Job Discussion Forums

[carken]

I've been reading on another list about a new law (or an old one being implemented) concerning the age limit of 65 for teachers in China. From what I understand it's being enforced for new teachers coming to China, not ones already there.

What do you people know about this? I'll be turning 65 in the summer, so I'm wondering if this will affect my prospects. I've taught in China before.

Thanks for any information.

[GeminiTiger]

China has no unbreakable rules. China probably invented the idea "every rule has an exception". (Because technically it's incorrect), but I digress.

Yes, most schools are hiring for age 20-60 from what I see, however, I have seen in advertisements that say "healthy people over 60 can apply".

Certainly your former experience teaching in China will help get you you a job here again. Just start looking is my advice.

[HunanForeignGuy]

The previous poster is correct but I would like to add more information.

1. The age limit thing has been on the books here for years and years and years. Some schools use it as a way of getting rid of teachers that they view as problematic. The school where I am now, and from which h*ll I will soon be freed, had a 68 year-old teacher here and he had been here for years and years. However, he came to clash with a small group of newly-brought in Protestant white charismatic teachers from the boondocks of America who were out to "save" China (and who are still here and who are just as loathsome). He was terminated because of his age...but in doing so, the school allowed us to learn some important facts, which I will now share with you.

2. The age limit has been established by the local Foreign Expert Bureaus for the issuance of the Foreign Expert Certificate, not by the PSB, which issues the work visa and residence permit.

3. HOWEVER, and note this clearly, if a school wishes to hire a person older than 65, than it is a very, very simple process. When they file the paperwork, they simply include a request for an exclusionary order from the age limit, which in most cases the FEB routinely grants. And I say, in most cases, because it helps to be white, a native speaker, from one of the scheduled countries and a degree holder.

3. To wit, six months after they fired our beloved Irishman and American (he carried dual citizenship), they hired TWO people from Trinidad, yes, Trinidad, who are at least SEVENTY (70) years old with no problem and gave them all of their papers.

So the age limit, as the previous poster writes, is again a China-case-by-case thing. It's on the books but it depends upon the largess of the institution that is interested in sponsoring the older teacher.

If it were a PSB requirement, it might be slightly more difficult to circumvent but it is a FEB requirement, and there are exceptions there, just as there are for the rules for native speaker, etc., etc.

And it also depends upon the province : I would try Hunan, Henan, Hubei, Hebei, Sichuan, Shangdong, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, etc., if I were you and I would avoid the more problematic areas.

BUT I do know of teachers who are in their late 60's, early 70's in at least Guangdong and in Zhejiang...so again, it's the China thing.

All the best,


HFG

[carken]

Thanks! From my previous experiences in China, I thought it would probably be that way. Five years ago when my husband and I went to teach in Hangzhou, he was told, "Don't worry, I can get you a degree."

He was not really wanting to teach, knew that he was not qualified, and he was also smart enough to know that a counterfeit degree would not make him a teacher. He actually stuck it out for a year in the classroom, and there was a mutual love between him and the kids, but the next year he refused.