Huang Guang-xiong: The Man Who Built a College of Education on a Chiayi Field

30-Second Overview: Huang Guang-xiong (1937–2021), the founding figure of curriculum studies in Taiwan. He earned his doctorate in education from National Taiwan Normal University and conducted research at the Institute of Education, University of London. He served as Dean of the College of Education at NTNU, President of National Hsinchu Teachers College, and founding director of the Graduate Institute of Education and the College of Education at National Chung Cheng University. He systematically introduced Western curriculum theory to Taiwan, edited foundational teacher-training textbooks including Introduction to Education and Principles of Teaching, co-translated Qualitative Research for Education, and directly participated in the Ministry of Education's research planning for the nine-year integrated curriculum guidelines. He passed away on February 4, 2021, at age 84.

A Line Running from NTNU to Chiayi

Huang Guang-xiong's academic career can be traced through a geographic line: from National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, to National Hsinchu Teachers College, to National Chung Cheng University in Chiayi. At each stop, he left behind an institution.

At NTNU, he was a professor in the Department of Education, Dean of the College of Education, and Director of the Division of Continuing Education. At Hsinchu, he served as President of the Provincial Hsinchu Teachers College. In 1996, he traveled south to Chiayi to found the Graduate Institute of Education at National Chung Cheng University, becoming its inaugural director. That institute was later expanded into the College of Education, with Huang as its founding dean¹.

The founding of the Graduate Institute of Education at Chung Cheng University holds a special place in Taiwanese education scholarship. It was the only graduate institute in central and southern Taiwan bearing the name "education," breaking the pattern of educational research resources concentrated in the northern teachers' college system. Huang brought the scholarly tradition from NTNU southward; the institute gathered several researchers who later became important scholars in philosophy of education and comparative education².

Translating Western Curriculum Theory into Taiwan

Huang Guang-xiong's most central scholarly contribution was the systematic introduction of Western curriculum theory into Taiwan. That work began in London.

He undertook research at the Institute of Education, University of London (now UCL IOE). This period had a decisive influence on his subsequent academic direction: he made a deep study of contemporary Western curriculum development and instructional design theory in Britain, returning to Taiwan with a wealth of first-hand source materials. In 1992, he and Chou Shu-ching published "An Analysis of the British National Curriculum" in the Bulletin of Educational Research, a rigorous examination of the national curriculum under Britain's Education Reform Act 1988 — a direct demonstration of his London research¹⁰. He also systematically introduced the concept of the "Hidden Curriculum" from British educational circles to Taiwan¹¹.

After returning, his publications drew extensively on the scholarly accumulation of his London period. New Perspectives on Curriculum Development and Design, co-authored with Tsai Ching-tien (Wunan Publishers, 2015), is a classic textbook in Taiwan's curriculum studies³. His edited Introduction to Education provided an entry-level educational framework for generations of teacher candidates; Principles of Teaching systematically organized teaching methods across the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains².

On the introduction of qualitative research methodology, his lead translation of Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods (original authors Bogdan and Biklen; Taoshi Cultural Publishers, 2001), with a translation team of multiple education scholars, stands as an important reference in Taiwan's education scholarship on qualitative research methods².

His study of the history of Western educational thought was especially deep. Studies in the History of Western Educational Thought (San Min Book Company) includes dedicated chapters on British empiricism and labor education in the pre-Victorian era. Ancient Greek Educators, in two volumes, runs from Homer to Plato and Aristotle. A History of Education for Poor Children in Modern Britain (co-authored with Peng Huan-sheng and Cheng Yu-ching; NTNU Book Publishers) further demonstrates the breadth of his British education history research — and many of the primary sources in these works were gathered during his London years⁶¹¹.

A Behind-the-Scenes Architect of the Nine-Year Curriculum

Huang Guang-xiong's scholarly influence extended simultaneously to publications and policy. He directly participated in the Ministry of Education's K-12 curriculum guideline research planning, and in the planning of the nine-year integrated curriculum reform at the compulsory education stage¹.

This involvement means that the nine-year integrated curriculum — implemented from 2001 and affecting more than 20 million Taiwanese students — drew in a significant way, on the scholarly level, on Huang Guang-xiong as one of its key architects behind the scenes. His curriculum theory provided the reform's theoretical foundations, even if the reform's actual direction (such as the elimination of a standalone moral education subject) was not entirely within his control.

Indeed, it was after the nine-year integrated curriculum abolished the independent moral education subject that Huang led a study aimed at filling that gap. Starting in 2001, he formed an interdisciplinary team with Professor Ko Hua-wei from Psychology, Professor Chang Chen-tung from Social Welfare, Associate Professor Hsu Han from Philosophy, and Associate Professor Li Feng-ru from the Graduate Institute of Education — conducting a three-year "Integrated School Moral Teaching Improvement Program." After a year of cross-disciplinary dialogue, the team concluded that "respect" and "care" were the two core elements most capable of fostering moral cognition and emotional development in students⁴.

This research was one of the few efforts in Taiwan's nine-year integrated curriculum framework to rigorously reconstruct moral education through scholarly methods. In the third year, the research entered elementary school classrooms to conduct action research, demonstrating that moral teaching centered on "respect and care" was feasible for integration across the seven major learning areas⁴.

Memorial

In 2008, on the occasion of Huang Guang-xiong's 70th birthday, students and colleagues published the commemorative essay collection The Challenges and Reflections of Educational Reform, containing papers on teacher education, teaching methodology, educational philosophy, and policy⁵.

Huang Guang-xiong passed away on February 4, 2021, at age 84. National Taichung University of Education president Wang Ru-che (also one of Huang's students), recalling him in an interview, remembered a man with countless students, always willing to help others, and especially attentive to students⁷. National Chung Cheng University established the "Guang-xiong Reading Room" in Room 432 of the College of Education Building 2, preserving his biographical materials, research notes, and manuscript drafts, as well as his lifetime collection of Western education history and philosophy books — ranging from the Greek Triumvirate to major 20th-century educational thinkers⁹.

The posthumously published Pioneers in Educational Theory and Practice: A Memorial Volume for Professor Huang Guang-xiong is organized in three parts: academic contribution papers, remembrances, and an appendix (lecture texts, chronology, bibliography) — a complete preservation of this foundational educator's scholarly legacy⁶.

In 2018, Huang Guang-xiong wrote a memorial tribute for Chen Bo-zhang, the deceased director of the National Academy for Educational Research Preparatory Office, writing: "Your spirit has broken free from the body's constraints and now roams freely through the universe."⁷ Three years later, those words applied equally to him. The curriculum theory, qualitative research methods, moral education programs, and the College of Education and reading room he built in Chiayi are all still in operation today.

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