Will China’s Free Teacher Education Policy address teacher shortages in rural schools or reproduce existing inequality?

ABSTRACT

China’s Free Teacher Education Policy (FTEP) was initiated in 2007 in response to concerns about university tuition increases and teacher shortages in rural provinces. In this paper, the authors draw on interview data from eight FTEP graduates/teaching candidates and eight teacher educators from five FTEP universities to examine the extent to which and ways in which this policy seems to provide (a) financial support to prospective university students from low-income families and (b) teachers for rural schools in these provinces. Their results indicate that the FTEP has made higher education at top-ranked universities more accessible for students from low-income families, which promotes social mobility for those students. However, their results also suggest that most FTEP graduates prefer to teach in more affluent city schools rather than rural schools. Therefore, the policy is likely to have much less impact on improving educational opportunity or social mobility for students in such rural schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• education policy analysis
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In China, rural schools are located in rural areas. They are typically characterised by high levels of poverty, a lack of physical resources and quality teachers, and low levels of student achievement.

2. The term ‘programme graduates’ refers to individuals who have graduated from the Free Teacher Education Programme at one of the six universities that participate in this programme.

3. The term ‘teaching candidates’ refers to individuals who are currently enrolled as university students in the FTEP at one of the six universities.

4. In China, city schools are located in cities. They are typically characterised by low levels of poverty, ample physical resources and quality teachers, and high levels of student achievement. Student populations in city schools often come from middle-class families.