Fun Food and Agriculture Education: Taichung Education Bureau Partners with the Homemakers United Foundation to Promote Diverse Educational Practices
In early 2017, the Education Bureau of the Taichung City Government launched the "106-108 Academic Year Taichung City Campus Food and Agriculture Education Master Plan," and signed a memorandum of cooperation with the local NGO that helped bring the master plan into being, the "Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation Taichung Branch." A total of 73 schools participated, accounting for more than one-fifth of the city's public junior high and elementary schools. This year (2018), the number has reached 128 schools. This can be described as a rare large-scale plan in Taiwan, China, in which a county or city government allocates a high budget to promote food and agriculture education on campuses. At the same time, it also opened the first model in Taiwan, China, of cooperation between the public education system and civil society NGOs to promote food and agriculture education.
It is well known that elementary and junior high schools already carry many administrative burdens. Therefore, from the very beginning, the plan insisted on framing implementation as "incentive" rather than "mandate." It did not want principals to develop unnecessary resistance and pressure before they had experienced the joy and deeper meaning of food and agriculture education, and it did not use the evaluation methods common in educational settings to check promotion results. There were only end-of-term collaborative guidance visits. Because the master plan, from the outset, used workshops, study visits to other counties and cities, and summer practical training to let participating teachers see the core value of a friendly environment and various possibilities for promotion, it instead attracted and encouraged the enthusiasm of frontline teachers.
Summarizing the experience of the first year, we saw five different patterns from past efforts to promote food and agriculture education. The following is organized to share with all sectors.
