Taiwan: Performance in the programme for international student assessment

Abstract

Taiwan has, from 2006, participated in five Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) surveys. This chapter discusses Taiwan's performance in PISA and its implications. At first, the education system and the process of educational reform in Taiwan were described. Then Taiwan's performances for reading, math, and science in PISA were delineated. Taiwanese students have had consistently excellent performance for math and science; its reading performance, although not as outstanding as those for math and science, has improved significantly from 2009 to 2018. The gender gap in reading, in favour of female students, has narrowed, and the gender gap in math and science has been small. Educational equity, especially between rural and urban students, has also improved from 2006 to 2018. The proportion of high performers in reading and the proportion of low performers in reading, math, and science has increased from 2006 to 2018, while the proportions of top performers in math and science have decreased. These findings are interpreted from the perspectives of cultural beliefs, changes in the education system and national assessment, government investment in the related domains, and the nature of the PISA assessment.