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Narrowing the gap: a Chinese experience of teacher rotation

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Abstract

In an effort to equalize the quality of teacher resources across all state schools in the compulsory education sector of China and eliminate the school choice phenomenon, the Chinese government has launched a nationwide program of rotating principals and teachers. This study has revealed mixed results to date. While the rotation of teachers has helped to narrow the gap in teacher quality between the low-performing and high-performing schools, the study has revealed some important issues that need to be addressed, such as conflict of goals, ineffective incentives, and rotation for rotation’s sake. Whether such a Robin Hood method of “robbing the rich in order to help the poor” can consistently raise the quality of teacher resources and improve the overall quality of education across the whole country remains to be seen.

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Notes

  1. In the Chinese administrative division, cities are classified into (provincial level) municipality, prefectural-level city, and county-level city. A district in a prefectural-level city is equal to a county or county-level city in terms of its administrative power.

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Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Don Barnes and Karen Barnes and the reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions on the earlier drafts of this article.

Funding

This work was supported by National Social Science Foundation of China [Grant 14BGL118].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Guangxi University, 100 Daxue Rd, Nanning, 530004, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoxin Wu

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XW earned his EdD from the University of Bath, UK. He is a Professor at Guangxi University, China. His research interests include education policy, language teaching, and educational equity with a comparative focus.

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Correspondence to Xiaoxin Wu.

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Appendix

Appendix

Interview guide

  1. 1.

    What do you think of the policy of rotation of teachers and principals (RPT)?

  2. 2.

    Do you think RPT can balance the distribution of teachers in terms of professional experience and practical competence? Why or why not?

  3. 3.

    What motivates you to join the practice of RPT?

  4. 4.

    What have you gained from the RPT policy?

  5. 5.

    What are the possible negative impacts that the RPT policy might bring to you and your colleagues?

  6. 6.

    As far as you can see, what problems or difficulties are there, if there are any, in the implementation of RPT?

  7. 7.

    What suggestions do you have for the RPT policy?

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Wu, X. Narrowing the gap: a Chinese experience of teacher rotation. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 21, 393–408 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-020-09630-4

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