A panel discussion was held on the morning of March 11 with 18 CPPCC members from the education sector deliberating about a number of topics: injecting new impetus to teacher education, raising their status and remuneration, and strengthening teaching workforce management. Li Bin, vice-chairperson of the CPPCC National Committee, vice minister of education Sun Yao and vice minister of human resources and social security You Jun attended the panel discussion.
Professional capacity-building
Dai Liyi, Vice-president of East China Normal University, noted that in terms of academic qualifications, primary and secondary school teachers still lagged behind their developed country counterparts. He suggested that reforms should be introduced to post-graduate education, such as granting access to training for candidates, regardless of age or background, and broadening the spectrum of enrollment evaluation criteria, to include, for example, length of service at primary or secondary school, professional honors and awards and educational achievements.
Shi Weidong, President of Nantong University, suggested opening teacher education programs in general universities, to leverage their multidisciplinary resources and strengths in research, to produce a new generation of teachers equipped with strong skill sets and research capabilities.
Other panelists tabled proposals on how to provide more professional and targeted on-the-job training for teachers. One representative called for educational authorities and research institutions to jointly develop core elements for an overarching teacher training framework. With reference to rural teacher capacity building, another representative argued against the existing practice of organizing ex-situ camp-based training during regular teaching hours, and suggested an alternative could be to arrange for experts to observe classes and give feedback and guidance. A third representative pointed out that there were too few qualified teachers in special education to meet the needs of students with disabilities and urged the MOE to develop guidelines for the onboarding and on-the-job training of special education teachers. He also suggested adding special education-related training for teachers at regular schools, so that they could cater for students with disabilities.
Improving teachers’ sense of fulfillment and achievement
Teachers are facing mounting pressure to deliver, as public expectations of them keep rising, leading to burnout and disengagement in the teaching workforce.
One representative suggested stepping up legislation to protect the legitimate rights and interests of teachers from being violated, in order to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession. Echoing this proposal, another representative urged educational authorities to relieve teachers of unwarranted burdens: in particular that of being considered to have exclusive responsibility for the education of children. Speaking of teacher compensation, one representative urged government authorities to introduce staffing standards for public kindergartens and ensure teachers are fully remunerated. A fourth representative called for creating a culture of respect for teacher among society and raising teachers’ political, professional and social status through legislative change.
Strengthening high-caliber teaching workforce development and management
Panelists added proposals aimed at realizing the “Double World Class” goal. Wang Xuehua, Vice-president of Sun Yat-Sen University believed the key lay in building teacher moral and academic capacity, drawing high-caliber professionals from overseas by introducing attractive benefits, and reforming the existing performance assessment system. Speaking of the appraisal system, Zhu Zhiyuan of Shanghai Tech University suggested a five-point criteria: morality, teaching, research, all-roundedness and peer reviews. Wang Xiaoping, vice-president of Xi’an University, mentioned a number of persistent problems that affected teachers in local colleges, such as high turnover of high-performing teachers, low academic qualifications and barrier to career development, weak teaching skills and research abilities. Wang’s proposals included funding increases, establishing one-on-one support arrangements with top-performing universities, earmarking funds for recruiting leading experts, and establishing a dual-track assessment system for academic and pre-professional training institutions.
