Graduates Turn to Teaching
China has witnessed a 66-fold increase in the number of applicants for teaching qualification tests over the past decade, and experts say the popularity has mainly been driven by more graduates chasing stable jobs. According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Education, the number of applicants for teaching exams each year has grown from 172,000 to 11.44 million in the past decade.
Experts said the sharp increase corresponds with the increase in teachers’ salaries and status within society, and it is expected to bring about an overall improvement in quality teaching. However, another big reason for the enthusiasm for teaching posts is that the challenging and complicated employment situation is driving graduates toward stable jobs such as working as teachers and government officials.
Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, said the popularity of teaching posts is closely associated with people’s changing perception of the economic situation, job stability and security, which are major concerns for graduates.
In view of the coronavirus epidemic in recent years, many college graduates just want a stable job, so teaching suddenly becomes a very popular profession, and many students from well-known universities have joined the competition. Of course, everyone has their own ideas. Take Wang Lin for example. Wang Lin, who graduated from a famous university, said she had wanted to be a history teacher since middle school, inspired by her own history teacher. She added she had a good impression of her teachers from an early age and was grateful to those who had taught her. In fact, there are many such cases.
While passing the teaching qualification test is the first step to becoming a teacher in China, landing a post at schools in big cities can be very competitive.
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