Teacher participation and empowerment: The cases of Hong Kong and Taiwan

Teacher participation and empowerment: The cases of Hong Kong and Taiwan

• Wong, Wai Kwok

2007

• R Educational Policy & Administration
  • RE School Management, School-Parents Relationship
• P Social Context of Education
  • PB Comparative Education

School Administration Political Science

• Hong Kong
• Taiwan

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education
• Secondary Education

This thesis aims to study the dynamic relationships between teachers and politics. Adopting the cases of Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is a comprehensive and critical study of the factors, development and consequences of teacher participation in shaping politics since the 1980s. Employing the concept of empowerment, this thesis develops an analytical framework with three independent variables, including (1) political culture, (2) union solidarity, and (3) government perception, shaping an intervening variable in personal, collective and institutional modes, and then a dependent variable, namely teacher empowerment. Teacher empowerment has three dimensions: (1) personal empowerment (process to defend their professional and political status), (2) organizational empowerment (process to articulate their interests through unions), and (3) political empowerment (the ability to influence government and other non-educational policies).
Although Hong Kong and Taiwan have experienced varying levels of democratization beginning in the 1980s, a divergence can be found in relation to: (1) the nature of empowerment, (2) teacher participation, (3) union solidarity, and (4) government perception. In Hong Kong's context, the procurement of teachers' material needs and the protection of their professional autonomy are of major concerns. In Taiwan, however, teachers aimed to alter the authoritarian approach upheld by the Kuomintang (KMT). Regarding teacher participation, educational elites co-opted into the advisory committees in Hong Kong usually utilize institutional channels to portray as a teacher representative and defend the bureaucratic views on educational issues. Despite the occasional adoption of collective actions to express their grievances, most of the teachers lack the drive to press the authorities in order to alter the official domination and hegemony. Despite the foundation of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (PTU), it has achieved limitedly to alter the authoritarian governance and defend professionalism. Unlike in Hong Kong, the flourishing of teacher movement in Taiwan challenged severely the official domination. They joined, agreed to form teacher associations at school and local levels, and ultimately established the national teacher association (NTA). The two governments adapted two different stances in response to teacher participation and empowerment. The colonial and SAR governments co-opt educationalist elites in order to legitimatize the authoritarian governance and undermine political influence of teachers. The Nationalist government, nevertheless, gradually responds to activists' demands by liberalizing teachers, democratizing school settings and recognizing teacher associations through legislation.
The cases of Taiwan and Hong Kong demonstrate that variation in the development of teacher participation helps to explain the accomplishments or limitations of teacher empowerment. The relative flourishing of teacher empowerment in Taiwan can be explained by the (1) political liberalization of KMT's governance, (2) political alliance between teachers and other socio-educational groups, (3) growth and development of teachers' associations, and (4) recognition of teacher participation through legislation. In Hong Kong, teacher empowerment is bounded by the (1) authoritarian and conservative governance of the government and school-sponsoring bodies, (2) official manipulation of teacher professionalism and participation, (3) insufficiency of teacher unions and schools to enhance teacher participation, and (4) cooptation of educational elites.

PhD

University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

• English

Dissertation Theses

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/050740c7

2010-12-16