An Exploration of Teacher Education Policies for Cultural Curriculum in Taiwan’s Indigenous Schools

Abstract

The Taiwan government has historically promoted indigenous cultural teacher training policies to cultivate teachers capable of inheriting indigenous culture. This study investigates the implementation status of the Indigenous cultural curriculum teacher training policy. It provides recommendations for adjustments to meet Indigenous cultural teachers' increasing professional development needs, including in-service training and pre-service education. Employing a semi-structured interview approach, this research focuses on indigenous experimental education schools at primary and secondary levels, purposively selecting nine schools and inviting school administrators and actual teachers responsible for teaching indigenous cultural courses to participate in the interviews, with a total of 18 interviewees.
The study findings reveal that interviewees suggested improvements in cultural teachers' in-service training and professional development, focusing on the current learning mechanisms and content. Apart from proficiency in indigenous languages, the training should align more closely with the specific curriculum needs of indigenous cultural teachers. Additionally, for culturally oriented teachers who do not possess formal teaching credentials, priority should be given to providing opportunities for pre-service training through local teacher development programs.
Furthermore, regarding future pre-service teacher education, the following recommendations were proposed: early exposure and increased frequency of field placements in indigenous communities to foster early familiarity with tribal cultures; enhancement of foundational educational expertise to facilitate the integration of traditional and cultural curriculum; improvement of language proficiency and expansion of indigenous cultural courses; and establishment of a qualified indigenous teacher certification system and promotion of local teacher training mechanisms.



Author Information
Su-Ting Yang, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

Paper Information
Conference: ACE2023
Stream: Educational policy

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Posted by James Alexander Gordon