Ei-iE

China probably runs the world’s largest education system today with the total number of teachers, including higher education, part time and non-formal teachers, employed by the public authorities reaching almost 15 million, which is about 20% of the planet’s teaching force.

One of the main challenges facing the Chinese education system is to ensure the availability of quality education in the country’s remote, poor and ethnic minority areas. Another challenge concerns the quality of the Chinese teaching force. The country does not train enough teachers, as a result of which many primary school teachers are not qualified. Salaries are low and are often in arrears. The situation with the trade unions in general and with teacher unions in particular remains unsatisfactory, according to ILO standards.

This study has been commissioned with a view to identifying entry points for EI to build on its findings to further explore the conditions of teachers including workloads, pay, security, employment, pre-service and in-service education and training, access to professional development, union issues, and well-being.