Teachers slam curriculum decision; write their own

LECTURE:A coalition of teachers and experts protesting adjustments to the high-school curriculum criticized the Ministry of Education’s ‘non-transparent’ decisionmaking

By Rachel Lin and Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Protesters outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei on Feb. 28 last year hold signs calling for open consultation before adjustments are made to high-school curricula.

Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times

A group of high-school and university educators said they would start a campaign to draft their own version of high-school curriculum guidelines following the Ministry of Education’s decision to implement a controversial curriculum adjustment — despite a ruling by the Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday last week against the move.

“We cannot help but draft the curriculum guideline ourselves, as the government is messing [with the curricula],” Action Coalition of Civics Teachers convener Chou Wei-tung (周威同) said, adding that they are joined in the move by the National High School Teachers’ Union and other scholars.

The proposed draft curricula for history, civic and social studies would be completed by the middle of the year, he said.

The coalition had held protest rallies on Feb. 28 last year to oppose what it called the ministry’s non-transparent backroom decisionmaking in making contentious changes to high-school textbooks.

Union spokeswoman Huang Hui-chen (黃惠貞) said their drafting of the history curriculum is not aimed at provoking debate on Taiwan independence or unification, but a means of reclaiming history teachers’ principles and professionalism.

She said that the ministry had amateurs spearhead the curricular adjustment, rather than experts experienced in teaching, and that high-school history teachers are capable of drafting a professional curriculum guideline themselves.

Politics should be kept away from history, she added.

Curriculum guidelines are supposed to be general principles for publishers and teachers to edit textbooks and arrange syllabi, but they have become a set of minute directives dictating textbooks and college entrance exams, Taichung’s Bureau of Education Director-General Yan Ching-hsiang (顏慶祥) said.

He said that politicians are making curricula their tools and teachers their propagandists, reminiscent of a totalitarian regime, adding that the coalition’s initiative to draft alternative curriculum guidelines to counter the ministry’s move was “remarkable.”

Saying the ministry’s curricular adjustments were based on a certain political agenda and ideology, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said the coalition’s move might introduce civic engagement to the policymaking process.

However, National Alliance of Parents vice chairman Hsieh Kuo-ching (謝國清) said that from a parent’s perspective, the coalition’s proposed curricula could not have much effect in terms of college entrance exams that must comply with the ministry’s curricula, adding that the pressing issue now is to persuade the ministry to correct its curriculum guidelines.

In response to the campaign, the ministry’s curricular adjustment committee convener, Wang Hsiao-po (王曉波), said: “There’s no comparison between high-school teachers and committee members in terms of knowledge and proficiency.”

Chou said Wang’s remark revealed nothing but his arrogance, and that university academics’ lack of classroom experiences ended up with a curriculum that is too complicated for high-school students, crippling teachers and students alike.

Chou added that the drafting of curricula has always been a unilateral decision made by people in power, despite public hearings.

The director of the ministry’s K-12 Education Administration, Wu Ching-shan (吳清山), said that high-school teachers are not legally authorized to draft curriculum guidelines, as the Senior High-School Education Act (高級中等教育法) and the National Education Act (國民教育法) stipulate that the National Academy for Educational Research should put forward a draft curriculum for the ministry to approve before the curriculum can take effect.
The academy’s Committee of Curriculum Development would convene public hearings after it makes public the draft curriculum guidelines and teachers are encouraged to voice their opinions at the hearings, which is the standard procedure for devising a curriculum, he added.