Exploring Learning Themes in Taiwan's Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum Framework: Insights from Confucian Educational Philosophy of "Benevolence (Ren)"

Anchored in the educational philosophy of benevolence (Ren, 仁), Taiwan’s Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum Framework articulates nine learning goals and emphasizes the cultivation of six core competencies in young children. The framework systematically incorporates life education, multicultural education, aesthetic education, and moral education as key dimensions to support the holistic and balanced development of young learners. This paper adopts Confucius’s concept of benevolence (Ren) as a central interpretive lens to provide a philosophical analysis of the learning themes embedded within Taiwan’s Early Childhood Education and Care Curriculum Framework.