Minister of Education Cheng Yingyao caused controversy by saying that hiring teachers is the responsibility of local governments. Experts pointed out that education governance needs to clarify the division of labor between the central and local governments.

◎ Cai Rongjie

On the first day of school, some schools across Taiwan still cannot find acting teachers. When asked by the media, Education Minister Zheng Yingyao said: "Recruiting teachers is the responsibility of each county and municipal government." This sentence immediately aroused criticism, and some people even rewritten Wang Yangming's "Sleeping Occasionally" to satirize: "The Ministry of Education is completely deaf, and it is still awake at dusk. Let him hit the dawn clock on the high building, and I am in a coma." The poem is sharp and enjoyable to read. However, if the issue of education ends up being just a poem scolding the minister, the systemic issues that really need to be reviewed may be drowned out by political spitfire. I have served as a school principal and have long-term exposure to teacher positions and local education administration. From a practical point of view, Zheng Yingyao's words are indeed too brief, and it is easy for people to feel that the Ministry of Education is "passing the buck"; but as far as the current education administration system is concerned, "teacher recruitment is the responsibility of local governments," which is basically not wrong. What really needs to be clarified is: What responsibilities should the Ministry of Education, the State Education Bureau and the local government each bear?

When asked by the media, Minister of Education Zheng Yingyao said: "Recruiting teachers is the responsibility of each county and municipal government." This sentence immediately triggered criticism. (File photo) 1. National education is originally a decentralization of power between the central and local governments.

In the governance of Taiwan’s national education, not everything is decided by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education is responsible for the national education system, laws, policies, funding and teacher training; the National and Preschool Education Department is responsible for the implementation, supervision, coordination and assistance of education policies below high school; as for how many teachers are actually needed in elementary and middle schools, how many formal vacancies are needed, how many posts need to be controlled and retained, as well as teacher selection and agent teacher recruitment, the main executors are local governments and affiliated schools. Such a system has its academic rationale and practical necessity. Taipei, Hsinchu, Changhua, Yunlin, and Penghu have different population structures, and the problems faced by schools in urban areas and rural areas are even more different. Which school is likely to reduce classes next year? Which township continues to see a decrease in students? Which schools are likely to be consolidated? The ones who know these things best are the local governments. If even a teacher from a certain elementary school retires and whether to fill the official vacancy must be decided by the Minister of Education from Taipei, it goes against the basic spirit of local education governance.

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2. If there are teacher vacancies, it does not mean that all teachers must be hired as regular teachers.

In the 115th school year, the shortage of acting teachers in primary and secondary schools is relatively high in counties and cities. (Tabulation by this newspaper) In this "teacher shortage" controversy, one thing is rarely made clear: when schools have teacher vacancies, local governments do not necessarily recruit regular teachers immediately. Taking the Changhua education scene that I am familiar with as an example, a certain number of regular teacher vacancies are managed all year round, and are supplemented by agency and substitute teachers. The reason is very practical, that is, the declining birthrate. Once a formal teacher is hired, he or she has long-term personnel responsibilities. If all the vacancies today are filled with regular teachers, in three to five years there will be fewer students, smaller classes, or even school mergers, which may result in a large number of surplus teachers. Excess teachers must be hired to other schools; this becomes another thorny issue when classes are being reduced everywhere. Therefore, local governments reserve a certain proportion of formal vacancies and use acting teachers to maintain personnel flexibility. This is a long-standing post management method, and the current system also allows a certain proportion of retention. What should really be discussed is: "How much retention control is reasonable?" If there is too much retention control, the proportion of agency teachers will be too high, and teachers' jobs will be unstable, which may also affect the quality of education; if there is no retention control at all, it may create a problem of excess teachers in the future under the declining birthrate. This requires professional judgment, and it is difficult to answer with one sentence: "Why not fill the gap?"

3. 99.58% is not a perfect score, nor can it be said that education has completely collapsed.

The Ministry of Education announced that there are still 614 acting teachers waiting to be hired in public primary and secondary schools across the country. Based on the country's more than 140,000 teachers, the teacher preparation completion rate is about 99.58%. Of course, the Ministry of Education cannot use 99.58% to cover up the difficulties on the front line. Because if the remaining 0.42% is concentrated in a certain rural school, a special education class, or a subject that has a long-term shortage of teachers, for that school, it is 100% of the problems that it must face every day. However, the number of teachers nationwide has reached more than 99%, and it is inappropriate to describe the entire national education as having "no teachers available." What is more important now is to analyze the remaining shortfalls one by one: In which counties and cities are they located? Which subjects? Urban or rural? Officially missing or agency missing? How many times have you hired? Why didn't anyone come? Only by analyzing the problem clearly can we find the solution.

4. Is it called "sleeping" if the minister doesn't solve it immediately?

The Ministry of Education announced that there are still 614 acting teachers waiting to be hired in public primary and secondary schools across the country. Based on the country's more than 140,000 teachers, the teacher preparation completion rate is about 99.58%. (File photo) Of course, the Minister of Education should accept supervision and criticism, but Taiwan’s education is a huge system that has been developed over decades. Teacher training, teacher remuneration, agency system, teacher positions, disciplinary power, school affairs meetings, administrative burdens and handling of campus incidents, there are laws, budgets and administrative procedures behind each of them. A minister can immediately ask the State Education Bureau to take stock of problems, convene local governments, and propose reform directions; but it is difficult to order today and completely change all Taiwanese schools tomorrow. Therefore, if it was not done immediately, it would be described as "deaf" or "drowsy and confused". This is understandable as a political satire, but a bit too hasty as a policy judgment. What should really be assessed is: What did you do after half a year? What changed a year later? Has the administrative burden on teachers decreased? Has the educational environment improved? Have there been more people willing to enter the education scene? This is a fair and strict test for an education minister.

5. Zhang Lishan has been the county magistrate for nearly eight years and should answer her own questions.

What puzzled me more was the response of Yunlin County Magistrate Zhang Lishan. She said that now "teachers' dignity is gone" and the Ministry of Education should shoulder the responsibility of restoring teachers' dignity and enthusiasm for education. I fully support regaining the dignity of teachers. The question is, whose responsibility is this? Zhang Lishan has been serving as Yunlin County Magistrate since the end of 2018, which has been nearly eight years. Eight years is not a short time. It is enough to establish a set of local education policies and improve the working environment of teachers. It is worthy of recognition that Yunlin County has promoted the full-year appointment period of acting teachers and improved the treatment of acting teachers. This incident proves that local governments already have policy tools to improve teachers’ working environment. In this case, there are still vacancies for dozens of acting teachers in Yunlin today. The county magistrate who has been serving for nearly eight years should answer: Why can't Yunlin find these teachers? Is it a matter of transportation and accommodation in rural areas? Salary issue? Acting teacher ratio? Administrative burden? Teacher discipline pressure? Or is there a long-term shortage of teachers for some subjects? For issues that fall under the central system, the Ministry of Education must be specifically asked to revise them; for issues that fall under local authority, the county government should reform them themselves. On the one hand, local leaders control teacher quotas, school management and local education resources, but on the other hand, they point the responsibility for "the dignity of teachers has disappeared" to the Ministry of Education. This statement is incomplete. In particular, local heads who have been in power for nearly eight years should produce their own education report cards to explain what they have done in the past eight years and what they have not done well.

6. The historical responsibility of the teacher training policy can be reviewed separately.

Some schools still cannot find teachers on the first day of school. Zhang Lishan, the head of Yunlin County, wants the Ministry of Education to regain teachers’ dignity and enthusiasm for education. The county and city governments will also provide full cooperation and support. (File photo) Of course, there are deeper problems with today’s teacher shortage. Were teacher training policies unbalanced in the past? Are the supply and demand estimates after the diversification of teacher training accurate? There used to be a large number of homeless teachers in the era of declining birthrate. Why are some areas now unable to find teachers again? Will the long-term agency teacher system reduce young people's willingness to invest in education? These are worthy of in-depth review by the Ministry of Education. But this is a problem on another level and cannot be lumped together with "a school in a certain county or city has not yet found an acting teacher this year." Short-term teacher recruitment, mid-term staff allocation, and long-term teacher training are originally policy issues at three different levels. Blaming them all on one minister, or all on one local government, will not help solve the problem.

7. The central government cannot pass the blame, and the local governments cannot pass the blame to Taipei.

What is really worth remembering about this dispute is that education governance is most afraid of unclear powers and responsibilities, and blaming each other when something goes wrong. The direct administrative responsibility for teacher recruitment lies with local governments and schools; the National Education Bureau is responsible for supervision, coordination and assistance; and the Ministry of Education is responsible for policy responsibility for national teacher training, teacher systems, regulations and the overall educational environment. All three have responsibilities, but the responsibilities are different. Therefore, when Zheng Yingyao said that "teacher recruitment is the responsibility of local governments," it would be better to add the second half: "The central government still has the responsibility for system reform, supervision, and assistance to local governments." Zhang Lishan asked the Ministry of Education to "recover the dignity of teachers." She should also add: "Having worked as a local government for nearly eight years As a local government, what responsibilities have we not done well?" Instead of the central and local governments blaming each other in isolation, the Ministry of Education, the National Education Bureau, and the county and city education bureaus should work together to put the unfilled teacher vacancies on the table and find out the reasons one by one, county by county, department by department, and school by school. Educational issues require oversight and a basic understanding of the system. The central government assumes the responsibilities of the central government, the National Education Bureau provides supervision and coordination, and local governments assume the responsibility of local governance. Where power lies, responsibility should follow. This is a question more worthy of asking when facing a teacher shortage than "Who is sleeping?"

Primary and secondary schools will start school on August 31. There are still vacancies for acting teachers in many counties and cities across Taiwan. The Ministry of Education has stated that it will assist in the continued recruitment of teachers. (File photo) (The author is a retired principal; an elder of Ershui Church, Taiwan Presbyterian Church)