Department of Education, Taipei City Government

1. Taipei Quality School Selection

Taipei City as the capital city in Taiwan plays the role of leadership in leading the country moving forward to internationalization and modernization. Thus the development and reformation of education in this city must be in the right direction. By creating an excellent educational environment and cultivating all-round talents, it is believed as the right way to make not only the country competitive but also Taipei City a global metropolis in the 21st century. Given that, the Department of Education of the Taipei City government has developed the quality school index as a reference for schools. Its 8 quality awards include "school leadership", "administration and management", "course development", "teaching", "professional development", "school construction", "resource integration" and "student learning." If a single school accumulates a total of 5 awards or more in less than 4 years (including awards won by different schemes), it will be eligible to win an overall gold quality award.
 

2. Taipei Education 111 Benchmark School Selection

The Department of Education of Taipei City established the "Taipei Education 111 Promotion Committee" in 2009. The term 111 means "a school with one feature, a student with at least one talent in the life, and No Child Left Behind." This center is in charge of the authentication of Taipei Education 111 Benchmark schools. It is hoped that with an authentication system, schools will focus on providing students with a balanced and quality learning environment.

3. Taipei Honored contributors to education Selection

The Department of Education of Taipei City wishes to praise educational workers, parents and others for doing their part in education. So in order to raise service morale and promote the development of education, the department issued the regulation The Recommendation and Approval of Taipei Honored Contributors to Education. Through a series of rigorous judging from an initial round to a second round, education workers who give their all anonymously in schools are praised and their touching deeds will be recorded in the "Taipei Honored contributors to education".

Related Link: http://www.tiec.gov.taipei/np.asp?ctNode=79065&mp=104013 (Chinese)(New Window)

4. The Curriculum and Instruction Pioneering Project in Taipei Senior and Vocational High Schools

In response to the 12-year public education policy coming into effect, the cultivation of 6 core abilities including code of conduct, learning, reading, thinking, creativity and mobility, for Taipei students becomes essential. In addition to focusing on teaching enlivenment and diverse assessment, the Taipei City government invests a 5-year, 600 million NT$, curriculum competed funding for senior and vocational high schools. This new project, namely The Curriculum and Instruction Pioneering Project in Taipei Senior and Vocational High Schools, is aimed to facilitate the development of the network of senior high schools, to strengthen principals’ instructional leadership, to stimulate course and teaching development, enhance teachers' professional development, and deepen students' diverse learning and suitability development so as to enhance the learning results.

This program, divided into in three phases, will run from 2013 to 2018. Within that each phase is 3-year-long in length. Various senior and vocational high schools will report their course plans for each phase (first phase: 2013-2015; second phase: 2014-2016; third phase: 2015-2017). After the approval of the investigation team, each school will receive funding of up to 5 million NT$ each year. During the three years, each school may receive up to 15 million NT$.

Related Link: http://www.tiec.gov.taipei/np.asp?ctNode=79504&mp=104013(Chinese)(New Window)

5. The Curriculum and Instruction Prospecting Project in Taipei Senior and Vocational High Schools

Taipei City has begun promoting the Curriculum and Instruction Pioneering Project in Taipei Senior and Vocational High Schools (shortened as Pioneering Project below) since 2012. This project has increasingly renewed the landscape of school teaching and curriculum. The school has opened themselves to a multi-dimensional view and established their own unique identities; teachers have organized schools or interschool groups to prepare together their teaching and curriculum which has become characteristic of liveliness and diversity. Due to this great change, more and more students are enjoying learning and discovering themselves from the learning process. For students to be able to take up challenges of the future world, multi-dimensional abilities such as self-directed learning, learning with each other, society participation and a global view must be cultivated. Through the Pioneering Project, Taipei City has increasingly transformed the current foundations of the high school education to move on to a continuing next step, that is , "The Curriculum and Instruction Prospecting Project in Taipei Senior and Vocational High Schools" (Shortened as the Prospecting Program below).

The Prospecting Program will continue the spirit of the Pioneering Program. It will not simply focus on teacher groups and course development, but also at the same time change the existing course structure and content in accordance with the spirit of the 12-year public education policy. This will be undertaken with the goal of creating new educational images for this city's senior and vocational high schools.

It is hoped that each participating school can construct a course map in accordance with the 2018 national curriculum guidelines with the premise that each school could develop its own uniqueness. Thus each school is expected to be able to provide students with a customized course plan, suitability development and diverse learning. In the meantime, this project is to enable each school to the following tasks: planning learning activities and international exchange events to suit the students' needs, enhancing interschool cooperation and sharing education resources, and ensuring course and teaching qualities through both the internal and external evaluation. To achieve these goals, the city government announces the Prospecting Program to stimulate the development and improvement of both curriculum and teaching of private and public senior and vocational high schools. It is an invitation to pursue excellence and innovation in education.

Related Link: http://www.tiec.gov.taipei/np.asp?ctNode=85106&mp=104013(Chinese)(New Window)

6. Educational Research

Educational Research is encouraged and open to all of the teachers in Taipei city. Schools could apply to this center for independent research funding yearly. After being approved, the research team consisting of school teachers or leaders could start to conduct their research project. The topics of these research projects range from school administration and leadership, student affairs, special education, courses and teaching, to educational technology. The point is to assist teachers in solving real-life problems occurring in their classroom or school. Once their report has being approved by the research committee, the report will be printed as research reports. And, research teams are responsible for presenting their findings and sharing their results to other teachers.

The research report can be accessed online through the following link: http://www.tiec.gov.taipei/ct.asp?xItem=104550557&CtNode=80682&mp=104013(Chinese)(New Window)