Cultural Adjustment of High School Teachers from Taiwan in Kinmen

• Main Authors: Hsin-Lan Wu, 吳馨嵐
• Other Authors: Wei-Wen Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/32826768874378149701

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 國際人力資源發展研究所 === 100 === The mobility of workforce is common. In Taiwan, people qualified as being teachers are hard to become formal ones due to intense competition of teachers’ entrance exams. Thus many of them choose remote islands of Republic of China to take teachers’ entrance exams. This research studied formal teachers from Taiwan now in Kinmen as they have experienced some cultural adjustments. Although a large number of literatures explore expatriate adjustment, none of the previous literature aims at exploring the adjustment issues of teachers from Taiwan in Kinmen. The purpose of this study is to examine the working adjustment, psychological adjustment, and general adjustment experiences that teachers from Taiwan have. It is hoped to provide useful information for incumbent teachers, administrators, or for people considering teaching in Kinmen. This study presents findings from the qualitative approach of the adjustment journey of 13 teachers who have spent 2 to 6 years in Kinmen. It involved methods of interviews, participant observation, and document analysis more than an academic year. There are some particular things that teachers from Taiwan need to adapt to. It was found that Kinmen natives elder teachers can enjoy more privileges in many ways, and no position rotation system in schools. Natives tend to use people relations to solve problems, and there are many other challenges that teachers from Taiwan discovered. A piece of advice for schools in Kinmen is to build fairer environment in schools so to increase teachers’ coherence therefore being able to create brighter future for the education in Kinmen.