Elementary school technology education in Taiwan: An Analysis of Implementing Policies Dr. Rong-Jyue Fang, President

The 20th century has been characterized by many unprecedented changes in every aspect of life. Education system has been reacted slowest to our rapid changing society. Traditional instructional methods and facilities made us feel awkward when we are dealing with fast global competition. Technology Education may be an alternative to meet this need. The purpose of this research was to analyze the implementing policies of elementary school technology education in Taiwan. This research reviewed the related literature to answer the following questions: 1) What is the goals of elementary school technology education? 2) What should every child need at the elementary level relate to technology education? Then, 3) considering of the characteristic of learners and the background factors of the whole educational system in Taiwan. Literature subjects and topics related to the establishment of this study are also discussed in this paper: 1) The Taiwan educational system; 2) Current status of Technology Education at all levels which include formal and informal education; 3) Technological policies at national level; 4) Basic nationalism literacy and technological literacy. In the finding, this study proposed some available policies and the possible implementing strategies. Current Status of Technology Education at All Levels For elementary school grade 1 to 2, there is a course of fine arts/craft work provided 80 minutes per week. For grade 3 to 6, the course is 120 minutes per week. Except the subject of Music, all textbooks include some of the concepts of technological literacy (Lee, 1994). Ni (1995) pointed out that elementary teachers ’ technology literacy does not meet the requirement. For junior high school grade 1 to 3, there is a course of industrial arts provided 2 hours per week. There is possible elective course of Industry provided 4-14 hours per week for grade 2 and 12-17 hours for grade 3. Because of the entrance examination of high school, some of the school shifts the hours for Industrial Arts to other courses required for entrance examination. For the same reason, some of the schools assign other course teachers to teach Industrial Arts