An examination of teacher perceptions of educational services in juvenile correctional schools in Taiwan (China)

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of correctional education services in two juvenile correctional schools in Taiwan. A review of the schools' archives indicated that the two schools employ different theoretical bases: one is general educational psychology, and the other is the theory of multiple intelligences (MI). A sixty-item data-collection questionnaire was created containing MI-related and non-MI items in four areas of interest: professional development (PD), curriculum and instruction (CI), behavior management (BM), and placement and transition (PT). An interview protocol based on these four areas was also created for interviews with teachers. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire and the interview protocol were established. Questionnaire data from fifty-four teachers and data from interviews with eight teachers was analyzed. Factor analysis and t-tests were used to analyze the questionnaire data. Interview content was analyzed by counting topic frequencies.; Statistically significant differences between the schools emerged only in the PT scale data. Three major findings are: (a) fewer MI school students attend their individualized education plan (IEP) meetings, (b) the MI school students are less aware of the importance to their post-release life of the degree of their involvement in the IEP development process, and (c) the MI school maintains less open communications with other service providers concerning post-release adjustment. Interview results revealed teachers' major concerns with students' post-release school assignments, job preparation, tracking after release, social support, and environmental factors. Questionnaire results were compared with the interview results. Threats to validity of the questionnaire were discussed. Limitations of this study include differences in the student populations, the short history of MI practices in the MI school, misunderstanding among teachers of what is in an IEP, and the validity of the questionnaire. Future research may focus on (a) how student profiles influence the services provided, (b) actual student involvement in IEP development, (c) real-world testing of MI theory, and (d) gender differences in the provision of juvenile correctional education. Finally, suggestions for the correctional schools and the school authority were provided.