中国加强外国专家管理

A foreign teacher at Hailiang International School in Zhuji, Zhejiangprovince, interacts with pupils from a primary school for migrantworkers in the city's Taozhu street on March 4. Photo by Luo Shanxin /for China Daily

Demand increases for teachers from abroad as more seek to learn English

A set of measures will be further strengthened to better manage foreign experts in China,according to the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

"Of the 540,000 foreign experts coming to China every year, the vast majority are high-qualitytalents with outstanding work records," Xia Bing, director of the administration's cultural andeducational experts department, said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

He said foreign experts of many different occupations have made an irreplaceable contributionto the country's decades of rapid economic growth and technological development.

"About a third are working in cultural and educational areas," Xia said. "It is my understandingthat some who work as language teachers have donated their own funds to help poor studentsin remote areas in China, and some outstanding foreign teachers have even won the ChineseGovernment Friendship Award."

Xia said the administration is also dedicated to perfecting the process of recruiting foreigntalents, such as making it more convenient for foreigners to enter and leave the country,bringing them into the social security insurance system, and providing more channels for themto make their voice heard and thus better blend in with society.

As for recent reports of foreigners with criminal backgrounds found working in China, Xia saidthey are just "black sheep".

"The overwhelming majority of foreign experts are outstanding," he said, adding that theadministration will further strengthen its management to prevent such cases in the future.

"We will also ask foreigners to sign a declaration that they do not have a criminal record, with apromise to strictly obey laws in China, before issuing them the work permit required for aworking visa."

Xia said the administration will also require educational institutions and intermediary agenciesthat are qualified to hire foreigners to set up special posts to verify the applicants' curriculumvitae, making full use of the Internet and information provided by child protection organizationsin the applicants' countries of origin.

A week's worth of pre-job training for foreign teachers should also be enforced, including anintroduction to laws in China, how to respond to emergencies and protect their rights, as well ascharacteristics of Chinese students, he said.

"On top of punishment, if any malpractice or illegal behavior is found, the provincial-levelforeign experts affairs administrations should report the case quickly to the public security,education or other related departments," he said.

Strict process

In line with the reform and opening-up policy and the macro-administration of importingoverseas talents to China, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs issued a noticeabout implementing foreign expert certificates in 1994.

According to the regulation, foreigners need to find an employer that is qualified to hireforeigners in China before obtaining a work permit and a working visa.

After entering the country, they need to obtain foreign expert certificates, which must berenewed annually or when their employer changes.

The first requirement for obtaining the foreign expert certificate listed on the administration'swebsite is "being healthy with a clear criminal record".

Other mandatory materials are health check results, copies of their contract for employmentwith the Chinese employer, and copies of the health insurance their employer has bought forthem. They may then apply for the residence permits from public security departments.

A special criterion has been set for working as a language teacher in China: A bachelor'sdegree plus two years' work experience.

"For popular destinations such as Shanghai, applicants may need a master's degree," saidXiong Deyi, an official at the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs. "But in manyplaces in Northwest China, which are also hungry for foreign teachers, the threshold may belowered."

Wang Xuming, former spokesman for the Ministry of Education, expressed his worries about theprocess of introducing foreign teachers.

"Of course, criminal records and other certificates have to be checked and traced," he said.

But Xia said governments around the world usually do not ask foreigners to provide officialstatements of unblemished criminal records unless they are applying for green cards.

"It does not mean we can only count on their self-statement for a background check," he said. "Iknow some international schools in Beijing have made these official certificates a mandatorycondition of employment. I think this is good."

However, not many schools can make such a determination in an employee's market, especiallythe public schools that cannot compete with private or international schools in terms of wages.

Hao Youming, principal of the Beijing Chaoyang Foreign Language School, said neither theschool nor the education bureau have channels to obtain foreign teachers' official criminalrecords.

"The best I can do, other than carefully checking their resume, is to ask for teaching permits,"she said.

Strong demand

There has long existed a strict process to recruit foreign experts for Chinese institutions andcompanies.

Despite the management system and efforts by institutions to screen foreign applicants asthoroughly as possible, Xia said it may still be very hard to completely eliminate the "blacksheep" due to problems such as the imbalance between market supply and demand, the lack ofrelated laws and mercenary intermediate agencies that do not follow regulations when it comesto recruiting foreigners.

China has seen a growing wave of enthusiasm to learn English in the past 20 years.

According to Xia, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs issues about 30,000foreign expert certificates in the field of cultural and educational areas nationwide every year,but the annual market demand is for more than 100,000.

"The function of English is being magnified in China," said Wang, the former Education Ministryspokesman.

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute in Beijing,agreed and added that Chinese people have an irrational favor of foreigners as Englishteachers.

"Foreign teachers are the best advertisement that many English training schools use to attractstudents," Xiong said.

Lee Clarke, from Canada, works as a foreign teacher in a university in Changchun, capital ofJilin province, and part-time as the director of a private English training school. One of hismissions is to recruit foreign teachers for the private school.

"Their only requirement is good-looking young people, especially those who are white-skinned,"said the 60-year-old, who has been teaching in China for eight years.

"Some of these young people just come for sightseeing. They are hired just because they canspeak English, and they have foreign faces," he added.

Xia said the preference for foreign faces makes it very difficult for many ethnic Asians who arealso native speakers to find a job as an English teacher.

Some intermediate agencies have seen a business opportunity, and look to capitalize on thedemand by sending foreigners who do not have any teaching qualifications to schools thatneed foreign teachers.

In response, Xiong Deyi said his department is not authorized to supervise intermediateagencies.

"The administration has no jurisdiction, and we are not vested by law to crack down onintermediate agencies even if we know they are not following regulations," he said.

四项管理措施会被进一步强化以保证更好的管理在华的外国专家，国家外专局负责人日前表示。

“每年到中国的54万人次外国专家当中，绝大部分都是高质量人才，”国家外国专家局教科文卫专家司夏兵司长在近期的专访中告诉《中国日报》。

他说遍布全国各行各业的外国专家对中国近几十年来快速的经济和社会发展做出了重要的贡献。

“他们中的约1/3在文教领域工作。就我了解到的情况，其中还有一些人自己筹款在一些边远地区捐资助学。有些在学校从事外语教学的专家还获得过中国政府友谊奖。”

除了强调外国专家的贡献之外，夏司长还表示国家一直以来都非常重视外国人才引进工作，例如提供入出境便利，将外籍人才纳入社保，以及帮助在华外国人才更好的融入社会。

“近期发生的两起在华外籍员工被发现有犯罪前科属于广大外国专家中的个别害群之马，不是普遍现象，”夏司长指出，并补充说外专局会加强措施以保证相关事件尽可能不再发生。

他所提到的第一起事件是一名曾经被控性侵儿童的英国人被发现曾在北京的一所国际学校任教。另一起是一名有着两次性犯罪记录的美国人被爆出曾在南京的一所培训学校任教。

第一起事件中的英国人已于4月26日被警方控制，而另一起事件中的美国人则在三年前就已离开中国。涉事校方均表示目前没有接到过任何他们在校期间的相关投诉。

加强措施

国家外专局近日公开提出了下阶段规范外籍教师管理的四项措施，要求申请来华从事教育教学工作的外籍教师办理工作许可时除提交“外国专家来华工作许可”所需材料外，本人还需签署无犯罪记录承诺书，承诺本人在本国及境外无犯罪记录，承诺来华后严格遵守中国法律法规。

此外，具备聘请外国专家资格的机构还应设专门人员对应聘外籍教师进行任教资格审查工作，并充分利用互联网对待聘教师进行网络审查，通过加强与我国驻外使、领馆和各国儿童保护组织等机构的合作，认真核实外国文教专家的工作履历。

措施还指出聘请单位应做好对来华外籍教师的岗前培训工作。地方外专局可以会同教育、公安、外事等部门进行统一培训，内容包括教育、出入境、签证拘留、劳动保障等法律法规和必要的师德规范。

一旦各地外国专家局发现了外籍教师有违法违规情况，要做好信息的收集、记录和报送工作，与公安、外事、教育、宗教、安全等部门密切配合，对被通报的违法违规的外籍教师予以限制和惩戒，有效防范和杜绝各类违法违规事件的发生。

来华工作手续办理流程

针对想要来中国工作的外国人才其实早有一套完整的管理制度。

根据国家外专局的规定，外国人需要先在中国找到具备聘用外籍雇员资质的雇主，才能获取在华工作许可以及工作签证。

入境后，还要到各地外专局去办理外专证。外专证必须每年更新，或在更换雇主时更新。

而想要获得外专证，第一个条件就是“身体健康并无犯罪记录”。

其他需要提供的资料还有中国政府指定卫生检疫部门出具的健康证明、聘用合同复印件、以及聘请单位为其购买的医保复印件。

对于在中国从事语言教学的外国人，外专局特别规定其应具有大学学士以上学位和两年以上相关工作经验，一般还应具有教师资格证书。

“对于诸如上海这样的一些热门城市，外国人可能需要硕士学位以上才能找到工作。但是在我国西北等一些很多非常缺乏外教的地区，设置的学历门槛还可以相应的降低，”国家外专局教科文卫专家司管理处处长熊德义说道。

前教育部发言人王旭明向《中国日报》表达了他对引进外国人才流程的担忧。

“犯罪记录以及其他一些证明材料当然应该被查询。更重要的是，在他们面对我们的孩子之前，我们还需要对他们进行一个全面的评估，包括心理健康评估等，”他说道。

对此夏司长回应说，按照国际惯例，除了申请绿卡以外，政府机关一般不会要求外国人提供官方出具的无犯罪记录证明。

“但这并不意味着我们一定只能通过他们的自述来了解他们的犯罪背景。我了解到一些国际学校在录取外籍员工时已经要求其提供由他本国官方出具的无犯罪记录证明，作为录用的必须条件之一。我认为这是很好的经验。”

虽然这是过滤不合格申请者的很好方法，但是却并不适用于所有的教育机构，特别是那些无法提供向私立学校一样高工资的公立学校。

北京朝阳外国语学校校长郝又明告诉记者，学校和教委都没有渠道能够获取应聘外教的官方犯罪记录。

“我能做到的除了仔细查证他们的履历外，就是要求他们提供教师资格证，另外现有外教的推荐也是很好的参考，”她说道。

郝校长表示建校15年来没有接到过关于外教骚扰学生的投诉。但她却曾经因为他们违反合同规定而开除过几名外教。他们的违规行为包括将校外人员带入宿舍过夜等。

“因为他们违反了学校的规定，合同即刻终止。我会派人将他们送到公安局，他们会被要求在24小时内离境。”

问题

夏司长表示，即使有着现行管理制度的保障以及教育机构对应聘外教背景力所能及的仔细审查，要想完全杜绝个别害群之马的出现依然十分困难。造成这一困难的原因包括外教人才市场的供需不平衡、相关法律的缺失，以及个别唯利是图中介机构的违规操作。

中国人学习英语的热情在近20年间逐渐高涨。

据夏司长介绍，外专局每年颁发的文教类外专证约为3万张，但是市场仅对外教的需求就超过10万人次。

“英语的作用在中国被过分夸大了，”前教育部发言人王旭明指出。“过热的英语学习市场是导致外籍教师难以监管的原因之一。”

21世纪教育研究院副院长熊丙奇同意王旭明的看法，并补充说中国消费者对于外教人才的选择并不十分理智。

“外教已经成为一些英语培训机构招揽生源的广告。消费者往往也简单的认为外教的教学水平就一定更高，”熊说道。

来自加拿大的李·克拉克(Lee Clarke)在长春一家私立英语培训机构任校长。他的工作内容之一就是帮学校招聘外教。

“他们给我提的唯一要求就是长得好看的年轻人，最好是白人，”这个60岁的已在中国当了8年老师的加拿大人告诉记者。

他说一个好的英语老师应该认真备课，指出学生们在发音、语法上的错误，鼓励他们大胆开口说英语并帮助他们了解外国文化。但是按照学校要求招来的一些年轻人根本就什么都不懂。

“他们中的有些人只是到中国来旅游的，就因为长了一张外国人的脸以及能说英语就会被录用。利用他们的广告效应，学校就可以吸引到更多的生源。我非常担心他们的教学质量，”克拉克补充道。

夏司长也指出，消费者对外国面孔的盲目偏爱进一步加剧了外教市场的供需矛盾，因为很多同样只会说英语的第二代甚至第三代亚裔就因为长了张东方人的面孔就难以在这个市场找到工作。

熊丙奇指出，消费者对于外籍教师的盲目推崇使得一些只知道逐利的中介看到了发财的机会。为了挣更多的钱，他们会为外籍人士提供猎头服务，并向急需外教的学校推荐没有教师资格证书的外国人。

王旭明也提出，中介机构在很多国家往往都被视为政府管理外籍专家的有效补充。但是在中国，因为监管不足以及行业门槛过低的问题，个别中介正在成为扰乱市场秩序的罪魁祸首。

对于这个问题，外专局的熊德义处长回应说外专局目前还没有监管外教中介机构的法律权力。“外专局没有独立的执法权。即使我们清楚他们在违规操作也没有权力对他们进行处罚或取缔。”