Can you even teach at a public school in China?
- Joined: Dec 28th, 2008
- Posts: 4,101
This seems like it should be obvious so I'm kind of embarrassed, but there's something I've been seriously wondering.
My understanding is that it is illegal for Chinese nationals to attend any school not run by the government unless they have special permission or are able to sneak through with a foreign passport. Or at least, Chinese kids can't attend "international schools;" not sure how it works for private-but-still-firmly-Chinese schools.
I'm also under the impression that Chinese public schools don't really like to hire foreigners (not sure I've ever met a foreigner teaching at an actual local middle/high school, though maybe I'm just not asking enough).
So, does that mean that pretty much all full-time teachers in China are either:
A) Teaching at "training centers," usually after school/work (ESL or other)
B) Teaching kindergarten or university
C) Teaching international students only
I've never really thought about it until recently, but now I'm really curious.
Is there anyone out there who has, say, taught a high school English class (or hey, Biology) with local Chinese kids?
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
wefrucar
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
So...... no, I guess?
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
herojuana
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
No one cares.
Boring topic.
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beauvon
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
i've taught local chinese kids at a few middle schools.
zhenlai
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
Did you teach there because you had a contract with the school or did you teach through an angency? I may be wrong but I think what wefrucar means, has anyone ever signed an exclusive contract to teach in a public school other than a University?
美国鬼子
SA
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
i think the answer is no.
wave
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
I don't think it's possible. The only way would be if your classes are outside the normal school hours.
Sometimes the same is different, but mostly, it's the same.
Count_zero
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
A middle school in Beijing wanted to hire me directly to teach there.
I didn't go for it but seems like it's something that could happen.
blucat
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
My understanding is that in Japan normal local schools hire native speakers to work with the local English teacher.
Here, I am sure it wouldn't be normal in most schools, however in many semi-private schools, or "special" schools (Feng Cao Di, Middle School 55) they do.
wefrucar
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
The thing about Middle School 55 is they actually have a separate "international" section that chinese kids aren't allowed to attend. So it's still basically a private international school.
I guess something I'm trying to get at is, there is so much more to the world teaching than ESL instruction. But a lot of that lies in being a full-time teacher at an actual school.
I guess it would just be a shame if Chinese kids could never benefit from the influence of international teachers. And if laowai interested in and qualified to teach humanities or sciences could only do so at an international school or university.
Eh, maybe I'm not sure what my point is.
Sometimes I feel it is maybe unbearable always be traditional Chinese girl.
Heliotrope. A color.
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
I was hired directly by a government-run "foreign language [high]school". 99% of the students were Chinese, the remaining 1% were exchange students from Japan and Korea.
The hours were great and the pay was quite good.
Yours sincerely,
Heliotrope. A color.
XuDuo777
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
I teach Mathematics at a public high school near Beijing. The program is accredited through a Canadian institution, awards the students a high school diploma of that province, and offers them an easier entry into the countries for which they are preparing. Seniors take whatever they want - IELTS, SAT, etc. I teach all three grades of the high school, and am instructed to teach only in English, although I cheat sometimes for the first grade.
It's an adjunct school that takes up one floor of the building that we're in. As far as it being public...I really don't have an answer to that. It seems that all of the money comes from Beijing, yet we also answer to the principal of the main public high school. We use the high school's facilities (copy room, etc.), yet the tuition is steep (cerca 15-22K RMB depending on boarding). I think the tuition is subsidized, but I can't be sure about it.
The pay is good and I love the job.
ALL SHALL FALL
lambaa
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
there are hundreds of foreign teachers working all over the country in public primary, middle and high schools in cities and towns of all sizes.
its very expensive for a school to have a foreign teacher, but they get funding and approval from the local government if that school has high test scores.
public or private doesn't matter.
行者无藏
tingmeng
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
To hired by the local school legally, they must help you to apply work permit and residence permit(this is work visa). The local school do not have the authorization to help the foreigner to get it. They need to seek for approval step by step from their higher leading body, it is quite difficult.
For private school, it is different, they can invite foreigner to work for them if the inviteee is qualified for the position. But they must meet all the requirements of Labor Bureau too.
tingmeng
bajie
Re: Can you even teach at a public school in China?
lambaa was right.
When I was a middle school student in a local public school, let me see...8 years or so ago, we had native English teachers to teach us speaking and they taught those who had extra interest in English on weekends. They didn't have enough good hours to teach, but they did help us develop interests in English before we hate it.