대만교육기본법의 개정과 그 시사점

The Amendments of Taiwan Education Basic Law and Its Suggestions

대만의 교육기본법은 1999년 6월에 제정되었다. 인민이 교육권의 주체 임을 명시하였고 국가, 교육기관, 교사, 학부모가 교육책임이 지도록 하였다. 또한 교육기회의 균등을 보장하고 교육의 중립을 명문화하는 한편 사학을 진흥시키고 중앙정부의 교육권한을 축소하는 규정들을 두었다. 2005년 11월의 제1차 개정을 통하여 교육목적에 애국교육과 향토사랑 규정을 두었고 교육예산을 확보하기 위한 근거규정을 신설하였다. 2006년 12월의 제2차 개정을 통하여 체벌금지 조항과 학생의 신체자주권 및 인격발전권을 새로 두었고, 교사 혹은 학생의 권리가 위법하게 침해당 할 경우 이를 구제받을 수 있는 법적 근거를 마련하였다. 우리나라도 교육의 질적 향상을 위하여 자율권 확대, 교육예산을 확보하는 한편 체벌 없는 교육환경이 조성되어야 하겠다.

On April 10, 1994, there was a huge demonstration for education reform in Taipei. Over 30,000 participants demanded four requirements, including the amendment of the Education Basic Law. Taiwan Congress has started drafting the law since 1993, and the Education Basic Law has been officially promulgated in June 1999. Taiwan Education Basic Law has no chapter but only seventeen articles. The law itself presents its own characteristics such as democratization of educational subject, diversification of educational institutions, decentralization of educational power, and neutralization of education. It prescribes the people as the educational subject and obliges educational responsibility on the state, educational institutions, teachers and parents. It also guarantees equal educational opportunity which is protected by the Constitution. On top of that, the law has ``small class, small school`` regulation in order to improve the quality of education. Moreover, the law enables individuals to manage elementary schools as well as middle schools with the aim of developing private education. The first amendment to Taiwan Education Basic Law was ratified on November 30, 2005. Two articles were amended: one concerns the purpose of education while the other one concerns the budget of education. ``Patriotism education and love for country`` has been added to the purpose of education, which enabled Taiwan Education Basic Law to actualize patriotism education while Chinese education law emphasize on ``patriotism`` and ``collectivism.`` Guarantee of the special budget was intensifiedin the provision concerning the budget of education. Taiwan once faced a disproportionate problem in education budget due to itsextremely high ratio of labor costs and retirement pension, but the amendment of the law helped Taiwan to draw up the education expenses sufficiently and carry it out reasonably. The second amendment was ratified on December 27, 2006. Article 8 and Article 15 were amended, which was a management expanding students`` basic rights. Should physical punishment on students be allowed at schools has been a controversial issue in Taiwanese society. Since the Education Basic Law prohibited physical punishment on students, it may therefore be appropriate to predict that there would be no more physical punishment at Taiwanese schools in the future. The amendment newly established ``physical independence right`` and ``personality development right,`` which expanded Taiwanese students`` rights. These two amendments of Taiwan suggests following points to Korea: Firstly, the subject of education was altered from the state into the people. Secondly, the amendments reduced educational power of the central government and guaranteed local self-regulatory rights. Last but not least, it prohibited physical punishment and expanded students`` fundamental rights. These constructive suggestions should be used for reference in Korean education reform by carefully observing present situation of Korean society.