The Taiwan Marine Education Center continuously implements the 2016 Plan for Promoting Local Marine Education based on the White Paper on Marine Education Policy promulgated by the Ministry of Education, the 2017-2021 Marine Education Action Plan and the Directions for Subsidizing Marine Education in Municipalities and Counties (Cities) by K-12 Education Administration, Ministry of Education to assist local governments in promoting quality marine education. The objectives are as follows: 

1. In accordance with K-12 education policy, the latest White Paper on Marine Education Policy and the 2017-2021 Marine Education Action Plan, the Taiwan Marine Education Center assists local governments in making the 4-year Plan for Marine Education for the sustainable development of marine education (based on Article 1 in Section 1 “2. Strategies”, Chapter 5 of the White Paper on the Marine Education Policy, “Each marine education center shall make a marine education plan, designate persons who are responsible for promoting marine education and organize skills-enhancement training and presentation for marine educators”).

2. The Taiwan Marine Education Center assists local governments in setting up mechanisms for marine education to strengthen the overall development of marine education curricula and teachers. Such mechanisms include proposing, consulting, reviewing and improving the annual marine education plan (based on Article 2 in Section 1 “2. Strategies”, Chapter 5 of the White Paper on the Marine Education Policy, “Strengthen the consulting and counseling mechanism for marine education and assist each marine education center in improving the marine education curriculums and teaching plans”; based on Point 2, Article 1, Section 2 “2. Strategies”, Chapter 5 of the White Paper on the Marine Education Policy, “Encourage schools to develop marine courses according to the course outline of K-12 education”; and based on Article 3, Section 2 “2. Strategies”, Chapter 5 of the White Paper on Marine Education Policy, “Ministry of Education includes the marine education team in the existing counseling mechanism and encourages local governments to set up marine education counseling groups to enhance marine literacy of teachers in elementary and junior high schools and develop marine courses”).

3. The Taiwan Marine Education Center encourages local governments to publish the results of marine education online to share marine education resources between governments and with schools and the public (based on Article 4, Section 1 “2. Strategies”, Chapter 5 of the White Paper on the Marine Education Policy, “Establish databases and marine education platforms, including the survey of supply of and demand for marine professionals, the survey of marine literacy, marine education learning platforms, and resources and results of the industry, schools, government agencies and non-profit organizations”).

Figure 1 Development of Marine Education Policies

Figure 2 Latest White Paper on the Marine Education Policy

Figure 3 Tasks of Local Marine Education Centers

Figure 4 Mechanism for Promoting the Local Development of Marine Education

Figure 5 Functions of Taiwan Marine Education Center