中國加強外國專家管理
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.四項管理措施會被進一步強化以保證更好的管理在華的外國專家，國家外專局負責人日前表示。
“每年到中國的54萬人次外國專家當中，絕大部分都是高質量人才，”國家外國專家局教科文衛專家司夏兵司長在近期的專訪中告訴《中國日報》。
他說遍佈全國各行各業的外國專家對中國近幾十年來快速的經濟和社會發展做出了重要的貢獻。
“他們中的約1/3在文教領域工作。就我瞭解到的情況，其中還有一些人自己籌款在一些邊遠地區捐資助學。有些在學校從事外語教學的專家還獲得過中國政府友誼獎。”
除了強調外國專家的貢獻之外，夏司長還表示國家一直以來都非常重視外國人才引進工作，例如提供入出境便利，將外籍人才納入社保，以及幫助在華外國人才更好的融入社會。
“近期發生的兩起在華外籍員工被發現有犯罪前科屬於廣大外國專家中的個別害羣之馬，不是普遍現象，”夏司長指出，並補充說外專局會加強措施以保證相關事件儘可能不再發生。
他所提到的第一起事件是一名曾經被控性侵兒童的英國人被發現曾在北京的一所國際學校任教。另一起是一名有着兩次性犯罪記錄的美國人被爆出曾在南京的一所培訓學校任教。
第一起事件中的英國人已於4月26日被警方控制，而另一起事件中的美國人則在三年前就已離開中國。涉事校方均表示目前沒有接到過任何他們在校期間的相關投訴。
加強措施
國家外專局近日公開提出了下階段規範外籍教師管理的四項措施，要求申請來華從事教育教學工作的外籍教師辦理工作許可時除提交“外國專家來華工作許可”所需材料外，本人還需簽署無犯罪記錄承諾書，承諾本人在本國及境外無犯罪記錄，承諾來華後嚴格遵守中國法律法規。
此外，具備聘請外國專家資格的機構還應設專門人員對應聘外籍教師進行任教資格審查工作，並充分利用互聯網對待聘教師進行網絡審查，通過加強與我國駐外使、領館和各國兒童保護組織等機構的合作，認真核實外國文教專家的工作履歷。
措施還指出聘請單位應做好對來華外籍教師的崗前培訓工作。地方外專局可以會同教育、公安、外事等部門進行統一培訓，內容包括教育、出入境、簽證拘留、勞動保障等法律法規和必要的師德規範。
一旦各地外國專家局發現了外籍教師有違法違規情況，要做好信息的收集、記錄和報送工作，與公安、外事、教育、宗教、安全等部門密切配合，對被通報的違法違規的外籍教師予以限制和懲戒，有效防範和杜絕各類違法違規事件的發生。
來華工作手續辦理流程
針對想要來中國工作的外國人才其實早有一套完整的管理制度。
根據國家外專局的規定，外國人需要先在中國找到具備聘用外籍僱員資質的僱主，才能獲取在華工作許可以及工作簽證。
入境後，還要到各地外專局去辦理外專證。外專證必須每年更新，或在更換僱主時更新。
而想要獲得外專證，第一個條件就是“身體健康並無犯罪記錄”。
其他需要提供的資料還有中國政府指定衛生檢疫部門出具的健康證明、聘用合同複印件、以及聘請單位爲其購買的醫保複印件。
對於在中國從事語言教學的外國人，外專局特別規定其應具有大學學士以上學位和兩年以上相關工作經驗，一般還應具有教師資格證書。
“對於諸如上海這樣的一些熱門城市，外國人可能需要碩士學位以上才能找到工作。但是在我國西北等一些很多非常缺乏外教的地區，設置的學歷門檻還可以相應的降低，”國家外專局教科文衛專家司管理處處長熊德義說道。
前教育部發言人王旭明向《中國日報》表達了他對引進外國人才流程的擔憂。
“犯罪記錄以及其他一些證明材料當然應該被查詢。更重要的是，在他們面對我們的孩子之前，我們還需要對他們進行一個全面的評估，包括心理健康評估等，”他說道。
對此夏司長迴應說，按照國際慣例，除了申請綠卡以外，政府機關一般不會要求外國人提供官方出具的無犯罪記錄證明。
“但這並不意味着我們一定只能通過他們的自述來了解他們的犯罪背景。我瞭解到一些國際學校在錄取外籍員工時已經要求其提供由他本國官方出具的無犯罪記錄證明，作爲錄用的必須條件之一。我認爲這是很好的經驗。”
雖然這是過濾不合格申請者的很好方法，但是卻並不適用於所有的教育機構，特別是那些無法提供向私立學校一樣高工資的公立學校。
北京朝陽外國語學校校長郝又明告訴記者，學校和教委都沒有渠道能夠獲取應聘外教的官方犯罪記錄。
“我能做到的除了仔細查證他們的履歷外，就是要求他們提供教師資格證，另外現有外教的推薦也是很好的參考，”她說道。
郝校長表示建校15年來沒有接到過關於外教騷擾學生的投訴。但她卻曾經因爲他們違反合同規定而開除過幾名外教。他們的違規行爲包括將校外人員帶入宿舍過夜等。
“因爲他們違反了學校的規定，合同即刻終止。我會派人將他們送到公安局，他們會被要求在24小時內離境。”
問題
夏司長表示，即使有着現行管理制度的保障以及教育機構對應聘外教背景力所能及的仔細審查，要想完全杜絕個別害羣之馬的出現依然十分困難。造成這一困難的原因包括外教人才市場的供需不平衡、相關法律的缺失，以及個別唯利是圖中介機構的違規操作。
中國人學習英語的熱情在近20年間逐漸高漲。
據夏司長介紹，外專局每年頒發的文教類外專證約爲3萬張，但是市場僅對外教的需求就超過10萬人次。
“英語的作用在中國被過分誇大了，”前教育部發言人王旭明指出。“過熱的英語學習市場是導致外籍教師難以監管的原因之一。”
21世紀教育研究院副院長熊丙奇同意王旭明的看法，並補充說中國消費者對於外教人才的選擇並不十分理智。
“外教已經成爲一些英語培訓機構招攬生源的廣告。消費者往往也簡單的認爲外教的教學水平就一定更高，”熊說道。
來自加拿大的李·克拉克(Lee Clarke)在長春一傢俬立英語培訓機構任校長。他的工作內容之一就是幫學校招聘外教。
“他們給我提的唯一要求就是長得好看的年輕人，最好是白人，”這個60歲的已在中國當了8年老師的加拿大人告訴記者。
他說一個好的英語老師應該認真備課，指出學生們在發音、語法上的錯誤，鼓勵他們大膽開口說英語並幫助他們瞭解外國文化。但是按照學校要求招來的一些年輕人根本就什麼都不懂。
“他們中的有些人只是到中國來旅遊的，就因爲長了一張外國人的臉以及能說英語就會被錄用。利用他們的廣告效應，學校就可以吸引到更多的生源。我非常擔心他們的教學質量，”克拉克補充道。
夏司長也指出，消費者對外國面孔的盲目偏愛進一步加劇了外教市場的供需矛盾，因爲很多同樣只會說英語的第二代甚至第三代亞裔就因爲長了張東方人的面孔就難以在這個市場找到工作。
熊丙奇指出，消費者對於外籍教師的盲目推崇使得一些只知道逐利的中介看到了發財的機會。爲了掙更多的錢，他們會爲外籍人士提供獵頭服務，並向急需外教的學校推薦沒有教師資格證書的外國人。
王旭明也提出，中介機構在很多國家往往都被視爲政府管理外籍專家的有效補充。但是在中國，因爲監管不足以及行業門檻過低的問題，個別中介正在成爲擾亂市場秩序的罪魁禍首。
對於這個問題，外專局的熊德義處長迴應說外專局目前還沒有監管外教中介機構的法律權力。“外專局沒有獨立的執法權。即使我們清楚他們在違規操作也沒有權力對他們進行處罰或取締。”
