Taiwanese teacher dismissed for flawed science lessons, including Van Gogh optics discussion, loses lawsuit

A primary school teacher in Taiwan, despite holding a master's degree, has been dismissed for what the school deemed inadequate teaching. The teacher, identified as Ms. Hong, reportedly made several errors in her science classes, including teaching that the woody stem of a plant is its root and discussing artist Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" during a lesson on optical refraction. She also allegedly instructed students to falsify experimental data by copying different results instead of conducting actual experiments.

The school's decision to dismiss Ms. Hong followed observations by a guidance team that identified errors in her subject matter delivery. The team also noted her failure to allow students to perform experiments, instead providing answers for them to copy. Furthermore, her course progress was significantly behind schedule, and she relied heavily on question banks from publishers, with basic tasks like grading student work requiring repeated reminders from school administration.

Ms. Hong contested the dismissal, claiming she was a victim of bullying by the principal and that the complaints were acts of retaliation. She argued that being assigned to teach older students without a specialization in science was inappropriate. However, the court reviewed the guidance reports, which indicated that Ms. Hong was resistant to making adjustments despite expert demonstrations. The court ultimately upheld the school's decision, concluding that her teaching harmed students' rights and that her performance did not improve, thus justifying the termination of her employment.