Point Education: Teacher Shortage! Teacher Panic! Who Drove Teachers Away?

During the 2026 Taipei International Book Exhibition, President Lai Qingde remarked, 'Rather than finding a good teacher, it's better to find a good book.' If this statement aims to promote the importance of reading, it is certainly justified—after all, reading is the foundation of education. But can a good book truly replace a good teacher? The answer is likely no. Books can convey knowledge, the internet can provide information, and artificial intelligence can even generate answers instantly. Yet, these tools can never fully replace teachers. As Han Yu wrote in 'On Teachers': 'A teacher is one who transmits principles, imparts knowledge, and resolves doubts.' These few words capture the fundamental value of teachers. Education requires teachers not because they carry more knowledge than books, but because teachers can recognize individual differences, respond to students' learning needs, and provide guidance and companionship throughout their growth. Unfortunately, Taiwan is now witnessing a phenomenon where qualified individuals avoid school teaching positions, and current teachers are leaving the profession in droves. When did this once-venerated vocation become a career people shy away from? The public rarely realizes that school teachers today do far more than just 'teach.' Beyond lesson planning and instruction, they must handle extensive administrative reporting, policy promotion, and formalistic performance documentation. These tedious tasks, largely unrelated to student learning, consume teachers' time and energy, making it difficult for them to focus on their professional teaching duties. As declining birthrates and dual-income households become societal norms, parenting responsibilities that should originally fall on families are increasingly shifting to schools. Teachers now bear the burden of emotional regulation, interpersonal issues, and even problems arising from family dysfunction. The educational environment is no longer just a place for learning—it has become the frontline absorbing the impact of various social problems. In reality, most of Taiwan's educational issues stem not from teachers' lack of professionalism, but from national-level policymakers blindly pushing education reforms without considering the real needs of classrooms. Since the 1994 'April 10 Education Reform Movement,' waves of reforms—from the nine-year integrated curriculum, changes in basic and academic proficiency tests, to the 12-year national education and the 108 curriculum guidelines—have followed one after another. However, most major decisions were implemented hastily, without grassroots consensus or rigorous evaluation. Many policymakers lack substantial teaching experience yet attempt to fully control classroom realities through top-down systems, reducing teachers to mere policy implementers and risk bearers. More concerning is that recent education policies, while emphasizing student rights protection, have failed to establish institutional frameworks for teachers' disciplinary authority, thereby undermining teachers' professional autonomy and social status. Take, for example, the 'campus incident handling mechanism' established after the 2019 amendment to the Teachers Act. Its original intent was to create a system for addressing unfit teachers and safeguarding students' right to education. However, in practice, it has led to situations where teachers face complaints and investigations for normal classroom management, discipline, or maintaining order. Today, when dealing with students who severely disrupt classes, exhibit behavioral issues, or lose emotional control, teachers find themselves in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. In fact, as early as 1966, UNESCO's 'Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers' stated that teachers should have reasonable working conditions, professional autonomy, and social respect. Without institutional protection for teacher professionalism, educational quality cannot be sustained. Looking at international education policy trends, successful education systems generally uphold the principle of balanced rights and responsibilities—emphasizing not only children's rights but also parental responsibilities and legal protection for teachers' disciplinary authority. For instance, the UK's 'Education and Inspections Act' explicitly grants teachers statutory 'non-litigious disciplinary power' and uses 'Parenting Contracts' to require parents to jointly bear responsibility for student behavior guidance. When students exhibit serious misconduct or disorder, local governments can require parents to undergo counseling; failure to comply may even lead to legal consequences. Similarly, education systems in U.S. states protect teachers' rights to maintain classroom order. The 'Every Student Succeeds Act' and certain state-level 'Teacher Bills of Rights' authorize teachers to temporarily remove disruptive students from class when necessary, allowing administrative or counseling units to take over, thus protecting other students' learning rights. These systems also legally shield teachers from malicious lawsuits when performing their duties reasonably. Likewise, Finland places high trust in educational professionalism, treating teachers as vital national human assets. The government grants teachers full autonomy, and society widely respects teachers' professional judgment. The key to Finland's educational success lies not in increasing supervision and evaluations, but in building a supportive institutional environment for teacher development. Singapore, too, has actively promoted teacher workload reduction policies, adding administrative support staff and dedicated teams to reduce non-teaching tasks, allowing teachers to spend more time with students. While education systems vary across countries, their underlying philosophy is consistent: education is not solely the teacher's responsibility, but a social system where students, parents, and the government must share responsibility. Comparing international experiences with Taiwan's current educational challenges, the Ministry of Education must immediately rebuild a balanced educational environment among parents, teachers, and students by focusing on three areas: legal empowerment, parental responsibility, and administrative burden reduction. First, legally empower teachers to temporarily remove disruptive students from class and establish immunity protections that shield them from malicious complaints and lawsuits when exercising reasonable discipline. Second, promote parenting contracts and counseling mechanisms, clearly defining parents' legal responsibility to jointly support student behavioral guidance. Finally, optimize the school education environment by increasing administrative support staff and reducing non-teaching duties, allowing teachers more time to teach and care for students. In a 2009 education speech, former U.S. President Obama said: 'Even with the best schools and the most excellent teachers, education cannot succeed if students are unwilling to learn or take responsibility. Likewise, if families completely withdraw from the educational process, even the best teachers cannot single-handedly complete all educational work.' He also emphasized that the government's responsibility is to create a safe and well-resourced educational environment where students have the opportunity to learn and teachers can teach with peace of mind. Social collapse does not happen overnight—it begins with the accumulation of countless small cracks. The current 'teacher shortage' in Taiwan's education system, or more accurately, 'teacher panic,' is a signal of national educational policy failure, and its consequences are rapidly spreading across society. When talented individuals no longer wish to become teachers, and those remaining in the field choose silence or departure, classrooms may still exist, books may remain, and bells may still ring. But no one will believe anymore that education can truly change a child's life. When a society can no longer retain its teachers, what is lost is not just educators—but the future of the next generation! *Author: Chief Writer, Zhunbi Group