Training schools and public schools

One thing we often get asked by our applicants is the differences between the two main types of jobs available to foreign teachers that want to work in China, those being training schools and public schools.

If you are to join our program to come out in September 2014 its likely you will be placed in a public school, either a primary school, middle school or university as they always employ their foreign staff at the start of the academic year with the contracts expiring at the end of the school year in the following June. However if you opt to arrive in China at any other time of the year you will probably be working in a training school. Training schools are language schools of which there are centres aimed at both adults and children. Training schools are privately owned companies so obviously the day to day running works slightly differently to that of public schools. Teachers working at training schools will have the majority of their classes on week day evenings and over the weekend as the lesson times cannot clash with those of public schools. It’s likely the students you’ll be teaching will be from relatively wealthy families as their family have decided to pay fees to give them extra tuition out of school.

Training schools usually offer higher wages than public schools with similar class teaching hours although training schools often incorporate office hours meaning your entire working week is likely to be a little longer in a training school.

Classes are usually a lot more relaxed in training schools as its unlikely you’ll have a class of more than 12 students at one time whereas in public primary schools 40 is the average number of students per class. However in training schools there can be more involvement from the students’ parents who will sometimes be invited to observe the class which is something that is rare in public schools so there can be different pressures.

If you work in a public school then you will receive longer holiday especially around Chinese New Year where you can expect around a month off, at training schools over the course of a 12 month contract teachers will only have around 3 to 4 weeks holiday but will have more freedom to choose when they want their holidays and won’t just be restricted to the public holidays.

Overall there are quite a few differences between public and training school jobs in China with both having pros and cons. Depending on who you speak to you might get different opinions, positiove and negative about working in both. I believe that different people are suited to one or the other so the best thing to do is ask as many questions as you can during your interview when you apply to the program to make sure you are placed in the most suitable job for you.

 

 

We very much look forward to receiving your application soon. G2C