The planning, implementation and evaluation of a character-based school culture project in Taiwan

This study focused on the planning, implementation and evaluation of a character-based school culture (CBSC) project in Taiwan. The project integrated the principles of justice, caring and developmental discipline and was influenced by several well-known American models of character education programmes. The CBSC project was conducted in a Taiwanese elementary school from August 2005 to July 2007. The methods included symposia, workshops, meetings, interviews, surveys, observations and experimentation. The findings were: (1) the planning, implementation and evaluation of the CBSC project revealed numerous strengths and a few limitations; (2) the CBSC project demonstrated its coherence and feasibility in practice; and (3) the results of this case study showed the CBSC project's effectiveness in qualitative but not quantitative terms. Several recommendations are made to schools and researchers on how to use the CBSC project as a basis for instilling an effective, high-quality, character-based school culture in Taiwanese schools and also in schools elsewhere.