No teachers over 60

[liuzhou]

It won't affect me for a few more years, but a reliable friend has informed me that Guangdong and Fujian have stopped renewing residence / work permits for teachers over the age of 60. He is having to move on.

I've also been told that, sometime in the next few years, a master's degree will be the minimum requirement to teach at college level. About time, too.

[roddy]

Seems a bit daft - doesn't make any difference to China if younger foreign teachers can't get jobs because of older incumbents, and if the university wants to keep them, why not. Make 'em buy more extensive health insurance, maybe, but chase them off?

Not sure about the Master's thing - seems overkill to want one for a bog-standard 'English for people who are actually studying something else' class. If (bit of a big if) universities are already choosing the best available candidates, why tie their hands further. It's not like any more master's degree holders will now think 'at last, China values me' and come on over.

[BrandeX]

The amount of Masters+ degree holders willing to work at a Uni in China for maybe about 10k USD a year has to be exceptionally low.

[liuzhou]

The amount of Masters+ degree holders willing to work at a Uni in China for maybe about 10k USD a year has to be exceptionally low.

Indeed, but I'm not sure that is the point. Colleges and Universities are being told that the Chinese teachers must reach masters level before being employed. So, they naturally, think why should foreign teachers be different. And western universities make the same requirement.

It is a long standing principle that you can only teach the level below your own qualification.

Anyway, since when was Chinese education policy logical?

As to the 60 year rule, I can totally understand why my friend feels upset. He is a professional and dedicated teacher with years of experience and he is chucked out to be replaced by someone straight from university with a 4 week teacher training certificate who is only really here to be a tourist and learn a bit of Chinese.

(I know some young TEFL trained teachers are very conscientious and professional, but most are not. I do a 4 hour week in the local university and I always know which students have been previously taught by the TEFL tourists. They are the ones who interrupt my pragmatics lecture asking if I can teach them a song!)

Edited May 22, 2009 at 02:33 AM by liuzhou