School affairs meetings push teachers toward 'AI replacement'

Taiwan's current system for handling school disputes is inadvertently pushing teachers toward obsolescence, potentially paving the way for AI to replace them. The "school affairs meeting" system, derived from Article 29 of the Teachers Act, governs how schools handle complaints against educators.

Critics argue that the system operates under a "presumption of guilt" logic, compelling teachers to fear any disciplinary or corrective action. This environment stifles creativity in teaching and discourages educators from intervening in student behavior, even for character development. Instead, teachers are retreating to a minimalist approach focused solely on knowledge transfer, a role AI can perform with greater speed and precision.

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This shift in educational ecology, using AI robots to transmit knowledge and databases to respond to children's needs, is it Taiwan's proactive layout for the AI era?

The author, Chen Pei-ying, chair of the Chiayi County Teachers' Union and a policy researcher for the National Federation of Teachers' Unions, contends that the system ignores the crucial developmental stages of students. From early childhood to adolescence, students are in a formative period for personality and moral development. The school affairs meeting, however, tends to reduce complex educational interactions to simple legal judgments, overlooking the nuanced nature of student growth.

This shift creates a sterile educational ecosystem where every interaction is treated as a potential case. The fear of investigation forces teachers to abandon efforts to shape character or set behavioral boundaries. The article questions whether this move towards AI-driven knowledge delivery, using databases to meet children's needs, is Taiwan's strategy for the AI era. It warns that if passionate teachers disappear, it will be too late to ask them to return.

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If passionate teachers disappear, it will be too late to ask, 'Teacher, will you come back?'