Taiwan’s population crisis is worse than the global warming. While the global birth rate is bouncing from the valley, Taiwan’s birth rate is at the bottom of the world due to phenomena like “no marriage”, “late marriage”, “late birth” and “low birth rate”.
As the baby-booming 427.2 thousand newly born children in 1963 dropping to 394 thousand newly born children in 1968 under birth-control policy, it gets worse since 1984. There were only 191 thousand newly-born children in 2009. It is estimated that there will be only 160 thousand newly born children in 2029. Except for the population crisis, the pattern of the family is also under major transition. Single-parent family, grandparent-grandchildren family and husband-wife family replace the traditional core family. Facing this “baby-bust” and the new family patterns like dual-income family, new immigrants, intergenerational child-rearing family, adjustment of kindergarten’s curriculum and instruction and the new relationship between family members have become a primary issue. That is the exact focus of this research project.?
The research methods include document review, focus group, visual ethnography and in-depth interview.
The purposes of the research are as following:
Year 1 – 01/01/2011-12/31/2011
1. To analyze the arguments on “assistant family education” in Taiwan’s kindergarten curriculum.
2. To understand how other countries’ early childhood education react on family transition.
3. To explore the life experience of low-fertility family, dual-income family, new immigrants, intergenerational child-rearing family and single-parent children under the current trends of family transition.
Year 2 – 01/01/2012–12/31/2012
4. To review and analyze the expectations on curriculum and instruction from low-fertility family,
dual-income family, new immigrants, intergenerational child-rearing family and single-parent family under trends of family transition.
5. To review the descriptions of family in oncoming kindergarten curriculum guideline and their mutual relationships.
6. To construct kindergarten’s curriculum and instruction under current family transition.
The results are:
1. To analyze the arguments on “assistant family education” in Taiwan’s kindergarten curriculum over the years.
2. To explore and analyze the life experience of low-fertility family, dual-income family, new immigrants, intergenerational child-rearing family and single-parent children under the current trends of family transition.
3. To collect and analyze the expectations on curriculum and instruction from low-fertility family, dual-income family, new immigrants, intergenerational child-rearing family and single-parent family under trends of family transition in order to depict the views of education from the perspective of the mass.
4. To review the descriptions of family in oncoming kindergarten curriculum guideline and their relationships among the children from different family patterns.
5. To review and analyze the commonplace, difference, contradictions or co-construction between current curriculum and instruction.
To construct local kindergarten’s curriculum and instruction based on current family transition.
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