The end of English teaching in China?

[Martin B]

Looks like they are continuing to kill the private tutoring industry:

https://www.reuters.com/article/china-education/update-1-china-to-clamp-down-on-for-profit-tutoring-document-idUSL1N2OZ0KW

See also: 

 

Note point #3 - no more foreign online teachers as well. Ouch.

I can kind of understand why they are doing this - but at the same time, the absolute upper-crust of society will still find ways around this (e.g. sending their kids to Thailand for summer school) while others will be left struggling. I really do wonder if there isn't some ulterior motive here, to eventually purge all foreigners out of China, aside from legitimate tourists, immediate family members, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the end of English teaching as an opportunity for foreigners in China. I've also heard rumblings of legitimate international schools coming under scrutiny. It really does make me sad to see how much has change starting around 2016.

 

[Randy W]

The English education in China is already very good, but only in reading and writing. Most every Chinese English teacher I've met couldn't converse in English, but the University students are expected to pass a written English exam. I've seen copies of the test - it's basically at a newspaper level of understanding.

The ones who CAN speak with westerners (teachers AND students) have spent time watching movies, or have spent time in English-speaking countries. One teacher had only spent a month in England going to a friend's wedding, but her English was EXCELLENT.

What is lacking, of course, is the native-born English speaking teachers to fill that gap.

But I think the crackdown is on elitist schools and tutoring that only the richer parents can afford.

There was a Japanese teacher from Japan at the University that I used to feel proud of as he would struggle for 5 or 10 minutes just to put together an English sentence to say something simple to me. He was a real friendly guy, but I was surprised to find out from others that he struggled in the same way when speaking Japanese. Not a good quality for a teacher.

Chenxi's, our grandson's, best subject is English. I'll take some credit for that - we used to watch English language cartoons together (especially Monsters, Inc., but I haven't been able to help him much at all in school, since the instructions and paperwork are all in Chinese. He always gets 100's on the English exams.

Edited August 27, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

China has formally announced several measures touching upon everything from homework to extracurricular tutoring in a bid to reduce the growing academic burden on children — as well as unfair competition.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3003359259982914

 

China has formally announced several measures touching upon everything from homework to extracurricular tutoring in a bid to reduce the growing academic burden on children — as well as unfair competition.

Posted by Sixth Tone on Monday, July 26, 2021

 

China Takes Tough Approach to Tame Tutoring Schools
The new set of rules aim to better monitor the education market, which has been blamed for increasingly unfair competition among students.

Quote

 

The long-anticipated policy, which touches upon everything from homework to extracurricular tutoring, was approved by the central government as early as mid-May and formally announced Saturday. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu are among the pilot cities where the new policy will be introduced, though it’s unclear when it will be implemented.

No new tutoring facilities

Local authorities will no longer approve new tutoring facilities for students in grades one through nine. Traditionally, these businesses provide additional academic classes to students enrolled in the country’s compulsory education program.

All existing tutoring centers will have to register as non-profit organizations. Meanwhile, online tutoring institutes, previously only required to register their businesses, will also be subject to stricter standards, likely making it difficult to get approved.

No capital operations

Tutoring centers providing academic classes are not allowed to seek financing by listing on the stock market, and profitmaking operations are banned.

 . . .

No academic training on weekends or holidays

 . . .

No online tutoring for kids under six

 . . .

Free online classes for students

 . . .

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Martin B]

There's quite a bit of panic on a few other China-related sites I visit with regards to visa renewals. I don't have exact statistics but I'd imagine a huge % of foreign teachers are employed at private training centers. I don't think any of the new rules bluntly say "foreigners can no longer teach English in China", but the writing is on the wall.

I agree that learning from a native is best especially when it comes to conversation. I studied Chinese for several years, first by taking a course at the local community college - the teacher was from Shanghai, and then I found some private tutors online.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Barfus (see edit history)

[Randy W]

On 7/26/2021 at 8:57 PM, Barfus said:

There's quite a bit of panic on a few other China-related sites I visit with regards to visa renewals. I don't have exact statistics but I'd imagine a huge % of foreign teachers are employed at private training centers. I don't think any of the new rules bluntly say "foreigners can no longer teach English in China", but the writing is on the wall.

I agree that learning from a native is best especially when it comes to conversation. I studied Chinese for several years, first by taking a course at the local community college - the teacher was from Shanghai, and then I found some private tutors online.

I've always thought of the private training centers as being pretty iffy - it was too easy to set up a center, hire a foreign looking teacher, and collect money from parents eager for their kids to get a leg up on the other less well to do. Some left the teachers and the parents in a bad situation by taking the money and closing down.

There are still openings in the public sector, but many are going unfilled. The university here in Yulin hasn't had any foreign teachers for over 5 years.

from China Pictorial on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3983781975080495&id=553929144732479

China's vast private education sector received a death blow as the country introduced sweeping measures, including barring curriculum-based tutoring institutions from raising money through stock market listings, in a bid to correct disorderly competition in the industry and ease the burden on Chinese students and their families. 
Foreign capital is also not allowed to control or participate in the private education sector through methods such as mergers and acquisitions, entrusted operations, or franchise chains, said the document issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, the cabinet, on Saturday.

 

China's vast private education sector received a death blow as the country introduced sweeping measures, including...

Posted by China Pictorial on Monday, July 26, 2021

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

The Sixth Tone jumps in again . . .

Last month, China announced strict new regulations on academic tutoring and training classes for young children. How did the industry get so big, so fast?

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3012748182377355

 

Last month, China announced strict new regulations on academic tutoring and training classes for young children. How did the industry get so big, so fast?

Posted by Sixth Tone on Saturday, August 7, 2021

 

Why Time’s Up for China’s ‘Shadow Education’ Industry
Last month, China announced strict new regulations on academic tutoring and training classes for young children. How did the industry get so big, so fast?

As children have supplanted elders as the focal point of a family, parents are increasingly willing to invest whatever it takes to boost their kids’ academic prospects. This is at odds with the general trend of Chinese education policy over the past decade, which has focused on attempting to reduce academic burdens and equalize access to educational resources. But the country’s rigidly hierarchical tertiary education system has been left relatively untouched, causing the competition between families to spill off-campus, with wealthy parents paying to give their kids a leg up on college admissions and keep them from falling out of the still highly precarious middle class.

Shadow education has thus become a key mechanism for maintaining and reinforcing social classes. What’s more, their business and teaching practices have started to negatively impact the formal education system. In contrast to formal schools, which have sought to slow down learning and lower academic burdens, private training institutions frequently jump ahead of and cover areas not on the formal syllabus.

They also structure their courses around exams, looking to mechanically train students in exam knowledge and test-taking skills — a tendency that only reinforces and exacerbates the problems of the country’s test-oriented education system. The result is a generation of “test-taking machines” for whom formal school is an afterthought, but afternoons and evenings packed with rigorous and exhausting courses are a given.

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Chinese Tutoring Platforms End Classes With Foreign-Based Teachers
Some teachers abroad say the changes will affect their personal finances, while students and parents in China are concerned over its impact on learning English.

from the Sixth Tone 

Quote

 

Several online English tutoring firms announced they will stop offering classes taught by teachers based abroad, as companies adjust to a raft of government restrictions targeting the country’s tutoring sector.

51Talk, an online English education platform with around 30,000 Filipino teachers, said Monday that it was immediately halting courses taught by foreign-based tutors to teenagers and children in the Chinese mainland. However, students aged 15 and above who are mainly enrolled in adult courses will not be affected by the change.

The announcement came just days after another leading English education platform, VIPKid — backed by tech giant Tencent — announced to stop selling classes taught by tutors abroad and ceased renewing those classes starting Monday. VIPKid said it will however launch English courses for adults and “bilingual classes on intangible cultural heritage” in the future.

Both companies said domestic students can complete the classes they have already signed up for, while those outside China will not be affected.

The recent changes came as tutoring agencies rush to comply with several measures released last month by China’s cabinet, the State Council, including a ban on hiring foreigners outside the country to teach.

The rules could affect tens of thousands of foreign-based teachers, as major English tutoring services providers — including ByteDance Ltd.’s GoGoKid and Whales English — have moved to make similar decisions. VIPKid, which touts its one-on-one English tutoring by foreign teachers, has more than 70,000 tutors in North America alone.

 

 

I have a (US) relative who is/was doing this with VIPKid

[Martin B]

2 hours ago, Randy W said:

Chinese Tutoring Platforms End Classes With Foreign-Based Teachers
Some teachers abroad say the changes will affect their personal finances, while students and parents in China are concerned over its impact on learning English.

from the Sixth Tone 

 

I have a (US) relative who is/was doing this with VIPKid

 

I know of someone (friend of a friend) who was doing VIPKid and living in Panama. She's now scrambling to find other remote work. Apparently VIPKid was quite lucrative ($20-30/hour) and fairly easy work. 

[Randy W]

I'm sure this won't help her out, but . . .

Authorities in Beijing said the city will offer 13,000 positions — including teaching, management, and marketing roles — for those who lost their jobs after the central government introduced strict new rules targeting the private tutoring sector in July.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3021112354874271

 

Authorities in Beijing said the city will offer 13,000 positions — including teaching, management, and marketing roles —...

Posted by Sixth Tone on Wednesday, August 18, 2021

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

While many have focused on how China’s private tutoring crackdown impacts teachers based in the United States, it is another major group of online English teachers who may stand to suffer the most — Filipinos.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3027771117541728

 

While many have focused on how China’s private tutoring crackdown impacts teachers based in the United States, it is another major group of online English teachers who may stand to suffer the most — Filipinos.

Posted by Sixth Tone on Friday, August 27, 2021

 

How China’s New Ed-Tech Regulations Put Filipino Teachers in a Bind
Filipino English teachers thrived during China’s online learning boom. Then came the crackdown.

Quote

 

Filipino teachers have been among the largest providers of online English teaching services in China since 2010. The earliest Chinese companies to successfully hire foreign teachers online, including 51Talk and ALO7, set up their first overseas operations in Manila. Students chose to hire Filipino teachers because they were both affordable and professional; English is one of the official languages of the Philippines, and Filipino English teachers possess the same professional TEFL qualifications as their American counterparts.

Most Filipino teachers working with Chinese ESL learners are either mothers or young college graduates. Some trained to be professional teachers in the Philippines but chose to teach Chinese students online because the pay was better. For most others, teaching was a side gig that allowed them to care for family at home, to support themselves while they worked toward their dream jobs, or an alternative to call center work or emigration.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Martin B]

There are actually summer English camps in the Philippines and Thailand, I'm expecting them to be take off in popularity, unless they get banned somehow also.

[Randy W]

Public school teachers are spending at least two additional hours at work per week following the education clampdown that banned after-school tutoring.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3036964233289083

 

Public school teachers are spending at least two additional hours at work per week following the education clampdown that banned after-school tutoring.

Posted by Sixth Tone on Wednesday, September 8, 2021

 

China Promises to Raise Teacher Pay Amid Extended Work Hours
Public school teachers are spending at least two additional hours at work per week following the education clampdown that banned after-school tutoring.

Quote

 

The Ministry of Education made the announcement Wednesday at a time when many teachers are experiencing longer working hours due to China’s recently implemented “double reduction” policy. The new reforms in the compulsory education program have extended school hours to accommodate the needs of working parents and reduce the academic burden on children caused by extracurricular activities.

However, the ministry’s announcement didn’t specify how much salaries would increase by or when they’re likely to start. Last year, the central government allocated 2.24 trillion yuan ($345 billion) to fund compulsory education, 63.9% of which went toward paying teachers and other school staff.

Cao Bingsheng, a veteran teacher from eastern Jiangsu province, told Sixth Tone that the announcement is favorable for teachers, especially those in smaller cities who make lesser than other civil servants. Salaries for public school teachers vary from place to place, but the average annual income was just over 100,000 yuan last year.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Our grandson, Chenxi, is still attending his after-school tutoring classes. We don't know for how much longer. 

“These days, I feel sad every time I see the New Oriental logo. The company failed to show me the least respect, let alone care,” a laid-off teacher told Sixth Tone.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3078522175799955

 

“These days, I feel sad every time I see the New Oriental logo. The company failed to show me the least respect, let alone care,” a laid-off teacher told Sixth Tone.

Posted by Sixth Tone on Monday, November 1, 2021

 

China’s Tutoring Ban Leaves a Trail of Debt, Anger, and Broken Dreams
China has launched a tough clampdown on the $300 billion private tutoring industry. The collateral damage: millions of ordinary teachers and families.

Quote

 

The new rules quickly sent the New Oriental franchise where Xu worked into a death spiral. Xu’s teaching hours were slashed from 11 sessions per week to just three. Nearly half the school’s 60 English teachers left the company. Others had their salaries cut to just 2,300 yuan ($360) per month.

Finally, on Sept. 29, the moment Xu had been dreading arrived. Her manager called her into her office and tersely informed her she’d been fired. She now finds herself unemployed amid a tough job market, her career plans in tatters.

“These days, I feel sad every time I see the New Oriental logo,” Xu tells Sixth Tone. “The company failed to show me the least respect, let alone care.”

Xu is among the millions of people whose lives have been upended by China’s move to reshape the nation’s education system, a campaign known as the “double reduction” policy.

The policy has introduced sweeping reforms to achieve two main goals: cutting the amount of homework and after-school tuition students receive. The government argues this is necessary to save the nation’s children from burnout, reduce inequality, and prevent parents feeling obliged to spend eye-watering sums on private classes. Official surveys suggest the policy has broad public support.

But the campaign is also causing massive disruption. On the eve of the clampdown, China’s tutoring sector was worth a staggering 2 trillion yuan and employed around 10 million people. Now, the industry is undergoing a messy and painful collapse — with ordinary families and workers the collateral damage.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Private tutors and students aren’t the only ones who have had their lives changed by the “double reduction” policy; the implications of the policy for parents and schoolteachers should not be overlooked.

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/3133523570299815

 

Private tutors and students aren’t the only ones who have had their lives changed by the “double reduction” policy; the implications of the policy for parents and schoolteachers should not be overlooked.

Posted by Sixth Tone on Wednesday, January 12, 2022

 

China Wants Students Working Less. So It’s Asking Teachers to Do More.
The country’s “double reduction” reforms have already overturned the afterschool tutoring industry. Now schoolteachers are being asked to fill in the gap.

Quote

 

Whether these top-down measures can really alleviate student burdens remains to be seen, but their impact on the country’s sprawling private tutoring sector has already made global headlines. Some tutoring companies tried to pivot, becoming nonprofits or transitioning into unrelated industries like livestreaming e-commerce; many simply shut down.

But private tutors and students aren’t the only ones who have had their lives changed by the “double reduction” policy; the implications of the policy for parents and schoolteachers should not be overlooked.

Unlike full-time private schools, which represent an alternative to government-run schools, private tutoring institutions were supplements to in-school instruction. Some tutoring classes were for remedial learners, but many more advanced classes represented an extension and deepening of what was covered during school hours. In addition to their role keeping student learning on track, Chinese private tutoring institutions also took on some of the childcare burdens of working parents, especially in the hours between when students got out of school and when their parents got off work.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

A little work-around?

Their Secret Sales Weapons? Language Lessons

“We taught enthusiastically in the classrooms, waving our arms and giving classes to kids in high spirits…… We are now recommending healthy food and advocating a healthy lifestyle.”

After a crackdown on after-school tutoring, New Oriental, one of China’s earliest and largest private education providers, pivoted to online sales. It went poorly until their teacher-turned-livestreamers began offering free English lessons while selling agricultural products and books.

Read more: http://ow.ly/kF3t50Jxm17

After a crackdown on after-school tutoring, New Oriental, one of China’s largest private education providers, pivoted to online sales. It went poorly until their teacher-turned-livestreamers began offering free English lessons while pitching products.

Read more: http://ow.ly/THcQ50JzNeK

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 
https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/posts/pfbid02398sDZJDFE6T3w12Y2UxaNfHyUNch1NLJ9o9N95jzeiixBohaqcF7h5eJFUh3uGFl

https://www.facebook.com/sixthtone/videos/2220998551397550/

How a Flailing Tutoring Company Became a National Rallying Cry
Once China’s best-known English tutoring company, New Oriental’s business evaporated after last year’s crackdown. Now it’s back with a new business model, and backed by a groundswell of public support.

Quote

 

Dong Yuhui was broadcasting live to an audience of 100,000 hungry customers. He was also way off schedule. As Dong described in minute detail the cuts of beef in the 12-pack of steaks he was selling, he jotted down the corresponding English phrases on a whiteboard, glossing the meaning and usage of each as he talked.

Someone off camera gently tried to steer the streamer back to his sales pitch: “Teacher Dong, this item is sold out, move on to the next.” But Dong wasn’t finished with his lesson. “No worries,” he replied. “Just let me wrap up this word.”

This is “Oriental Selection,” the livestreaming e-commerce studio built atop the ruins of New Oriental, once China’s largest and best-known English tutoring company. Last year, after China cracked down on private tutoring for school-aged children, shares in New Oriental cratered. The company’s market valued dropped by 90%, and revenue fell by 80%. Tens of thousands of staff members were laid off. A lucky handful, Dong included, were retained as livestreaming e-commerce hosts, part of company founder Yu Minhong’s ambitious pivot to agricultural produce sales.