Rethinking the purposes of teacher education: an exploratory study of Aotearoa New Zealand and Taiwan

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the construction and practice of the purposes of teacher education in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and Taiwan. The paper begins with a brief overview of contemporary issues underlying the education system in both countries. It then investigates the underlying assumption of student achievement before moving on to reconceptualise the purposes of education, and consequently, teacher education with the aims of remedying existing social and cultural gaps in both societies, as well as laying the path for a more diverse society for all. Underpinned within a social constructivist paradigm, the qualitative study explores how teacher education can, and needs to be, more equitable and responsive to the learning outcomes of students – in terms of diversity and difference – in Aotearoa NZ and Taiwan.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• policy and practice
• equity
• diversity
• Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ)
• Taiwan

Acknowledgements

The project is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan under the grant numbers 109-2511-H-224 -006 -MY3 and 110-2628-H-224 -001 -MY2

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hui-Chin Yeh

Hui-Chin Yeh is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages and a Director at Teaching Excellence Center at National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. Her research interests centre on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education, language acquisition, multimodality, and digital literacy.

Leechin Heng

Leechin Heng, the corresponding author, has recently been awarded a PhD in Education from the University of Canterbury, Aotearoa New Zealand and is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. Her research interests include inclusive education, sociocultural studies, and social consciousness.