiwan’s education… • Why do you need to know about Taiwan’s education? • What are you going to learn about Taiwan's education? • What are the major features in Taiwan’s schools? • Why study in Taiwan: pro and cons

Spot Light : Taiwan • Area : 36, 000 square kilometers Population: 23 million Capital : Taipei City Language : Mandarin/Taiwanese/Hakka/Indigenous Languages Religion : Buddhism/Taoism/Christianity/Islam

• About 98% of the population is of Han Chinese ethnicity. • 86% are descendants of early Han immigrants known as "native Taiwanese" • The most recent immigrants from mainland China after 1949. • Recent foreign spouses from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand the Philippines (more than 5% of the primary and secondary students are from foreign spouses)

• Literacy rate: 96. 1% • Men 97% • Women 95% • Enrollment 5, 384, 926 • • Primary 2, 153, 717 • Secondary 1, 676, 970 • Post-secondary 1, 270, 194 Major problem: a drastic declining birth rate and entering an aging society since late 1990 s

GNP per capita 2007 (US$) Taiwan 17, 252 America 46, 029 Japan 35, 424 Korea 20, 045 Singapore 33, 919 Source: Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, Taiwan.

Taiwan’s educational system

• Educational philosophy: A Credential Society, efforts over innate abilities • Confucian heritage: group-oriented, academic success, respect for teachers, exam-oriented • A capital society: • Supplement Education

What are the differences between American educational system and Taiwan’s educational system? • Taiwan: Nine-year compulsory education. • United States: Twelve years compulsory education. • In Taiwan, there is must six years of elementary school, three years of junior high school and three years of senior high school. • But in US, there are many different kinds of school systems. For example, 5 -3 -4, 6 -2 -4 or 6 -3 -3. • Since Taiwan only has nine-year compulsory education, students in Taiwan need to take the standard test both for high school admission and college admission.

Something you should know about Taiwan’s education • How do teachers interact with their students? • How do teachers interact with other teachers? • When do Taiwanese students start learning foreign language? • Moral education • What is the typical schedule of a student?

How do teachers interact with their students? • Different from US, Taiwanese students have less interaction with teachers in the classroom. • In average, there about 36 students in a classroom. • It is hard for teachers to interact with every students in the classroom.

The interactions between teachers • Usually, teachers share a big “staff room” together. • Teachers can improve their way of teaching by the exchange of their teaching experience with other teachers.

Moral education • Schools value academic competition and formal moral education in a daily setting. • Students tidy up their classroom daily from elementary school to high school. • Schools have weekly discipline and sanity contests for honor and pride. • Winners will be recognized merit certificates.

What is the typical daily schedule of students? • Students usually arrive at 7: 30 AM and depart around 4: 30 -5: 30 PM. • Students usually go to cram school or receive private tutoring class after school. • A typical schedule of a senior high school student is as follows:

A SCHOOL DAY(10 th Grade) Class period Mon Tue Wed Thu 7: 10– 7: 20 Clean campus 7: 20– 7: 50 Morning homeroom 7: 50∼ 8: 10 Morning meeting Fri 8: 10– 8: 55 Chinese Science English Geo. Chinese 9: 10– 9: 55 Chinese Science Chinese Art Performance 10: 10– 10: 55 Science English Math 11: 05– 11: 50 Math Integrated & Activities Math Art 11: 50– 12: 30 Health & P. E. Lunch break

12: 30∼ 13: 10 Nap time 13: 20– 14: 05 School meeting Civics Chinese reading History English conversati on 14: 15– 15: 00 Class meeting I & A Music English composition Science 15: 00– 15: 25– 16: 10 16: 20– 17: 05 Clean campus Clubs English I & A Math Health and P. E. Chinese English Health composi- & tion P. E. Science English reading

When does Taiwanese students start learning foreign languages? • Since many parents want their children to speak other languages, they send their children to a bilingual school (it may even start from kindergarten!) • In public schools, students start learning English from 3 rd grade to freshman year in college.

Educational Reform in Taiwan • 1987 -88 : the external and internal environmental factors resulting in a series of nation-wide education changes • 1989 -93 : when the legislators passed many education bills and acts to ensure the reform policies to be based on throughout the country

• 1994 -98 : the Committee of Education Reform under the Executive Yuan drew many representatives from all walks of life to design theme, framework and progress of the reform, etc. • 1999 to date : the numerous negative public opinions against the educational reform programs. The increasing gaps between the urban VS. rural and the rich vs. the poor.

4 Major Educational Issues • • Globalization VS. Localization Gender Stereotyping Equity of Educational Opportunity Family Educational expenditure on Cram Schools: NT$2, 640 (US$80) per subject / month

• Cram schools • With the intense pressure placed on students to achieve, many students enroll in private afterschool classes intended to supplement their regular education. • Popular subjects in cram schools include English, mathematics, and the natural sciences. • Classes are generally very orderly and controlled, with class sizes as high as 200 or so students.

• Common in East Asia, cram schools have become the de facto parallel education system because they are so prevalent in East Asian countries like Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and many others. • It's a traditional belief that parents should send their children to all kinds of cram schools in order to assist their children to compete and excel at the expense of social life and sports.

Statistics of the hours Taiwanese students spend attending extra-curricular activities（2003）

Education Features(15 years old) PISA 2006 Ranking Math Science Reading Literacy Taiwan 1 4 16 Hong Kong 3 2 3 Japan 10 5 15 South Korea 4 10 1 US 24 20

TIMSS (2003) (13 -year-old's average score, International Math and Science Study) Countries: (sample) Global rank Math Science Score Rank Score Singapore 1 605 1 578 Taiwan 2 585 4 571 South Korea 3 589 2 558 Hong Kong 4 586 3 556 Japan 5 570 5 552 England 10 498 18 544 United States 12 504 15 527 Sources: TIMSS Math 2003 and TIMSS Science 2003 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 7 11

• What can be learned and imported from elsewhere? (borrowing) • What can be taught and exported elsewhere? (lending), • The phenomena of cross-national policy attraction and educational borrowing • Global and international convergence in education at the expense local needs and cultural diversity

Toward a Twelve-year Basic Education Program in Taiwan (2014) • • 1. The drastic declining birth rate 2. Am emerging aging society 3. The migration flow to China 4. The myth and reality of education reform : the debate over the textbooks and entrance exam between Ministry of Education and Taipei City Government • 5. Internationalization of higher education

Education in 2020 • What will happen to the next generations of Taiwan and the world? • What do learn from each other? • What will happened when crossstraitizatoin, globalization and localization takes place in Taiwan and the world?

• Thanks for your attention. • Have a nice trip in Taiwan and God Bless! • Chuing Prudence Chou Email: iaezcpc@nccu. edu. tw • Website: http: //www 3. nccu. edu. tw/~iaezcpc/English%20 ind ex. htm • Aug. 5 , 2011