Abstract
Globalization has rendered frequent and convenient cross-country interaction and thus led to the emergence of international education. Drawing on an international education white paper specifically designed for students at primary and secondary schools in Taiwan, this study explores attitudes of principals towards the advantages, disadvantages and implementation challenges of the white paper. A self-developed questionnaire was utilized and distributed to 120 principals in Taiwan with a return rate of approximately 74%. The results indicate that while many benefits brought by international exchange activities have been recognized, some unexpected outcomes have also been identified as possible hindrances for students’ learning and development. Extra exchange activities may increase students’ pressure for learning; instructors’ subjective international outlook may cause misleading international cognition, and focusing on powerful countries may lead to a narrowed international outlook. In addition, some implementation challenges explored in this research also manifest the existing administrative problems embedded in school systems such as lack of qualified teaching staff and administrators and lack of mutual cooperation among faculty. These findings can be referenced by Taiwanese policy makers to improve or revamp the white paper in the future.
Highlights
With the advance of modern transportation and electronic communication devices, cross-border interaction has become exponentially convenient and frequent as geographical distance has gradually ceased to be an obstacle (Kotz, 2002)
The government published a white paper on international education for primary and secondary schools in 2012, declaring a determination to establish a foundation of international education; including, the promotion of internationalised curriculum, additional training for qualified teachers, implementing international exchange activities and an internationalisation of learning environments
With the White Paper (2012) in mind, this study focuses on ‘international exchange activities’ as this aspect has been the most widely implemented by schools in recent years (Huang, 2015)
Summary
With the advance of modern transportation and electronic communication devices, cross-border interaction has become exponentially convenient and frequent as geographical distance has gradually ceased to be an obstacle (Kotz, 2002). The blurring boundaries between countries have stimulated global flows of human capital, economics, politics, knowledge, fashion and culture (Stier, 2003). Under such a globalised society, an academic field has emerged – international education. While many practitioners recognize that international education helps cultivate a global mind-set and intercultural competences for future generations, opponents consider this form of education an instrument for affluent groups to strive forth in the ever-burgeoning globalised society (Joris, 2006). To cultivate an international mind-set and competencies in human capital, the government of Taiwan has recognised the need to implement educational reform targeting young students for international education as the up-coming globalised generation. The government published a white paper on international education for primary and secondary schools in 2012, declaring a determination to establish a foundation of international education (ibid.); including, the promotion of internationalised curriculum, additional training for qualified teachers, implementing international exchange activities and an internationalisation of learning environments
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