Teachers Journeys Into International School Teaching In China

"Poole's book illuminates the experiences and perspectives of host country national teachers at internationalised schools in China. The international school sector in China has undergone significant changes in recent years. This is due to the growing demand for international education from local middle-class families. In response, a new type of school has emerged. Going by various names, such as private, bilingual or internationalised, these schools offer a fusion of national and international curricula and are staffed predominantly by host country national teachers. Despite these changes, we still know little about who host country national teachers are and what draws them to the world of international schooling. Accordingly, this book explores the motivations and mobilities of host country national teachers in China. It identifies three types of teacher: Returners, Reachers, and Remainers. Returners are graduates who have returned to China from overseas study. They are drawn to international schools by the opportunity to use their international experience and qualification. Reachers are internal migrants who face structural inequality and attracted to international schools by the opportunity for social mobility. Remainers are married teachers with children. They are motivated to work in international schools by the perceived stability and security these schools offer. Discussing implications for teacher recruitment, development, and retention in international schools, this book is an essential read for international educational researchers as well as students researching international education or teacher identity"--

Poole’s book illuminates the experiences and perspectives of host country national teachers at internationalised schools in China. The international school sector in China has undergone significant changes in recent years. This is due to the growing demand for international education from local middle-class families. In response, a new type of school has emerged. Going by various names, such as private, bilingual or internationalised, these schools offer a fusion of national and international curricula and are staffed predominantly by host country national teachers. Despite these changes, we still know little about who host country national teachers are and what draws them to the world of international schooling. Accordingly, this book explores the motivations and mobilities of host country national teachers in China. It identifies three types of teacher: Returners, Reachers, and Remainers. Returners are graduates who have returned to China from overseas study. They are drawn to international schools by the opportunity to use their international experience and qualification. Reachers are internal migrants who face structural inequality and attracted to international schools by the opportunity for social mobility. Remainers are married teachers with children. They are motivated to work in international schools by the perceived stability and security these schools offer. Discussing implications for teacher recruitment, development, and retention in international schools, this book is an essential read for international educational researchers as well as students researching international education or teacher identity.

This book explores the emerging and under-researched phenomenon of internationalised schooling in China. It focuses on a group of “accidental” teachers who fell into teaching through happenstance or necessity, a group of teachers increasingly seeking refuge in Chinese Internationalised Schools. Chinese Internationalised Schools cater to an affluent middle class in China, offering some form of international curriculum which is taught by host country Chinese nationals and expatriate teachers. Chapters focus on three dimensions of teachers’ lived experiences of working in these schools: the intercultural, which explores teachers’ negotiations of intercultural teacher identities; the precarious, which highlights the struggles they might face at work; and the resilient, which illustrates how teachers survive—and even thrive—in the position. The author identifies a complex interplay between surviving and thriving, giving rise to the concept of “sur-thrival.”

"This book is a timely and valuable contribution to research on Chinese education mobilities, especially on international teacher mobility to China. Poole's theorisation of the 'sur-thrival' of these international school teachers is innovative and carries tremendous analytical promise for the field. This book would be of great interest to scholars and students of teacher education, international and comparative education, China studies, and migration studies. I highly recommend this book." -Cora Lingling Xu, Assistant Professor in Education, Durham University, UK "Poole delves deep into an under-researched and under-theorised world. The lived experiences of those who 'accidently' end up teaching in the emerging arena of non-traditional international schools in mainland China offer a fascinating insight into coping within a complex field of insecurity and precarity. The Chinese Internationalised School is a growing beast and hearing the voices of some who work in them is a fascinating treat." -Tristan Bunnell, Lecturer in International Education, University of Bath, UK This book explores the emerging and under-researched phenomenon of internationalised schooling in China. It focuses on a group of "accidental" teachers who fell into teaching through happenstance or necessity, a group of teachers increasingly seeking refuge in Chinese Internationalised Schools. Chinese Internationalised Schools cater to an affluent middle class in China, offering some form of international curriculum which is taught by host country Chinese nationals and expatriate teachers. Chapters focus on three dimensions of teachers' lived experiences of working in these schools: the intercultural, which explores teachers' negotiations of intercultural teacher identities; the precarious, which highlights the struggles they might face at work; and the resilient, which illustrates how teachers survive-and even thrive-in the position. The author identifies a complex interplay between surviving and thriving, giving rise to the concept of "sur-thrival.".

Drawing on the case of moral education reform, this book provides an authoritative picture of how policy is enacted between state policymaking and school practice in Japan, focusing on how national policy is enacted locally in the classroom. The study follows the 2015 moral education reform from its genesis in central government, through the Ministry of Education to its enactment by local government and schools. The book looks beyond written policies, curricula and textbooks to examine how teachers, school administrators and others make sense of, and translate, policy into practice in the Japanese classroom context. Chapters explore how moral education practice has changed in response to the intentions of national policy, and analyzes the implications for understanding processes of policy enactment in the Japanese education system. This book presents a new perspective on the complexity of education policy making, practice, and the gaps in between. It will be of interest to postgraduate students, researchers, and academics in the fields of education policy and politics, moral education, school administration, and international and comparative education more broadly, particularly in Asia.

This book provides a comprehensive assessment of the cross-border mobility of Chinese students and addresses the questions of who in China chooses to study overseas, why they want to do so, and what the impacts of this mobility are on China’s social stratification. In addition, it explores the challenges that these students face in terms of adaptation and identity formation once they have arrived in the destination country. Adopting a push-and-pull framework to analyze the data, it offers a unique and insightful resource.

This book addresses the past and changing contexts of Chinese and German teacher education under the impact of globalization and echoes "quality" issues of teacher education. This edited book provides a comprehensive discussion on other issues in the management and implementation of change in teacher education related to teacher education curricula for professional development of teachers. A combination of chapters provides an overview, a review of literature and research as well as offering examples of teacher education practice and updated empirical research on these topics co-edited by two senior scholars and written by experts from Mainland China (including Hong Kong ) and Germany. The volume addresses key issues on teacher standards, ICT in education and e-learning in teacher education, STEM education, vocational teacher education, university-school partnership in teacher education and teaching Chinese or German as a second language. This is an up-to-date academic book to look at profound issues related to quality in teacher education and teachers’ professional development in mainland China and Germany. It will be a useful reference for graduate students and researchers in the field of international and comparative education, teacher education and curriculum studies, teacher educators and practitioners to learn from trends, best practice and challenges that have been encountered in Mainland China and Germany.

This open access book offers in depth knowledge on the challenges and opportunities offered by the inclusion of minority teachers in mainstream educational settings from an international perspective. It aims to be a unique and important contribution for scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners considering the complexities brought about by global trends into national/local educational systems and settings. It will also serve to guide future research, policy, and practice in this important field of inquiry. The work will contribute answers to questions such as: How do immigrant/minority teachers experience their work in mainstream educational settings?; How do mainstream shareholders experience the inclusion of immigrant/minority teachers in mainstream educational settings?; What is the effect of the successful (and/or unsuccessful) integration of minority teachers and teacher educators into mainstream education settings?.