In October 2003 Margaret Cooper, the NZ President of NZCFS, lead a
delegation to China hosted by Jiangsu Provincial Governments Association
for Friendship with Foreign Countries (Jiangsu Youxie). Margaret and
the delegation met with two New Zealand teachers introduced to Jiangsu
by NZCFS and the leaders of their teaching institutes to share their
experiences.
As a result of
discussions it was agreed that NZCFS should help with the recruitment
of 7 to 8 teachers from New Zealand per year, and monitor their conditions
of employment.
Her report below
describes the qualifications required to teach in Jiangsu public institutions
and the remuneration and conditions of employment on offer.
Please note: Jiangsu
Youxie places teachers in public institutes. It dos not recruit for
private sector operators. This gives NZCFS a greater level of comfort
in publishing this information.
December 8 2003
Both NZ teachers,
Shannon Sherwood and Michael Eckford are enjoying their different experiences
teaching at Nanjing Audit University and Yangzhou Education Institute.
Michael summed up things for Margaret when he said "I knew I could never
take a trip to Mars but I could experience teaching in China."
Margaret and the
delegation enjoyed the opportunity of meeting the teachers, talking to
their employers, listening to their reactions and inspecting their living
accommodation. Shannon has a very enthusiastic personality and is throwing
herself into her teaching life and extra curricula activities for students
outside the University curriculum.
We
understand the education system to be:
- Primary school
caters for children 6-12
- Junior middle
school caters for children 13-15
- Senior middle
school caters for people 16-18
- University caters
for people 19-22
Terms of engagement
While the delegation was in Nanjing ( the capital of Jiangsu Province)
they took the opportunity to review terms of engagement for professional
teachers to middle schools, senior middle schools and universities. In
those institutes Jangsu Youxie says it can facilitate teaching contracts
with public institutions on the following terms:
- Visiting teachers
are required to have a Batchelor's degree.
- Those teachers
with a Batchelor's degree will receive at least 35,000 RMB per annum
and generally the income will fluctuate between 35,000 RMB to 40,000
RMB annually. With a Master's degree the person will receive at least
40,000 RMB per year and the income offered will fluctuate between 40,000
RMB and 50,000 RMB per annum.
- The visiting teacher
can supplement official text books provided by the institutes and/or
adopt entirely the Chinese texts supplied by the teaching institute.
- Contracting teaching
institutes provide an apartment or flat for the teacher free of charge
within the school campus. Cooking utensils are provided and the apartments
are self catering. Teachers can buy meals or dishes in the school restaurant
as they choose. NZCFS members were particularly impressed with Shannon's
commodious flat at Nanjing Audit University. She was also provided with
a personal computer. All accommodation, of course, is free of charge.
- The visiting teacher
is required to teach 15-16 hours a week contact time and each class
can contain up to 50 students.
- The Institute will
pay 2,200 RMB travel fees annually for the visiting teacher.
- The visiting teacher
will get their international air travel tickets refunded by the Institute
after they have arrived at the school if they sign for a one year contract.
If they sign for a six month contract they will get one fare refunded.
- The preference
is for the contract period of one year. As Michael's position shows,
the contract can be for half a year.
- There are two semesters
in Chinese education institutes. The first semester usually begins on
1 September and ends before the Spring Festival (a one month vacation
for students) this is called the Winter Vacation. The second semester
begins in late February and ends in late June. This is the beginning
of a two month summer vacation.
The cost of food is
cheap. Shannon said she was buying in the local markets near the university
at local prices. If you would like to read about Shannon's experiences
in Nanjing NZCFS will (with Shannon's consent) supply you with a copy
of her very full report.
Jiangsu Youxie is
also looking for teachers who can teach curriculum as well as English
language.
Employment on non-teachers
Jiangsu Youxie has a new offer. It appears there is now a need in Jiangsu
for non teachers to teach conversational English in primary and junior
middle schools. Such persons do not have to be qualified teachers. The
preferred teaching style sought is "non intensive". Again they are looking
for New Zealand born English speakers who are kind, patient and friendly
(sounds like most of us). We did not discuss salaries at this level of
teaching but if you are interested we will obtain that information.
If
you have any persons interested, please ask them to e-mail me at eatcoop@clear.net.nz
or John Meldrum at (07) 576 4438 evenings or email John.Meldrum@Sharptudhope.co.nz.
Margaret Cooper -
President NZCFS
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