Obstacles and Challenges Confronting Principals in the Development of School Democracy Policies in Taiwan

Democratic ideals are the foundations of public education. All educational practitioners are accountable to recognize inequity and develop inclusive school communities to fulfill the individual needs of every student. However, obstacles and challenges might emerge in the development of democracy in schools. The main purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of school principals at the elementary and junior high school levels and understand what problems they encountered when transforming the school power structure into a democracy. The qualitative method was employed in this study, and this method entailed an in-depth interview approach. Twenty school principals in central Taiwan were randomly selected through purposeful sampling. The dilemmas identified included an interest-based conception of democracy over the common good, failure to communicate through official channels, lack of accountability for power sharers, constraints on principals’ power, struggles between participatory and representative participation, and democracy as an obstacle to school effectiveness. The implications for the future development of school democracy are presented in this paper.