Conference Theme

In the era of globalization, societies are faced with many structural challenges, including cultural conflicts, technological development, environmental disasters, medical issues, and population mobility. These cross-regional issues reflect the instability of world peace and the lack of confidence in social development.

Education systems play a vital role in human development. UNESCO's 2021 report “Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education” emphasizes the need for a new social contract for education to implement the principles of equity, inclusion and sustainability in times of high uncertainty. OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) also pointed out in its Education Policy Outlook that in 2024, countries should restructure their education systems to emphasize teacher quality, school leadership, and technological integration, as well as lifelong learning.

The Ministry of Education's Policy Objectives for 2024 cover a wide range of educational stages, issues, environments, and needs of different educational groups . It is an important policy for educational innovation and development. On the other hand, scholars in the field of sociology of education have been exploring the complex relationship between education and society through different theoretical perspectives for a long time. They are concerned with issues such as educational inequality, policy effects, teacher-student interactions, and social mobility. Recently, they have also focused on the impact of digital technology and artificial intelligence on education. Based on this, we are pleased to see the promotion and implementation of the relevant education goals . However, in response to the above education policy discourse and innovation process, as an academic community or conceptual implementer of education sociology, we are also concerned about how the needs of different groups are responded to in the process of policy promotion, how the school system and culture are positioned and promoted, and whether the distribution of education resources is fair.

Therefore, the Taiwan Association of the Sociology of Education (TASE) aims to organize a forum and international conference entitled “Equity and Excellence: Theory and Practice in the Sociology of Education” in 2025, which will explore the interactions between important issues in the sociology of education and social change, with the core values of “equity” and “excellence”. At the same time, in the era of rapid development of artificial intelligence, we also look forward to cross-disciplinary cooperation to face the challenges brought by technological innovation to contribute to the construction of a more equitable and justice-oriented society. 

We welcome specialists, scholars and practitioners from different fields to participate in the forum, expecting to stimulate new ideas, thoughts, actions and practices through brainstorming and cross-disciplinary discussions.