Foreign teachers in China struggling with tighter control in classrooms.
By Victoria Zhang
English teacher Isabella Green* from the United Kingdom, who has taught in China for 14 years, finds tighter control over curriculum and classroom teaching in international schools for Chinese nationals.
“After I started teaching at an international school for Chinese citizens for the semester of 2020-2021, I realised we weren’t supposed to host Western celebrations such as Christmas and Halloween. It’s because the people from the Education Bureau say celebrating these events in school is forcing Chinese citizens to celebrate events that are not of their own culture,” Green, who has worked at an international school for Chinese nationals since 2020, says.
“Nobody really cared about what the schools did or did not do before 2021. This is because the rules were mainly enforced by the people the Education Bureau sent to monitor the school. After 2021, they started monitoring us more and more, so we have to follow the rules,” she says.
Green started teaching in China in 2012 at an international school for foreign passport holders which is not regulated by rules that apply to international schools for Chinese nationals like where she works now.
“In the school for foreign nationals, we can celebrate Western holidays and teachers have shorter workdays in general as the students don’t have evening study,” she says.
There are two types of international schools in China. Expat schools, which are for students with foreign citizenship, are not required to follow the Education Bureau’s rules and regulations, while private bilingual schools or international schools with Chinese and foreign nationals are under the Education Bureau’s restrictions.
In 2003, international schools for Chinese nationals were required to have both a Chinese principal and a foreign principal, with department regulators visiting for inspection.
Green recalls the practice was not strongly enforced before 2021. Spot checks without prior notice and inspections of these schools have become more frequent in recent years.
“Starting from 2021, students in compulsory education (Grade 1-9), are required to learn the Chinese curriculum for the Zhongkao, (Junior High School Scholastic Aptitude Examination) and Gaokao, (Nationwide Unified Examination for Admissions to General Universities). But the exams are in English. To cope with that, we teach those materials mixed with a bit of A-Level materials,” the teacher shares.
In May 2021, the revised Regulations on the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Promotion of Privately-Run Schools announced that foreign curriculum (such as A-Level and International Baccalaureate) should not be used for compulsory education in international schools for Chinese nationals.
Green points out foreign curriculum is only used as supplementary learning. The number of English classes is capped at four per week for Grades 7 to 9 students, three for Grades 4 to 6, two allowed for Grades 1 to 3.
“I think it’s because the Education Bureau wants to give more time for the compulsory grade students to learn the Chinese curriculum. They teach subjects like Chinese history and politics,” Green shares.
According to a statement issued by the General Office of the State Council in 2022, the change is made to lighten students’ and parents’ academic and financial burdens, students spend the most time studying English during after-school tutoring.
“As the students don’t have great English foundations, the allowed number of English classes is not enough. We would change the name of English lessons to ‘reading’ or ‘literature’ to help them get ready for exams. It is vital for the students if they were to take a foreign graduation exam,” she says.
In 2025, there were 1,124 international schools in China, with the annual tuition fee ranging from RMB ¥120,000-¥200,000 (US $17,219-$28,699).
Michael Porter* also shares that international schools for Chinese nationals are under tighter control and inspection than before.
The former chemistry teacher and principal who worked at an international school for Chinese nationals from 2020 to 2025, says the Education Bureau quite liked the school song when the school was set up in 2020.
“But when they found out it was a religious hymn, they decided it wouldn’t be appropriate so we stopped the idea. In these situations I thought it would be better to respect the country’s values than to push back,” Porter recalls.
“There is a saying that the further away from the capital the school is, the less important the policies were and more local interpretation. For example, rules might be looser in Shenzhen and Guangzhou compared to areas closer to the capital,” he says.
The former principal also shares that rule changes are based on the will of the Chinese principal and their relationship with the Education Bureau.
“If he (a school principal) has great relations, his school can do things others can’t do and trouble would be solved with a drink at the bar. Students might have different experiences based on how under the microscope the school is,” he shares.
Porter states that his school’s main goal is to make profit, and satisfying parent and students’ requests is his main priority as a principal. But with contradicting voices and changing rules, his job is very difficult.
“To cope with the regulation on foreign curriculum, we kind of tread a grey area where we try to combine the foreign and Chinese curriculums. We split students into classes based on English proficiency. Those with lower English proficiency are taught mainly in Chinese, those with higher English proficiency are hopefully taught all in English,” he says.
“We need to find middle ground for everything. We try our best to incorporate international experience while following the rules,” he adds.
Qin Rongfang, a parent with both sons, aged 18 and 19, enrolled in international schools, shares that she hopes her sons can have a wider social network so they can look at things from different perspectives of the world by attending international schools.
But her goal is not achieved.
“My son enrolled in his first international school in 2020 and went there for a year. The principal was from the United Kingdom, then he was replaced by a Chinese principal who added many rules such as mandatory evening study until 9 p.m. and no devices. It felt like the school changed into a Chinese public school,” Qin says.
Qin recalls many foreign teachers left, and the remaining of the lessons were taught by local teachers. Parents were not happy and changed schools for their children, leading to the school’s closure in 2022.
“The education was not very international. It’s literally studying a foreign curriculum (A-Level) in the traditional Chinese school system,” the mother of two says.
“My sons gave up the ZhongKao exam in 2021 as the schools said it was not necessary for their students. After seeing that international education in China wasn’t like what we expected, it was too late to go back to public schools,” Qin says.
Qin shares that her youngest son’s lacking English skills makes it hard to study for his upcoming A-Level exam. He needs to use Chinese books to help him understand the English A-Level materials.
“That has caused a lot of frustration, and fellow parents have shared that our children’s education journey should not be this complicated. After all, we paid 140k a year for the tuition fees,” she says.
*Names changed at the request of interviewees
Edited by Alexa Lau
Sub-edited by Flavia Zhou
