Module 5 · January 2027
Gender Equity & Professional Boundaries
Two things at once: a reporting duty with the largest fine of any module in this series, and a set of everyday habits that keep you — and your students — well clear of ever needing it.
性別平等與師生界線：24 小時通報義務、校園性別事件的定義，以及日常該守住的距離。
This is not an evaluation
Your score is shown only to you. It is never shared with your school, your co-teacher, or the Education Department, and it has no connection to your contract renewal or any performance review.
Nothing you answer here is a disclosure about you or anyone else. If you need to raise something real, the routes are in the briefing below — please use those.
本測驗與任何考評、續聘無關。個人分數只有你自己看得到。若有實際事件需反映，請循說明中的正式管道。
If you become aware of a suspected campus gender incident, you must report it within 24 hours — and failing to do so carries a fine of NT$30,000 to 150,000.
That is five times the child-protection penalty, and it applies to the principal, teachers, staff and janitors alike. Destroying or hiding evidence carries the same fine.
What counts as a campus gender incident
Under the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法, as amended 16 August 2023), a campus gender incident is one where one party is a principal, teacher, staff member, worker or student, and the other party is a student, involving any of:
| Type | In plain terms |
|---|---|
| Sexual assault 性侵害 | As defined by the sexual assault prevention legislation. |
| Sexual harassment 性騷擾 | Unwanted sex- or gender-related conduct that creates a hostile environment, or that is tied to a benefit or disadvantage. |
| Sexual bullying 性霸凌 | Persistent belittling, attacks or threats aimed at someone's sex, sexual characteristics, sexual orientation or gender identity — including between students. |
| Professional-ethics violation 違反專業倫理 | Added in the 2023 amendment. Sex- or gender-related conduct by a principal or staff member that breaches professional ethics — it does not have to reach the threshold of harassment to be actionable. |
Note the shape of it: the other party must be a student. That is what makes it a campus gender incident rather than something else — see “If it happens to you” below.
The duty, and what it costs to miss it
| Provision | What it says |
|---|---|
| Article 22 | A principal, teacher, staff member or worker who becomes aware of a suspected campus gender incident must report it to the school's designated staff — no later than 24 hours. |
| Article 43 | Failing to report within 24 hours without legitimate cause: NT$30,000 – 150,000. Forging, altering, destroying or concealing evidence of such an incident: the same. |
| Article 36 | The Gender Equity Education Committee (性平會) must complete its investigation within two months, extendable twice by one month each. The committee investigates. You do not. |
“Suspected” is the operative word. You are not asked to decide whether it happened, and you do not need the student's permission to report. As with child protection, the clock starts when the first staff member knows and is shared by everyone who knows.
The boundaries that keep you out of all of this
Almost every case involving a well-meaning foreign teacher comes down to one of the six habits below. None of them are about your intentions. The test applied afterwards is how the conduct reasonably appeared — which is why the habits, not the intentions, are what protect you.
- Stay visible不單獨密閉相處Never one-to-one with a student behind a closed door. Door open, blinds up, or move to a corridor or shared space. If a student needs a private conversation, have it somewhere public enough that a passer-by can see you both.
- No private messaging不私訊學生No personal LINE, Instagram or WhatsApp with students. Do not accept student follow requests. If communication is needed, it goes through the homeroom teacher or a school channel where a colleague can see it.
- No cars, no outings不單獨載送、不私下相約Do not drive a student anywhere alone, and do not meet students outside school without the school knowing and a colleague present.
- Public, brief, age-appropriate touch肢體接觸Young children will hug you. Redirect to a high-five, in view of others, without shaming the child. Nothing private, nothing prolonged, nothing out of sight.
- No remarks about bodies不評論外貌身體Not appearance, not weight, not development, not who is dating whom — not even as a compliment, and not even repeating what a student said. This includes remarks about colleagues.
- No individual gifts or favours不個別餽贈What reads as kindness to you can read very differently in a written summary six months later. Give to the class, not to the child.
If a student tells you something
The same four steps as Module 4. Stay and listen without questioning. Do not promise secrecy — say instead that you have to tell one person whose job it is to help. Do not investigate, do not ask other students, and above all do not approach the person the student mentioned. Write down the date, time, place and their words, then tell the designated person the same day.
If the concern involves the school's own principal, the case does not stay inside the school — it goes to the county education authority. A school cannot investigate its own head.
If it happens to you
A campus gender incident requires the other party to be a student. So if you are the person being harassed — by a colleague, a parent, or a student — that route is not the one that covers you. Your protection comes through your employer: go to 人事室 and the principal, ask what procedure applies, and ask for the response in writing. If the school does not act, the county Education Department and the labour authority are both open to you, and 1990 can point you to the right office in English.
Say this plainly, because it is often left unsaid: raising it is your right, and Article 36 of the Act of Gender Equality in Employment forbids an employer from dismissing you, transferring you, or treating you unfavourably because you made a complaint — or because you helped someone else make one. If you are worried anyway, protect yourself the way the law expects: keep every step in writing — what you asked, who you asked, the date, what they replied — and let 1990 or the county Education Department know that you raised it.
One thing to do this week
Open your phone and check: are any current students following you, or you them, on a personal account? If so, remove them this week — quietly, before it is ever a question. It is the single highest-value ninety seconds in this entire module.
Now check yourself · 接著練習Module 5's questions
24 questions on what you have just read, in the practice bank. Answer one at a time and see the correct answer and the reason straight away. No score, no time limit, nothing recorded.
Practice Module 5 →Sources for this module
- Gender Equity Education Act 性別平等教育法 — Arts. 3, 22, 36, 43 (official English)
- 校園性別事件防治準則 — Regulations on the Prevention of Campus Gender Incidents
- 性別平等工作法 Act of Gender Equality in Employment — Art. 36, protection against retaliation for complaining
- 教育部性別平等教育全球資訊網 — reporting rules and process flow
- Protection Hotline 113 · Police 110 · Foreigner Hotline 1990