This article compares the development of citizenship education (CE) in Taiwan and England, as well as teachers' perceptions about the liberal and communitarian constructs underpinning the curriculum in both countries. Due to distinct social and political environments, the Taiwanese and English CE curricula demonstrate an interesting contrast. Until 1987, the Taiwanese curriculum grew under an authoritarian regime which had implemented the citizenship curriculum in 1945; in England, however, CE was not added to the school timetable until 2002, after a long debate about the controversial and potential influence of the subject. This article first offers an overview of the development of CE in Taiwan and England. Following this preliminary understanding, interview accounts with 20 CE teachers are included to share insights based on actual practical experience. The English curriculum leans towards a communitarian type of 'active citizenship', but teachers in England mention a gap between the theory and practice. In addition, reservations about the existence of the assumed 'common values' underlying the communitarian construct are dealt with. In contrast, social and political participation is not perceived as a goal that is emphasised in the Taiwanese curriculum. Taiwanese CE sides with the 'liberal construct', but is criticised by some in Taiwan for ignoring moral values and character-building. It is also observed that both curricula use a 'deliberative democracy' approach to compensate for the shortcomings in curriculum construction. For a comparative study such as this, weaving both cases together demonstrates how each curriculum could derive inspiration from the other.

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This article examines and compares the hotly debated issue of national identity in the Taiwanese and English citizenship curricula and investigates the extent to which schoolteachers' perceptions fall in line with the written curriculum. The author describes the background to the evolution of national identity in each country. Following this preliminary understanding, the theory of civic-ethnic nationalism is used as the criterion to examine the nature of nationalism underlying the curriculum. The Taiwanese citizenship curriculum with its 60-year long history has transformed from being a tool for the promotion of an 'imagined' Chinese national identity to a more Taiwan-oriented programme. With fewer disagreements, 'British-ness', as a consensual identity constructed from a civic construct, creates an inclusive umbrella to accommodate citizens with different ethnic, cultural, and religious identities. However, English citizenship education teachers question whether it has a robustenough and deep-enough magnet to engage every citizen with varying backgrounds and further enhance social consolidation. On the other hand, this umbrella-type national identity seems to provide a valid solution for the Taiwanese citizenship curriculum designers to heal the long-lasting tensions caused by the 'Taiwanese-Chinese identity' divide. On closer examination, the Taiwanese curriculum chooses to sidestep this contentious issue and is therefore strongly criticised by the school teachers interviewed here. This research attempts to demonstrate the strengths and limitations of each curriculum's discourses of national identity and suggest what each may learn from each other.

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