According to Eurus, schools in China had a turbulent year in 2020 with teacher supply and the repercussions will continue beyond. While there will always be a necessity for international teachers, the pandemic has accelerated the need for schools to look closer to home to build sustainable staffing models. According to the Independent Schools Council's data, by 2023, there will be a shortfall in demand of about 20,000 bilingual teachers in China. The entry of international teachers into China has been hampered by the global pandemic, it is inevitably not enough to rely solely on international teacher recruitment to meet the demand for teacher numbers in schools. The increased demand for bilingual teaching staff in schools will certainly be the trend in the post-pandemic era and become the norm in the future. 

Schools however are facing a series of challenges in the recruitment of bilingual teachers. These challenges include limited high-quality and efficient recruitment channels; the English teaching ability of local teachers needs to be further improved; there are relatively few bilingual teachers with experience in mainstream international curricula such as IB/AP/A Level; the pedagogy skills of candidate needs to be richer and more rigorous in line with the standards expected at an international school; parent expectations for schools to be staffed by international teachers.

Curriculum and teaching experience are the career bottleneck 

Bilingual teachers refer to teachers who are able to teach a subject in a foreign language other than Chinese as the main language in the classroom. In the Chinese international education sector, the vast majority of teachers currently use English. This requires teachers to be able to deliver knowledge in correct and fluent English but not to the absolute exclusion of using Chinese so as to avoid the obstacles to students' thinking and understanding due to language lag. In addition to language requirement, schools also have certain requirements for bilingual teachers in terms of their individual character, ideological integrity, professional ethics and pedagogical qualities. In China generally, international schools assess bilingual teacher candidates in terms of educational background, subject specialism, teaching qualifications, years of teaching and curriculum experience. 

Moreover, international schools often prioritise teachers with curriculum and teaching experience. Candidates with experience in the mainstream curriculum are more competitive than fresh graduates and candidates with experience in the non-mainstream curriculum. According to the Eurus' survey, mainstream curriculum such as IB, AP and A-Level in international schools tend to have higher requirements for teachers, the demand for teachers also varies: A Level curriculum teachers account for 37% of demand while IB curriculum teachers account for 29%, and AP curriculum teachers account for 11%. In addition, the demand for teachers in international schools mainly focuses on candidates with adequate teaching experience: 79% of positions require teachers with 2-5 years of teaching experience; 13% require more than 5 years; only about 15% accept fresh graduates. This is a career bottleneck for many bilingual teachers who have little experience or deficient teaching ability to breakthrough. As a result, many bilingual teachers seek career progression by obtaining professional qualifications and participating in teacher training programmes.

Leading to increased salaries, British certificate are increasingly popular

As one of the motivations for teachers' self-improvement, whether obtaining professional qualifications and certificates can have a wage hike has become teachers' concern. According to the Eurus report,the percentage of international schools that reflect PGCE/iPGCE certificates on increased salaries was the highest, which is 53%, followed by IB certification at 47%. 

In addition to professional qualifications and certificates, British teacher training programmes are becoming increasingly popular among international schools in China. According to a recent TES report, ‘nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said they had actively worked to support local teachers to gain UK teaching qualifications such as PGCE/IPGCE, or Assessment-Only QTS in the past two years.'    

In the UK, university-led initial teacher training programmes are assessed by the ‘Good Teacher Training Guide’ which has been published every year since 1998 by the University of Buckingham. The Guide evaluates teacher training courses using Government data about employment rates, qualification entry requirements for courses and Ofsted ratings. Even though currently such a guide is not available for the teacher training programmes in China, more and more British universities are providing various school-centred ITT (initial teachers training) and degree courses for both new and experienced teachers. 

Combining the best of East and West to address the industry gap

While a minority of schools implement equal pay for equal work, the salary of international teachers is higher than bilingual teachers in most international schools.To narrow this gap, it is necessary not only to train bilingual teachers with targeted abilities and qualifications but also to provide Chinese bilingual teachers with clear career development paths in order to cultivate and retain excellent talents. The senior management at international schools is generally promoted from the teaching position. Other positions seem hard to reach senior management due to a lack of understanding of curriculum teaching. With the rapid development of international schools in China, it is difficult for the cultivation of talents in international schools to keep pace with the growth of international schools. Therefore, more and more industry insiders began to explore the career development path of bilingual teachers.

Practical pedagogy is the essence of teacher training in the United Kingdom. Buckingham International School of Education (BISE) works in partnership with the School of Education, the University of Buckingham in England to provide high-quality teacher training and education programmes for both - new teachers and more seasoned practitioners at all stages of their careers. These programmes seek to combine the best of Eastern and Western teaching and learning and to integrate the development of international teaching skills with the competencies required in the Chinese education system. 

The School offers a wide range of MA degree courses and Postgraduate Certificates in China – including PGCE-China, MA Education, MA Residential Education, MA Education Teaching and Learning, MEd Educational Leadership and Management, as well as a certificate in Special Educational Needs Coordination. The full set of courses will be able to support the theory and practice of building bilingual schools in China.

As a prestigious higher education institution in the UK, the University of Buckingham was established in 1976 and has already got authorisation from the Ministry of Education of China. The School of Education at the University of Buckingham was founded in 2002. With over 1,300 teachers and school leaders studying there in any one year, the School of Education has become one of Britain’s leading providers of teacher training and professional development. The School is led by Professor Barnaby Lenon CBE, also the Chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) who was the headmaster of Harrow School and started two schools in China. Buckingham International School of Education is its only official partnership for the design and promotion of the University's overseas programmes. BISE is headed up by David Mansfield, former Headmaster of Dulwich College Beijing and Executive Headmaster of Y.K. Pao School in Shanghai. 

One of the new flagship course of the University is the practice-based PGCE - China, which supports the development of the skills, knowledge and competencies required by the UK Teaching Standards. The PGCE - China course is shaped around the acclaimed PGCE used by leading independent schools in the UK. It is demanding but has been proven globally to improve the quality of a trainee’s teaching with a full programme of practice, observation, mentoring, reflection and academic study. It is currently available only in English but will be developing a fully bilingual version for Chinese colleagues. PGCE is suitable for new entrants to the profession as well as those seeking to diversify their pedagogical skills. 

The Programme also provides an opportunity to gain the UK’s Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) via an Assessment Only route. This will build seamlessly from the University of Buckingham PGCE course as the next step in the career progression for those candidates who meet the criteria set out by the UK Department for Education. 

The Buckingham International School of Education offers online PGCE China-led teacher training programmes and Masters of Education programmes for educators at all career stages. Why not follow us and learn more about these programmes by visiting the programme page!