Action taken over illegally-hired foreign English teachers in China
Mohsine el Baghdadi always wanted to be an English teacher in China,
considering such a job to be ideal.A friend who taught English in China
told the 27-year-old Moroccan that foreign teachers are in high demand,
there are boundless opportunities and the jobs are well paid. Baghdadi’s
own experience confirmed this. Replies flooded in after he posted a
message on Facebook, stating: “Hello from Morocco. I am an
English-language teacher searching for a good job with a good salary in
China.”teaching jobs in China for foreignersMany
of the replies were job invitations from recruitment agencies, while
others came from language institutes. For the most part, they told
Baghdadi that applying for a job in China was straightforward.
It
was sufficient merely to submit a resume.The salary also was tempting.
Baghdadi teaches English in Morocco, where he is paid $500 a month.
However, those who approached him from China offered a monthly salary
ranging from $1,500 to $2,500, with a bonus.But he said some of those
who replied appeared too eager to hire foreign teachers, and Baghdadi
said he was even given “illegal advice” about getting a job.
The
regulation on foreign experts’ work permits states that overseas
language teachers in China must obtain a work visa and be a native
speaker with a bachelor’s degree or higher, have at least two years of
related teaching experience and no criminal record.This means that
Baghdadi, who is not a native English speaker and does not have
sufficient experience in teaching the language, may never have the
chance to work in China as a teacher.“But some agencies told me that
they could help me apply for a Chinese business visa, and I could become
a teacher in China, come what may,” he said.Teaching English is a
lucrative business in China, as the country’s opening-up to the world
means more people are looking to learn the “universal language”.
For
foreigners, their nationality and even their skin tone can, at times,
be their ticket to securing a teaching job.According to a report last
year from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 300 million people in
China were learning English. There were 50,000 English-language training
institutions in the country and the training market was worth as much
as 500 billion yuan ($72 billion), the report said. The high demand for
English-language instruction had made finding a job for most foreigners,
particularly those who are white, little more than a
formality.According to a survey by Banyuetan, a Xinhua News Agency
magazine, in 2017, there were more than 400,000 foreign teachers working
in the education sector in China, but only one-third of them were
employed legally.
In recent years, the country has been rocked by a
number of high-profile scandals resulting from a lack of vigilance in
hiring foreign teachers. In some cases, people with questionable
backgrounds have landed jobs.The latest such case occurred last month.
On July 23, an English-language teacher from Colombia working at the
Hong Huang Lan Kindergarten in Qingdao, Shandong province, was arrested
for allegedly molesting a 4-year-old girl.Earlier in July, 16 foreigners
were detained in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, for allegedly taking drugs.
According
to Xuzhou police, seven of them work for an education company, and the
remaining nine are students.Media reports later said a number of foreign
teachers from the EF Education center in Xuzhou had been detained by
police for allegedly taking drugs. According to the company’s website,
EF is an international education company based in Sweden, and has
centers in many Chinese cities.In April 2013, media reports said that
Neil Robinson, from the United Kingdom, had taught at the Beijing World
Youth Academy, an international school, for nearly four years while
being wanted for questioning by British police in connection with child
sex offences.Such cases have aroused widespread concern among parents
and students, with many of them calling for the qualifications of
foreign teachers at English-learning organizations to be subject to
nationwide inspection.On some online expatriate forums, topics such as
“How to become an English teacher in China without a work permit”, or
“nonnative speakers can also teach in China” are popular.
They offer
tips for those who want to work in the country without the required
documentation or experience.One of the items stated, “Although a Chinese
work visa is the only visa that it is technically legal to teach with,
there is also the possibility that they might offer you an alternative
one instead, such as a student visa or a business visa.
