What Can We Learn from Taiwanese Teachers About Teaching Controversial Public Issues

Authors

  • Yu-Han Hung Michigan State University

Keywords:

History curriculum, Teacher Knowledge, Curricular-Instructional Gatekeeper, Controversial Public Issues, Taiwan and the PRC.

Abstract

This study explores how history teachers in Taiwan make curricular decisions while engaging controversial public issues. The main political controversies discussed in Taiwanese society center on the relationship between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China. This study documents how four social studies teachers formulate their curricular decisions through the intersecting lenses of professional knowledge and personal beliefs. Findings illuminate the role of personal experience and belief in teacher’s curricular-instructional gatekeeping in socially divisive contexts. In sum, this study helps as understand the relationship between a teacher’s own imaginative worldview, sense of personal and professional identity, and their classroom teaching practices.

Author Biography

Yu-Han Hung, Michigan State University

Michigan State University, Curriclum & Instruction, Teacher Education. National Rank No. 1 for teacher education, and No. 3 for curriculum and instruction.

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Published

2016-05-28

Issue

Section

Articles