What’s Next for International Schools in China?

Three-plus years of pandemic responses laid bare the capabilities and limits of how effectively national governments can respond to urgent fluid situations. Few countries had the logistical might to implement the type of restrictions and management strategies China did. With hard data unavailable, it is impossible to know the true extent of how lockdowns, school closures, and online learning affected the international education sector in China. However, I did manage to dig up a few sources of my own. 🙂

Through barbeque get-togethers over bottles of wine with coworkers, networking with teachers and leadership teams from schools throughout China, and poring over Reddit posts, I have formed a picture of the state of international teaching in China. It has become clear to me through this informal research that at least a third of international teachers left China permanently at some point during the pandemic between December 2020 and November 2023. There are myriad stories of teachers who experienced highly stressful scenarios during this period. Some were stranded out of the country during the spring 2020 China border closure. Some broke their contract and left their jobs without warning. Most international schools across China found themselves limited to recruiting teachers from within the country. Such drastic changes in access to credentialed international teaching candidates created unpredictable hiring dynamics.

 For those who are not familiar with the international school landscape in China, it is highly diverse. In addition to the big-name top-tier international schools most international North American teachers already know, such as Western Academy of Beijing, Shanghai American School, and American International School in Guangzhou, there are a vast number (580 according to John Catts from International School Search) of English language international schools. Of these schools, more than 250 are IB-authorized. Roughly 150 of these schools offer the IB Diploma. Schools in China that offer an international curriculum can be government-funded or privately owned. If  privately-owned, they are either foreign or Chinese-owned. 

Privately-owned schools can be set up as for-profit or not-for-profit enterprises. Government-funded and privately owned schools implement a bilingual Chinese/English curriculum for Chinese students. Foreign-owned schools may not admit Chinese passport holders, although most students speak Chinese as their home language.

 Many mid-tier and bilingual schools needed help to recruit teachers. Administrators sometimes responded by hiring certified local staff and candidates not generally considered because of their passport country or background. The silver lining is that the shortages gave teaching opportunities to capable – but overlooked – local staff. It also created opportunities for qualified teachers from non-native-English-speaking countries. 

As the 2022-2023 school year winds down, it becomes more apparent every day that the uncertainty and fear felt by the international teaching community in China over the past three years have dissipated. Start-up bilingual and lower-tiered international schools are opening up to receive students in August. The higher-tiered schools are generally staffed for the next academic year, save for a few hard-to-fill specialist positions. 

There’s hardly a sign of the pandemic today. Despite these changes, hundreds of teaching vacancies are still on international teacher websites. China is still a tough sell for international teachers. Many people are more aware of the negative aspects of living in China than the positive ones. 

For many years, I refused to consider China as an option for international teaching. Then, last January, I had an offer to start a contract at a small international school in Southern China with my husband and two kids. We took a risk coming to China to live and work last July, which has paid off. Compared to my last post at an international school in Sub-Saharan Africa, daily life is easy here. 

With COVID restrictions in the rearview mirror, political junkies are opining about how the geopolitical situation involving world powers will affect international schools in China. The future remains uncertain as always, but one thing is for sure: It won’t be boring. 

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