I figured out how to quote. My point is hiring teachers for licensed, qualified professional elementary schools which are sponsored by the MOE, not the average teacher. I’ve been one as well. My rant was partly based on interviews with ten public elementary schools (principals, directors, etc.) who had hired foreign teachers, as well as some of the supervisors who are responsible for overseeing such teachers. The words I used, such as culture, lifestyle, and language are THEIR words.
Yo, don’t overthink. Relax. You are not less than “anyone”. And welcomed.
My point of that I’m training excellent local English teachers, the new generation. They won’t NEED to be put in place for out of date and ineffective instruction, as you rightly point out many of the “old guard” are guilty of.
“Jumping through hoops” refers to the process of study, testing, practicum, internship, certification, ongoing PD that local teachers in public schools must go through to even have the chance to get placement in a school. “Management bootlicking” is not part of the equation in public schools, at least at the 30+ schools I’ve advised.
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Thanks tango42. You can probably tell I don’t have a lot of friends, so it’s nice to be part of a community.
Just saying, Taiwan may be doing the same thing.
Although at 95% Han, I don’t know what they’re scared of.
I’m not sure it’s fear. I think the people in charge have a Han superiority complex.
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The reason those foreign teachers are being hired is party because they are from a foreign culture and the kids can get some exposure to that side of things.
Locals can’t do that. Taiwan is very insular and there are actually very very few foreigners or immigrants working in public service roles.
This is interesting: she quotes Friedrich Hayek:
Here, knowledge does not consist of rigid statistics, such as the national literacy rate, the college student ratio, or the number of doctoral and master’s students - figures that can be constructed as long as the government spends money on education and construction of universities. Instead, knowledge here echoes the definition by Friedrich Hayek: concrete knowledge spread through every corner of society that can be utilized to satisfy needs and to adapt to change. Only with this kind of knowledge can we understand how to utilize the skills and professions we learned in school to satisfy the needs of the international community.
I don’t like the comparison to Singapore. Sigh.
OK, thanks for sharing. The background makes your post seem more reasonable.
This was a specific initiative by the MOE to have a minimum number of big-noses in every primary school, as you probably know. Can you get your feedback to the MOE to let them know they’re wasting good money with no results? You can’t blame “foreigners” for taking up nice paying jobs when they’re offered them.
You do knwo that teh MOE is like a mafia, new teachers must get a padrino/spionsor to get them a position, or they will be waiting years for a job…yes, in spite qualifications and plenty of positions available. It si mostly political. The same thing happens with textbooks: the publishers bribe the school heads with trips to special KTVs and money so they will buy their “auxiliary materials” in bulk. Textbooks chosen by MOE follow more or less same procedures. Tests are done by people who run “prestigious” buxibans where people go because they know they will get the materials from the actual tests, hence getting a leg up. We are not jiving when we say the whole system is corrupt and rigged. Yes, younger generations are better prepared, but as long as the structures are in the hands of the usual gang of parasites, well, that is a big wall to climb…or crash against.
I agree that is part of the reason for their hiring, but increasingly less so, with more emphasis on subject teaching or immersion approaches, particularly CLIL. However, those foreigners would presumably know their own culture well, not necessarily all world cultures, so why the advantage over our local teachers in that department (local teachers may have more experience with different Asian cultures and also tend to travel).
We try, but they’re beaureacrats. They can sure spend or tax dollars. I don’t want to get into the politics of it all, but the system is quite rigged. I also don’t blame those who come here with good intentions to teach, but for some it’s a practicing ground and for others (I’ve seen and heard) they tend to bring some cultural values which result in conflicts with local teachers, schools, and even the MOE. The fox is in charge of the henhouse.
Sad, but mostly true. I promote my students to seek jobs in remote and rural schools, which generally is the easier route and those schools need teachers.
I have worked in local Taiwan companies for 15 years and for a Taiwan company in Singapore for 9 years. Naturally I like to compare Taiwan to Singapore. Singapore realized if they wanted to build some different strong industries local talent was not enough. Of course, they could muddle along just encouraging local to become more professional and gain more “global” experience…which they did but encouraging foreigners to set up shop in Singapore not only infused Singapore with many different types of experience but pushed the locals to be more competitive.
Of course, many locals grumbled about this direction but Lee Kuan Yew scolded complainers saying locals should strive to exceed with the foreigners achieved in Singapore…with all their focus on focus he said locals should push themselves to excel at a international level.
Here in Taiwan I find Taiwan bosses to usually be lazy and reluctant to admit the locals may lack some experience. They are also unwilling to pay for experience. They would rather just promote some friend to start a new company and struggle along until slowly build up experience while usually never reaching a competitive position.
Oh well…so much to say about Taiwan companies…frustrating to say the least.
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