Agents’ social imagination: The ‘invisible’ hand of neoliberalism in Taiwan's curriculum reform

Neoliberalism has become the most dominant ideology in current world and educational researchers thus may need to disclose the ways in which neoliberalism affects education and curriculum and propose new strategies to cope with them. Through literature review, however, the author argues that perhaps because of the social and theoretical scope in the West, the existing analytical strategy, which mainly focuses on the influence of government policies, seems unsuitable for some non-Western countries. This paper reviews the Grade 1–9 curriculum reform in Taiwan's education system, and suggests that one of the neoliberalism's influences in education might be more ‘invisible’ because it reflects the public's/agents’ social imagination of this neoliberal world. Furthermore, the hybrid cultural context in Taiwan, such as the examination culture, also seems to play an important role in the process of curriculum reform. Thus, the author argues that the analysis of neoliberalism in education should pay more attention to ‘agent’ and ‘culture’ aspects, but not just ‘structure’ aspect. It is also argued that ‘curriculum reform’ should be expanded into ‘social reform’ to some extent, since social imagination has such a heavy impact on curriculum reform.

Research highlights▶ This paper attempts to argue that the analysis of neoliberalism in education should pay more attention to ‘agency’ and ‘culture’ aspects. ▶ This paper suggests that one of the neoliberalism's influences in education might be more ‘invisible’ because it reflects the public's social imagination of this neoliberal world. ▶ It is also argued that ‘curriculum reform’ should be expanded into ‘social reform’ to some extent, since social imagination has such a heavy impact on curriculum reform.