As Taiwan's state apparatus began to democratise, the question arose as to how teachers' practices might inform the wider process of contextual changes, i.e. societal, economic and political changes. This article explores this issue through an examination of how teachers seek to alter the relations of authority by arguing for independent teacher unions. It examines the developing global trend toward teachers' unionisation and looks at specific contextual changes in Taiwan and their impact on teachers' unionisation. It argues that the trend toward teachers' unionisation in Taiwan has emerged specifically out of the process of democratisation beginning in 1987, and that Taiwan has experienced social and political changes similar to those in other countries which have recently undergone the transition from authoritarianism. (Contains 3 tables and 4 notes.)