MORE THAN LANGUAGE: The Executive Yuan is mulling relaxed rules for foreigners to teach non-language courses at elementary, junior-high and senior-high schools

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 07, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan is stepping up efforts to recruit foreign English teachers to meet an expected rise

A teacher instructs pupils at Wenchang Elementary School in Taipei on March 16 last year.Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

in demand as the government seeks to transform Taiwan into a bilingual nation by 2030, the Ministry of Education said.

It aims to train 2,000 teachers to use English as a teaching medium by 2022 and to increase the number of such teachers to 5,000 by 2030 to meet the needs of the “bilingual country” policy promoted by former premier William Lai (賴清德), the ministry said.

As part of these efforts, the ministry in March last year amended regulations regarding teacher qualifications, allowing foreign nationals who complete educational courses and teaching internships in Taiwan to gain teaching certification at kindergarten, elementary, junior-high and senior-high school levels.

Last month, four Malaysian students took teacher qualification assessment exams in Taiwan, the first time since the revisions, ministry official Lee Yu-chuan (李毓娟) said.
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