Teacher evaluation system can be quite diverse and complicated in China. Let's analyze different systems used in private and local schools in this country.
Private international schools
If the school employs both local and expat staff, it's very common that different systems are used for each group. Each school sets its own evaluation system and there are two categories evaluated: teaching duties and non-teaching duties. While teaching is assessed through formal observations (3 formal observations each year), non-teaching duties are including collaboration with colleagues, submitting paperwork on time, contributing to cross-curricular activities, assistance in promotion and other school-related events etc. Teachers are observed by their HODs, coordinators and/or principals, and there are pre-observation, observation and post-observation meetings scheduled. HODs and coordinators also assess their non-teaching duties at the end of the year. Teachers complete their development plans at beginning of each academic years, but it's not uncommon that no systematic follow up exists. Positive or negative evaluations do not affect the salaries of the expat teachers, while these are connected to the yearly bonus of the local teachers. It seems that evaluation is much more stressful for the Chinese staff and less for the foreign teachers. However, this system does warn the administration about the teachers who underperform, and it helps the prevention of the possible issues and complains. Student CIE grades are officially not among the criteria for evaluation, but they are considered as an important input when deciding on renewing the contracts of the teaching staff.
Public schools
There is even more pressure on teachers in public schools in China. Teachers regularly organize public classes, and there is a sort of competition between them. They can get one of the three levels of recognition (basic, intermediate or master level) and the higher is the level, the greater is the financial reward. These competitions are not held within a local school only, but they extend to the district and province level! It is an honor to get to the final rounds, and financial rewards and salary adjustments are attractive.
Elements of teacher evaluation
So, what should teacher evaluation include? Thinking about a variety of daily duties we educators have is scary! Personally, I thought that the Danielson Group has developed a framework that is very detailed and includes very important areas of the teacher performance: planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction and professional responsibilities. I believe that these are the categories most commonly assessed, and I don't think that many schools have an issue with the elements of assessment. However, the way it is conducted, communicated and connected with professional development opportunities that should help the teachers improve their performance in the areas that are identified as weaker (and share their competencies in the areas of proficiency) is where many schools underperform. This can make the whole system look purposeless, stressful, and discouraging for the teachers. After all of those procedures, frameworks, and observations, we must not let ourselves forget the whole point of the teacher evaluation!
Comments
Post a Comment