“In the past, substitute teachers often found their employment conditions awkward compared to regular teachers. This was especially evident during summer vacations, when they received no pay, making their income highly unstable. Teachers, like anyone else, face everyday expenses such as rent and raising children. Without income for the two months of summer vacation, they often had to look for other part-time jobs to make ends meet. This created significant challenges for substitute teachers in the classroom,” said Tsai Shih-Hsin, Section Chief of the Junior High School Education Section, Department of Education, Taoyuan City Government, discussing the struggles faced by grassroots substitute teachers.
In recent years, declining birthrates have led to reduced class sizes in schools. To avoid an excess of surplus teachers and address needs such as reduced teaching hours for full-time teachers and leave without pay for in-service teachers, the demand for substitute teachers in elementary and junior high schools has steadily increased. However, the responsibilities of substitute teachers are nearly identical to those of regular teachers. During summer vacation, they are still required to be on campus to prepare lessons and participate in various school activities. Despite this, substitute teachers face significant inequities, including unpaid summer breaks, interrupted labor and health insurance, and unequal pay for equal work.
Proactively Addressing Teachers’ Expectations and Advancing Quality Education in Taoyuan
Substitute teachers perform nearly identical duties to regular teachers, yet their rights and benefits have not been adequately protected, leading to frequent controversies over “unequal pay for equal work.” During the 2020–2021 academic years, teachers' associations in Taoyuan proposed adjusting the employment terms of long-term substitute teachers in municipal elementary and junior high schools, including aligning their contracts with those of substitute teachers in senior high schools and special education schools.
The Control Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee also corrected the Ministry of Education on this issue and urged local governments to review and make improvements. However, the discussions stalled due to the complex financial challenges involved, leaving the issue unresolved and stuck in a state of continuous deliberation.
Upon taking office, Mayor Chang San-Cheng and Director-General Liu Chung-Cheng of the Department of Education immediately assessed the budget required to adjust the employment terms of long-term substitute teachers without administrative roles to year-round contracts. A special project was approved to extend employment terms for long-term substitute teachers in municipal elementary and junior high schools (including kindergartens) to year-round contracts starting from the 2022–2023 academic year (without retroactive adjustments for existing contracts).This initiative not only garnered widespread acclaim but also inspired other municipalities to follow suit.
“Before Mayor Chang took office, the Department of Education had already held discussions on this issue. However, due to the complex financial implications, implementation was never realized,” said Tsai Shih-Hsin, Section Chief of the Junior High School Education Section. “It wasn’t until Mayor Chang included this as a key policy and successfully secured funding that the issue was resolved. I still remember the day we announced the year-round contracts for substitute teachers—it made the front page of the news and indirectly encouraged other cities and counties to follow our lead.”
Ensuring Comprehensive Protection for Substitute Teachers’ Rights to Stabilize Faculty and Enhance Teaching Effectiveness
“Since the implementation of the year-round employment system, feedback from schools has been overwhelmingly positive. For schools, substitute teachers are an essential driving force. Most are young, highly adaptable, eager to learn, and passionate about teaching. With the year-round employment mechanism in place, it has significantly increased substitute teachers' willingness to stay and develop their careers in Taoyuan,” said Tsai Shih-Hsin, Section Chief of the Junior High School Education Section.
The implementation of the “Year-Round Employment System” effectively addresses the inequities of unequal pay for equal work faced by substitute teachers, while also providing them with greater financial and job security. This policy has created a more stable environment, allowing substitute teachers to focus on and fully commit to teaching activities. Not only does it protect substitute teachers’ economic and employment rights, but it also helps schools retain talented educators and reduce teacher turnover rates. The resulting stability fosters a positive cycle of effective curriculum delivery and improved interactions among students, parents, and teachers, ultimately enhancing teaching quality and benefiting student learning outcomes.
An Innovative and Sustainable Educational Utopia
Reflecting on the feedback from grassroots substitute teachers regarding the year-round employment system, Tsai Shih-Hsin, Section Chief of the Junior High School Education Section, shared: “Before implementing the year-round employment system, summer was always a source of anxiety for substitute teachers, especially for those teaching ninth grade. By April or May, they would already begin worrying about the lack of income during the summer months while simultaneously dealing with the pressure of preparing students for entrance exams. That sense of insecurity was truly exhausting. The implementation of the year-round employment system in Taoyuan has been widely praised by substitute teachers.”
Education is a long-term endeavor that shapes future generations. By ensuring fairness and justice in educational employment, teachers can focus on their teaching responsibilities without worries, reducing turnover rates and ultimately improving students’ learning outcomes. In the face of a rapidly changing and challenging society, Taoyuan has chosen to stabilize the working conditions of substitute teachers through the year-round employment policy. This not only embodies Taoyuan’s core values of “Fair Education, Innovation, and Sustainability” but also plants seeds of kindness and equity for substitute teachers. These efforts aim to cultivate an educational utopia in Taoyuan that will blossom in the near future.