[[alternative]]Using Access to Upper Secondary Education as an Example (II)

[[abstract]]The proposed research project is a sub-project of a two-year integrated study: 「Discourse, Practice and Reflection：Analyzing Recent Education Reform in Taiwan」. The integrated project intends to investigate the discourse and practice of recent education reform in Taiwan. The title of this sub-project is 「 Discourses, Practices and Reflections：Equality of Educational Opportunity and Access to Upper Secondary Education」. It will focus on the issue of equal educational opportunity with a special attention to the reform related to the access upper secondary education. In sum, the objectives of the research are listed as follows: First Year: 1. Describe reforms related to access to upper-secondary education in Taiwan since 1950. 2. Analyze the discourse of, practices of, and impact on equal educational opportunity related to reforms in access to upper-secondary education. 3. Compare and explain the difference in the discourse and practice of equal educational opportunity before and after education reform using access to upper-secondary education as an example. 4. Investigating the contextual factors that affected the changes in the discourse about equal educational opportunity since 1950 using access to upper secondary education as an example. 5. Synthesize the impact of recent reform policies (including Multiple Entries to Upper Secondary Education (MEUSE), Blending Communities and Upper Secondary Education (BCUSE), and Comprehensive High School (CHS)) on access to upper secondary education. Second Year 1. Using MEUSE, BCUSE, and CHS as examples, analyzing their impact on access to upper secondary education. Synthesize their contents and practice related to equal educational opportunity. 2. Evaluating the impact of MEUSE, BCUSE, and CHS policies on equality of educational opportunities through empirical investigations. 3. Compare the impact of various accesses to upper secondary education on equality of educational opportunities. 4. Provide feedback for improving equality of educational opportunities by reforming access to upper secondary education. The methods used to address research questions include documentary analysis, literature review, interview, focus group interview, official and secondary data analysis, and survey research method. This research is important not in both theoretical and practical dimensions. On the theoretical dimension, recent reform in access to secondary higher education provide excellent chance to investigate the impact of access/system changes on equality of educational opportunity. It can also illustrate what and how contextual factors affect discourse in equality of educational opportunity. On the practical dimension, it helps to clarify the debate in the impact of changes in access to upper secondary education on the equality of educational opportunity. Concrete suggestions will be provided on how equal educational opportunity can be improved through reform in access to upper secondary education.