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Article History

Received: 26 October 2024

Accepted: 2 April 2025

First Online: 29 April 2025

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: This study did not require Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, as it was conducted under a national education policy research initiative approved and overseen by the Ministry of Education (MoE) of Taiwan. It evaluated an existing, government-mandated bilingual education program that had already been implemented in participating schools. The bilingual education program was officially launched on February 1, 2018, and on the same date, the Ministry of Education (MoE) granted IRB exemption for studies conducted under this policy framework. As part of the official policy framework, all participating schools were required to obtain parental/guardian consent before students joined the bilingual education initiative. Accordingly, consent was sought from participants on the date their schools joined the program, beginning on August 1, 2021. Since the study’s anonymous, non-interventional surveys fell within this pre-approved policy framework, no additional research-stage consent was required. This study did not introduce any intrusive or non-standard instructional practices. While the bilingual education initiative incorporated an additional language into instruction, it remained within the scope of standard classroom practices commonly observed in global education systems. The program was applied uniformly across all grade levels, ensuring fairness and preventing selective participant recruitment. Moreover, the study only involved anonymous, non-interventional surveys designed to explore teachers’ and students’ perceptions and experiences within the pre-approved policy framework. Given these conditions, the Ministry of Education (MoE) of Taiwan determined that this study was exempt from IRB review in accordance with Taiwan’s national research ethics framework for educational studies. As per Taiwan’s research ethics regulations, government-mandated policy evaluations do not receive exemption numbers, as they fall under ongoing government-directed educational assessments rather than independent research requiring separate ethical review. Prior to the implementation of any national education policy, the Ministry of Education conducts extensive public hearings and expert consultations to ensure that ethical considerations, human rights protections, and IRB-related concerns are fully addressed. The bilingual education initiative underwent a rigorous, multi-stakeholder review process, ensuring compliance with ethical and human rights standards before implementation. The exemption was confirmed before the study’s commencement as part of the Ministry’s structured evaluation framework. This study was conducted in full compliance with Taiwan’s national research ethics guidelines for educational research and adhered to internationally recognized ethical principles, including the Declaration of Helsinki and relevant research ethics frameworks governing educational studies. All procedures aligned with national education research regulations, ensuring ethical integrity in policy evaluation.

: Informed consent was obtained from all participants and their legal guardians prior to the implementation of the bilingual education program, as mandated by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan. Before schools were approved to participate in the bilingual education initiative, they were required to obtain parental/guardian consent for both the instructional program and its accompanying program evaluation surveys. This consent process was a prerequisite for schools’ participation, ensuring that all students’ legal guardians had already provided written consent for their children’s involvement in both the bilingual instruction and the collection of anonymous survey data for educational evaluation purposes. Consent was obtained in written form to ensure clear documentation and compliance with ethical research standards. Participants and their guardians were fully informed about (1) the purpose of the study, (2) the voluntary nature of their participation, and (3) the assurance of anonymity and confidentiality. The scope of the consent included: (1) Participation in the surveys and (2) the use of fully anonymized data for research purposes. The surveys were anonymous, did not collect personally identifiable information, and were conducted solely for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of the bilingual education initiative. Responses were fully anonymized, and all measures were taken to eliminate any potential risks to participants. No additional consent was required at the research stage, as participation was already covered under the original parental consent obtained by schools, in full compliance with Taiwanese Ministry of Education regulations. This process aligns with national research ethics guidelines and international ethical standards, including principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki regarding informed consent and participant protection. Participants’ confidentiality and privacy were fully safeguarded in accordance with recognized ethical standards for educational research.

: While preparing this work, the authors used Grammarly solely for grammar monitoring; it was not used to generate any part of the manuscript. Subsequently, they thoroughly reviewed and edited the content as needed. The authors take full responsibility for the publication’s content.