China’s foreign teachers face scrutiny after pedophile scare
Foreign instructors in Chinese schools are facing increased scrutiny following revelations that a British man wanted in the UK in connection with the rape of a child and distribution of indecent images worked at a Beijing school. This case was immediately followed by the discovery that an American convicted of child pornography offenses was working as an English teacher in Nanjing.
The scandals prompted the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs to issue an “urgent notice” instructing local authorities to supervise foreign teachers’ “daily activities”. China’s state-run media China Daily have issued calls for greater vigilance to ensure that foreigners with criminal records don’t end up working in Chinese schools.
Source: Globalpost, China Daily
URL:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-04/30/content_16463309.htm
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130501/china-foreign-teachers-pedophile-neil-robinson
Editor’s note: There is already an increasing trend toward tighter controls on the qualifications of foreign teachers. Frankly, having a foreign face and native English-speaking skills should not be sufficient qualifications for the important job of teaching. These new revelations will add impetus to the implementation of standards for foreign teachers. At the same time, the demand for foreign teachers continues to grow. The two trends together argue for greater commercial or public infrastructure to support the recruitment, screening, selection and placement of foreign teachers into Chinese institutions.
