Speaker : Eric Layman
Time : 2022/04/12 (TUE.) 11AM - 12PM
Location : NTHU HSS C303

This dissertation investigates an education policy reform aimed at improving educational outcomes for Taiwan’s Indigenous people. “Indigenous Experimental Education” aspires to grant Indigenous schools in Taiwan more autonomy over their curriculum, and thereby infuse it with Indigenous culture. Taiwan’s Indigenous Experimental schools are public, government-funded schools that have additional funds available for the development of Indigenous curricula. The goal of the dissertation is to understand how the policy was being implemented by those involved with both its formation and implementation. I examined the policy through the Habermasian lens of Communicative Action to ascertain how notions of autonomy and indigeneity affect Indigenous educational sovereignty in the implementation of the policy. This study contributes to knowledge of education policy reform specific to Taiwan’s Indigenous communities, and provides a broader methodological contribution by asserting the theoretical work of Habermas as essential in critical analysis of Indigenous education policy reform. This study contributes to literature critiquing the notion that government-funded, privately managed schools are an adequate education policy reform for addressing the problems of disadvantaged, marginalized populations, particularly Indigenous communities. Finally, this study seeks to contribute to critical theoretical understandings of how education policy can better incorporate and serve Indigenous culture and ways of knowing.
In this dissertation, I employed ethnographic research methods and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in a study of education policy reform. I visited sites of education policy formation and implementation that took advantage of a government initiative that sought to strengthen Indigenous education in Taiwan. I interviewed those involved with shaping this policy, such as officials and professors, as well as those who implemented the policy, such as teachers and administrators, and interviewed teachers and administrators at Indigenous Experimental Schools, as well as their “control” counterparts--Indigenous “Key” Schools. Indigenous Key Schools are schools that have a majority of Indigenous students. These schools are eligible to become Indigenous Experimental Schools, and therefore those involved with these schools also possessed important insights as to the desirability of participation in the Experimental School policy. I observed extra-curricular programming explicitly oriented towards educating students from an Indigenous background, such as public ceremonies, performances, and other cultural events. I conducted CDA of public announcements, textbooks, assignments, and other Indigenous educational media. I did this analysis in conjunction with ethnographic interviews and observations related to the content of Indigenous pedagogical materials. As part of my ethnographic research, I observed training workshops, conferences, and academic forums dedicated to issues of Indigenous education reform and addressing social disparities between Indigenous people and Taiwan’s mainstream population. My findings shed light on the implementation of Taiwan’s Indigenous Experimental education policy and contribute to broader understandings of how issues surrounding Indigenous education policy reform can be critically understood and addressed.