如何促进中国国际学校的外籍教师队伍建设

作者|David Barrutia

编辑|马征

An ancient Chinese proverb attests that one learns more from traveling a thousand miles than from reading a thousand scrolls. As such, foreign teachers who come to modern-day China from far away lands have much to share. Aside from the academic and professional knowledge that they have accumulated in their home country, the wisdom that they gain from their travel to and life in China is invaluable to the education of their pupils, most of whom have never stepped foot overseas.

China’s international schools have been at the forefront of promoting the foreign teacher workforce in the country, yet there is much to be done. Several challenges continue to face the industry as a whole. A mature China-based training system for teachers in international schools has yet to be established. The turnover rate of teachers at the end of their contract term hinders team building at schools. And the lack managerial experience that schools have with foreigners impedes their relationship with expat teachers.

International schools have an obligation to their students and their employees to promote the foreign teacher workforce system. Research data, based on the 2017-2018 academic year, show an imbalance both geographically and in terms of school type. For example, due to various reasons, the percentage of foreign faculty at international schools in 1st tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) overshadows that in other parts of the country. Meanwhile, among the different types of international schools, expat schools lead private schools and public international divisions by a large margin, in terms of number of foreign faculty.

Beyond geographic consideration, student-teacher ratios at international schools also differ widely by grade level and type of school. Early childhood learners through primary school enjoy a much smaller student to faculty ratio than learners in secondary education, i.e. 7:1 compared to 16:1. And in terms of school type, the ratio of 8:1 at expat schools is the lowest when compared with private schools and public school’s international divisions.

China’s K-12 international schools need to develop their human resource policy and procedures with foreign staff to move beyond short-term recruitment practice to a long-term strategy of talent acquisition and talent management. Among the areas that need improvement is the creation of a scientific and consistent remuneration system in the industry and a more diversified and systemic training. Teaching is an integrated process with many aspects, including general teaching structure, teaching material and individual teaching. Maintaining a universally consistent quality framework under globalization and building internationally appropriate pedagogy, so as to better utilize curricula and time have also been identified as ways to improve the overall situation.

As members of China’s international school community increasingly collaborate with each other to seek solutions to industry-wide challenges, private educational institutions, with their knowledge of operation and pedagogy within international schools and their operational flexibility, will take the lead across the country both geographically and among school types. With greater cohesiveness within the industry and growing professional cooperation with foreign HR organizations and talent managers, China’s international schools will continue to promote the foreign teacher workforce, which in turn will broaden the horizons and enrich the dreams of their students.