How high a qualification would you expect your primary school teachers to have?
One of Beijing’s leading primary and middle schools is strictly hiring teachers with a PhD related to the teaching subject.
Other requirements posted in The Experimental School’s recruitment notice include a stellar academic record, a high-level teaching qualification and a “patriotic and law-abiding” mindset.
The requirement is in line with other elite schools in China’s top cities, which demand highly qualified staff and are willing to offer generous salaries to attract them.
The PhD-only requirement was confirmed by a recruiter at the school, who did not elaborate on the salary for each role.
“The salary is dependent on the requirements of each position as well as the qualifications of the candidate,” Liu said.
Similar teaching positions at the Beijing 21st Century International School offer salaries of 100,000 to 140,000 yuan per year (US$14,400 to US$20,100), according to the recruitment website Liepin.
The job listing also states that teachers are given a wide variety of “high-level specialist training” to promote the improvement of their “specialist accomplishments”.
The strict requirement is a sign that the race for the best teaching talent is heating up in China’s elite schools. The schools are also known for having incredibly competitive entry standards.
Tsinghua University High School for instance requires teachers to have a minimum master’s degree, while the Affiliated High School of Peking University requires applicants to have exceptional bachelor degree results.
Both are top-ranking Beijing-based high schools and are attached to its two leading universities – which are often compared to MIT and Harvard or Oxbridge.
Shanghai High School, on the other hand, requires its teachers to have a master’s degree or PhD – except for graduates with a bachelor’s degree from Tshinghua or Peking.
Wang Dan, a professor of education at the University of Hong Kong, told the South China Morning Post that these elite requirements for teachers are the result of China’s booming education sector.
“The expansion of higher education has resulted in more university graduates, and people with master’s and PhD degrees are becoming more and more common,” Wang said.
“The market simply cannot absorb so many people with high educational qualifications, so many of these people may be willing to teach in primary and middle schools.
“Therefore, this creates a niche for elite primary schools that can take in these highly qualified teachers who have not been able to find work elsewhere.”