Strategic Adaptation in Dual Homework Systems: Examining Student Agency within Taiwan’s Shadow Education Landscape

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Adolescent Adaptation Agency and Leadership in Changing Educational Contexts

Proposal

Background and Purpose

Shadow education has become a pervasive global phenomenon, particularly prominent in East Asian contexts where it operates alongside formal schooling to form dual educational systems. In Taiwan, the 2019 curriculum reform introduced a competency-based framework aimed at shifting pedagogical practices away from rote memorization toward transformative learning, in alignment with the OECD Learning Compass 2030’s vision for future-ready competencies.
While this reform significantly influenced formal school curricula, shadow education institutions—such as cram schools—have largely retained exam-centric pedagogies to satisfy parental and student expectations regarding competitive high school admissions. This duality is most evident in students’ homework experiences, where they must navigate divergent demands: inquiry-based, interdisciplinary assignments from formal schools, and repetitive, skills-focused exercises from cram schools.
These homework types differ markedly in their design philosophies, completion processes, evaluative criteria, and temporal structures. Existing research in East Asia has primarily addressed the coexistence of formal and shadow education from macro-level policy or institutional perspectives, with limited attention to students’ lived experiences. Homework, as a shared yet differentiated learning task across both domains, offers a unique micro-level lens through which to observe student agency. This micro-level examination reveals how the intersection of homework ubiquity, pedagogical divergence, and domestic educational convergence generates complex institutional tensions that students must strategically navigate.

Literature Review

Traditional homework research, beginning with Cooper’s (1989) functionalist approach, has evolved toward frameworks emphasizing competency development. However, these models often presuppose a singular educational origin, rendering them insufficient for analyzing student experiences within dual-system contexts.
Studies from China and South Korea indicate that cram schools assign homework during evenings, weekends, and holidays, thereby extending academic demands beyond formal school hours. This study adopts Becker et al.’s (1961) “perspective” framework, positioning students as agentic individuals who navigate and negotiate cognitive and strategic choices within overlapping educational systems.

Methods

This qualitative case study investigates the experiences of 12 eighth-grade students enrolled in a metropolitan junior high school in northern Taiwan. Data collection began in 2025 and included: In-depth interviews, Participant observation, Document analysis of homework assignments. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 9, employing both deductive and inductive coding strategies grounded in Becker et al.’s theoretical framework.

Findings

Students demonstrated nuanced recognition skills, categorizing school homework as “simple learning tasks” and cram school assignments as “challenging exercises.” Three strategic coping mechanisms emerged:
1. Compliance and Performance: Students adopted dual personas—compliant learners in school and high-achieving performers in cram schools.
2. Temporal Optimization: Students engaged in precise time management, reallocating formal class time to accommodate cram school demands.
3. Masking Strategies: Students concealed academic stress while projecting competency-oriented engagement, and suppressed creative inclinations to align with exam-focused expectations.

Contributions

1. It reconceptualizes the relationship between formal and shadow education from the student’s perspective, revealing dynamic complementarities rather than hierarchical dependencies.
2. It highlights unintended policy consequences, wherein competency-based reforms may inadvertently fuel the expansion of shadow education.
3. It addresses a critical gap in East Asian educational research by foregrounding student agency within dual-system learning environments.

Author

• SHOUYEN TSENG, University of Taipei