Reforming textbooks, reshaping school knowledge: Taiwan's textbook deregulation in the 1990s¹

Abstract

This article examines the political and ideological complexities of deregulating national standardised textbooks within the context of state transformation in Taiwan, from 1989 to 2001. It analyses how discourses were constructed, how actions were adopted by the state and opposition forces, and how these reform practices were gradually incorporated into the state-led textbook deregulation project. The analysis concludes that the interplay of decentralisation, liberalisation and nativisation has profoundly affected power relations in schools, the form of textbook publication, and the principle of curriculum organisation during the transition towards market-driven textbook production. It suggests that although the discourse of deregulation often refers to democracy, it may become part of the legitimation needs of the state.