Taiwanese Preschool and Elementary Teachers Beliefs about Discipline, Students, and Teaching Practices

According to international achievement tests, East Asian children are among the top academically performing students in the world. Previous research has examined a broad range of aspects of teaching that may lead to this success, ranging fromthe relatively large amount of time spent on academic activities during and after school hours "What the numbers say," 1998), to teaching practices such as whole group instruction with limited rote drills and an emphasis on self-discipline. 

Discipline, Students, and Teaching Practices

Interestingly, however, observations of classrooms in high performing countries found that no single teaching practice was common across all of the countries (National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), 2003), suggesting that factors other than practices may be behind this success. Although investigating teaching practices adds to our understanding of the drivers of East Asian children’s academic success, it leaves the processes underlying these practices, such as teacher beliefs, as another possible explanation for students’ high success. Read more>>>>>>>>>