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5 .4 Program-initiated courses

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Considering the historical development of higher education and teacher education in Taiwan,the demarcation ofinstitutional type (academic vs. technological; normal vs.

non-normal) and program type (college,department,program ofteacher education) do bear significance in understanding teacher education curriculum. As program-initiated (Type 3) courses is an indication of program autonomy, it is important to examine the number and ratio of such courses offered by different types of programs to see if autonomy varies with institutional characteristics.Itmay be inferred that academically-oriented universities,in general possessing more resources as the mainstream providers of secondary school teachers, may be more capable of initiating more

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specific courses than technological ones. Furthennore,nonnal universities,with their longstanding status and vast resources in the field of teacher education,may provide more program-specific courses than non-normal ones. And college of education, with its comprehensive scope and large pool of faculty in education,may offer more program-specific courses than department of education and than a single teacher education program.

Table 8 shows that, corresponding to our hypotheses,in general academic universities on average did offer more program-initiated courses (Median=9) than techonological universities (6); and public universities did initiate more courses (10) than private ones (6). However,it is surprising to see that,contrary to our expectation, normal universities did not offer more program-initiated courses,but in fact even provided slightly fewer (7) such courses than their non-nonnalcounte中arts (8). In addition,colleges of education (11) and departments of education (10) did provide more program-specific courses than teacher education programs (6).

TabIe 8 Median number of program-initiated courses by program

Type of institution N Median

Academic 28 9

Technological 13 6

N Public 24 10

Private 17 6

N Normal 5 7

Non-normal 36 8

College ofEducation 12 11

Department of Education 9 10

Teacher Education Program 20 6

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When further dividing the 41 programs into 6 categories according to their institutional characteristics,it is worth noting that (see Figure 4) the technological university with a department of education (TU-DE) managed to offer the highest number (Median= 11) of program-initiated courses. Non-normal universities with college of education (NNU-CE) or department of education (1'心~U-DE)on average provided 9 and 7 different program-initiated courses,respectively. In addition, teacher education programs in non-normal universities (NNU-TE) and technological universities (TU-TE) offered 6 courses,similar to those traditionally teacher training normal universities with comprehensive colleges of education(NU-CE).

Median number ofprogram-initiated courses

11 10

8

6

• • • • • • .

Median

4

2

O

TU-DE NNU-DE NNU-CE NU-CE NNU-TE TU-TE

Figure 4 Median number of program-initiated courses by programs Furthermore,to examine the ratios of program-initiated courses in relation to the total number of courses provided by the 6 types of programs (see Figure 5),it is found that,for non-normal universities with a college of education (NNU-CE), program-initiated courses consisted of more than one thirds of their total courses (35%),

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followed by 25% offered by department of education in non-normal universities (NNU-DE); 23% offered by dep位個lent of education in technological universities (TU-DE);

22% by teacher education program in non-normal universities (NNU-TE); and 17%

by teacher education in technological universities (TU-TE). Again,it is surprising to see that for normal universities with comprehensive colleges of education (NU-CE), program-initiated courses only constituted 15 percent of their total courses,the lowest ratio among the 6 types of institutions in the study.

Ratio ofprogram-initiated courses to the total courses 40%

35%

J

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

NNU-CE NNU-DE TU-DE NNU-TE TU-TE NU-CE

.Ratio

Figure 5 Ratio of program-initiated courses by programs

In summary,diversity in program autonomy in offering self-initiated courses did vary with institutional characteristics and could be explained by the following three factors. First of all,resources and status do count. For example,academic and public universities,which in general possess more resources and prestige as mainstream providers of secondary school teachers,did enjoy higher level of autonomy than their technological and private counterparts. Second,program scale also matters. That's why college of education,with its comprehensive scope and large faculty pool,were in general able to provide more program-specific courses than departments of education, and even more so than teacher education programs. In addition,institutional tradition

126 教育研究集刊第 56 輯第 4 期

may also exert an influence. Con缸訂Y to the commonly-held assumptions that normal universities,with its longstanding status and vast resources in teacher training should be able to provide the most enriched and diversified courses among all types of institutions; however,in fact they demonstrated the lowest level of diversity in offering courses among all the institutions. Such unexpected result may be partially explained by the traditional role normal universities have assumed. As the major teacher training institutions since early years,normal universities had been under strict state control in terms of input,process and output of their training for many decades (Fwu & Wang, 2002). With such a tradition,they may become more accustomed to conforming to the state-mandated curriculum than developing diversified program-specific courses.

6. Conclusions

Based on the above research findings,the four research questions were answered.

First of all,to examine if“the programs vary in their course structure and course taking regulations," the answer is negative as the course structure and regulations of TE programs did conform to MOE regulated structure. Secondly,to investigate if

the programs vary among the number and types of courses they offer," the answer is mixed. Although these programs did manage to initiate program-specific courses, an analysis of the number and ratio of the three types of courses found that they were more apt to conform to MOE regulations than to devise a diverse range of courses of their own. Thirdly, to answer if“the courses offered by these programs vary in their content areas,"these programs did offer a diverse set of courses to strengthen or supplement courses stipulated by MOE and to open some new'avenues to knowledge/

dialogues not touched upon by the MOE scheme to highlight their own special

pu中osesand resources. Lastly,to see if “programs' endeavours to initiate courses vary with institutional characteristics," it is found that such endeavour did vary with institutional characteristics. While academically-oriented universities did enjoy higher level of autonomy in offering more program-initiated courses than their technological

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counterparts,normal universities enjoyed the lowest level of diversity in offering courses among these institutions.

In conclusion,the curriculum model and course structure of secondary school teacher education programs in Taiwan were fairly uniformed and conformedto 卸mE

regulations,and the courses offered tended to concentrate onthe 卸fOEcore courses.

However,a diverse set of program-initiated courses were provided to supplement areas neglected by the MOE and to strengthen programs' special needs across six content areas. Thus,it may be concluded that the curriculum of Taiwanese secondary teacher education programs enjoys a certain degree of diversity within a uniformed structure.

7. Discussions

Given the above findings of a curriculum pattern with restricted diversity,it would be important to further explore the historical,political and social contexts underlying the process in which such curriculum pattern is developed. In fact,the development of teacher education in Taiwan has witnessed an ever-present tension between state-controlled uniformity and program-based diversification.

7.1 Historical and cultural roots of state con仕01

First of all,s仕ong centralized control for teacher quality has been on high priority throughout the long history of the Taiwanese society. Traditional Chinese heritage, Japanese colonial influence,and the nation-building process under the Nationalist regime have all shaped a public consensus on the importance of teacher quality and have prompted the government to exert strict control over it (Lee,2001; Liang &

McClain, 1991). In this society mainly composed of Chinese immigrants from the mainland since the 16th century, the Chinese/Confucian cultural heritage has been rooted in many veins of the social composition. The Confucian values,highlighting the importance of education and the importance of high respect for teachers,are embedded in the Taiwanese people's mentality. A teacher is regarded a learned scholar(jingshi)

128 教育研究集刊第 56 輯第 4 期

who 甘ansmitsknowledge and skills essential for living,as well as a moral figure(renshi) who sets an example for students to follow (Gao,1999). Such a cultural tradition was reinforced during the Japanese colonial period,from 1895 to 1945. During the colonial period,a large number of teachers in Taiwan were expatriates from Japan who were better educated than most of the Taiwanese people at the time (Wu,1980). In addition, the colonial government established a number of normal schools to recruit the best from local talented young people and train them into future teachers(L間,2001). Such combination of political savvy and high quality of teachers further instilled a high level of respect for teachers in the Taiwanese people's minds (Fwu,1999; Guo,1997; Wu, 1980).

7.2 State con甘01 during the Nationalist era

After 1949,such a view of teachers was continued by the nationalist regime led by the Kuomingtang,or Nationalist,party,who were defeated by the Communist regime and withdrew from continental China to this island. Under continuous threat from the Communist regime,the government resolved to develop Taiwan into a“fortress in the Taiwan Strait." In such a formidable endeavour,teachers played a key role as builders ofthe“mental defense"(jingshen guofang) and the“guardians of national solidarity."

Since teachers were so critical to the success of nation building,the government was determined to exert complete control over teacher education in order to install in future teachers a sense of loyalty and conformity (Liang & McClain, 1991; MOE, 1957; Xu, 1993). During this period,the government restricted teacher training to a few normal education institutions and stipulated strict curriculum guidelines for teacher training institutions to comply. The teacher education courses provided by the normal institutions were highly centralized,fairly identical with little diversity across institutions. According to the official course list stipulated by the Ministry of Education, a total of 13 courses with 26 credits were prescribed to students in all teacher training programs,among which 22 of the 26 credits were required courses,leaving little space for either students to choose from electives or for teacher education institutions to

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design courses to highlight their own goals or focuses (MOE,1984).

7.3 Diversification ofteacher education

However,after suspension of martial law in 1987,under the ethos of the time with rapid political democratization, economic liberalization and social diversity (Huang,2000; Lee,2001; P缸, 2003),teacher education was pressed to be opened up on the logic of market-based deregulation. Thus,a multitude of teacher education programs were established by many traditionally non-teacher-training universities and a surplus of graduates were produced to compete in the open market so that the best and strongest will emerge to raise teacher quality (Fwu & Wang,2002; MOE, 1994). During this period,the government released its grip on the curriculum of teacher education programs to some extent. The newly-established teacher education programs were able to offer program-initiated education courses with a greater degree of autonomy and to design their own course lists for various teaching subjects such as Chinese,math,science etc.,according to institutional goals and resources (MOE,1996;

Wu,2003). Also,there was no teacher certification examination,and graduates from various teacher education programs were qualified to teach once they located a job with a school(Q凹, 2005).

在文檔中 一元中的多元 (頁 28-35)

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