When Taiwanese teachers in primary and secondary schools engage in inappropriate conduct toward students, including inappropriate discipline, unlawful punishment, corporal punishment, or bullying, schools are required to convene School Incident Review Committees (SIRC) to conduct investigations and make determinations. This study aims to explore the perspectives of certified investigation committee members regarding the investigative process, fact-finding, and associated challenges. The study involved 45 committee members from seven counties/cities in Taiwan. Data were collected through focus group discussions and individual interviews and analyzed using the grounded theory method. Findings reveal that the composition of committee members influences communication, pre-meeting briefings facilitate understanding of school context and expectations, interviews with different stakeholders emphasize distinct foci, fact-finding and disciplinary recommendations vary based on whether leniency or impartiality is applied, distinctions between inappropriate discipline and bullying are primarily based on definitions and regulations provided by the Ministry of Education, and the primary author of the report significantly impacts its content. Regarding the investigation and determination process, seven key challenges were identified: non-validating experts and unqualified members, difficulties in evidence collection, psychological pressure on committee members, ambiguity in determinations, school demands to revise reports, rejections due to erroneous determinations, and external distrust in reports. The findings of this study provide valuable evidence to inform institutional reforms and policy development for SIRC investigations and other administrative inquiries.

Authors:
Liming Chen, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan
Hsiu-I Hsueh, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan

About the Presenter(s)
Li-Ming Chen, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Institute of Education, National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Taiwan.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule

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