The democratization of Taiwan's social studies curricula: A study of teaching national identities

The purpose of this study is to describe and explain how three elementary school teachers taught Taiwan history in light of national identity formation. I focus on the role of the teacher's political orientation, in general, and national identity, in particular, as well as the teacher's understanding of Taiwan's history and the way in which this effects their teaching of that history in fourth grade social studies classrooms.;Three teachers were selected for this study. Interviews were conducted to elicit the teacher's political party preferences, concepts of being Taiwanese/Chinese, understanding of Taiwan history, and pedagogical philosophies concerning the teaching and learning of history. I observed and documented each teacher's classroom activity while teaching a unit of Taiwan history, from December of 1997 through January of 1998.;The data suggests that the political orientation of each teacher not only serves as a lens through which his or her understanding of Taiwan's history is filtered, but also as a constraint with respect to the learning and teaching of alternative accounts of Taiwan's history. Political orientation and subject matter knowledge had a direct impact on each teacher's emphasis of certain themes to the exclusion of others. I found no evidence, however, to suggest an influence on their teaching styles. All three teachers adopted an authoritarian and teacher-centered pedagogical approach.;I outline three major challenges faced by teachers with respect to educational reform and the call for the students to be educated to be democratic citizens with critical thinking abilities: (1) teachers' prior experience of being educated under an authoritarian educational system; (2) teachers' subjective perception of their own national identity as a constraint for learning and teaching alternative accounts of Taiwan's history; and (3) ideological controversy concerning what facts constitute authentic historical knowledge. Two implications of the three teachers' pedagogy are given special attention. First, with respect to curriculum reform, the teaching of history needs to focus on developing students' ability for critical and independent thinking about history instead of merely presenting historical "facts" to students; second, teacher education in both pre and in-service programs needs to provide alternative teaching models so as to enhance teachers' ability to foster creative thinking that takes into account multiple perspectives in an unbiased fashion.