With children maturing at a younger age these days, the Ministry of Education said July 7 that it would hold a national education conference Aug. 28-29 to discuss school system reform and to gather public opinion on whether to lower the age at which schoolchildren enter junior high school.
Chen Po-chang, director of the Preparatory Office of the National Academy for Educational Research under the MOE, said the current “6-3-3” system, namely six years of elementary school, three years of junior high school and three years of senior high school, has been in place since 1922.
However, noting that children have been growing up faster physically in recent times, with many in the sixth grade already entering puberty, Chen said that these older elementary school students cannot continue to be treated as children and that the “6-3-3” system needs to be reformed.
Chen pointed out there are several possible directions of reform, including changing to a “5-4-3” or “5-3-4” system. Another option that has its advocates is having children begin elementary school a year earlier, at the age of five, and launching a K-12 system (kindergarten through 12th grade education), with a new division of grades for the three levels of schooling, in order to bring Taiwan’s system in line with the times, he said.
As soon as the school system is adjusted, the scale of each school will also change, so reform of the curriculum will have to be carried out, Chen noted. At the same time, with schools at the various levels having different teacher qualifications and facilities, reforming the system will “represent a huge task,” he pointed out, adding that there is no clear timetable at present for carrying out the task.
Hsieh Wen-chyuan, an honorary professor at National Taiwan Normal University’s Graduate Institute of Educational Policy and Administration, said that all countries in Asia still follow the “6-3-3” school system but that the U.S. and European countries have already begun to reform their systems. He noted that elementary school is only four years in Germany and five years in France, while some states in the United States have implemented 4-year or 5-year primary schooling on a trial basis.
“Nowadays, kids mature too early, making teaching tough for fifth-grade and sixth-grade teachers,” said Chang Rong-huei, principal of Pingding Elementary School in Taipei County.
“Teachers can treat students in lower elementary grades like children, but for older students, they have to treat them like friends or little grown-ups in order to perform their job effectively,” he added.
Chang said he thinks the most important thing is to extend education to younger children, or in other words to begin formal schooling at the age of five. He also noted this would help solve the problem of many qualified teachers not being able to find employment.
Hsieh Kuo-ching, chairman of the National Alliance of Parents Organization, noted that sixth graders are physically and personality-wise relatively closer to junior high school students, while most kindergarteners are more mature than in the past. Therefore, he said he supports the MOE proceeding with school system reform. However, he added, “Reform should not remain stuck at the discussion stage, and a clear timetable should be set for carrying out the reform.” (SB)