Why do all teachers compete for posts?
BEIJING, Beijing, October 27 (Reporter Yuan Xiuyue) In many people’s impressions, it is common for teachers to work in a school for a long time. Nowadays, this situation may be becoming a thing of the past in some places.
In recent years, many places have accelerated the deepening of the reform of county (district) management and employment, in order to further optimize the allocation of primary and secondary school teachers’ resources and promote the balanced development of urban and rural compulsory education. However, in practice, in some places, all staff compete for posts, which has aroused heated discussion among teachers.
Some people think that this move allows schools and teachers to choose in two directions, activates the internal vitality of the education system and promotes the flow of teachers, but others think that this is another form of "last elimination".
Promote county (district) management and employment in many places.
All teachers compete for posts?
County (district) management and school employment usually means that primary and secondary school teachers and education authorities establish a unified personnel relationship, and their identities are managed and centrally deployed by the education authorities of cities and counties (districts), gradually canceling the management mode of teachers’ original school registration and changing "unit people" into "system people".
As early as 2014, the Ministry of Education and other departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Exchange and Rotation of Principals and Teachers in Compulsory Education Schools in Counties (Districts)", proposing to strengthen the overall management of compulsory education teachers in counties (districts), promote the management reform of "County Management and School Employment", and break the management system obstacles of teacher exchange and rotation. It can be noted that more than a dozen provinces such as Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Liaoning have specially issued guidance or implementation plans at the provincial level for comprehensive deployment.
Since the beginning of this year, there have also been many places to accelerate the reform of county (district) management and employment. As for the specific content of the reform, some teachers said that each county (district) has different ways and means.
Among them, many places have implemented the system of competitive employment for all employees. For example, in some places, except for new teachers, teachers who are about to retire, teachers who are pregnant, nursing and suffering from major diseases and are not suitable for communication, other faculty members are required to participate in the school competition.
In the competitive recruitment process, in some places, schools set up leading groups for competitive recruitment, and in some places, the supervision committee of the county (district) Commission for Discipline Inspection participated in the whole process of interview, evaluation and publicity supervision, and the personnel of the education system did not arrange to be examiners to avoid the situation of "human feelings".
Regarding the process of competitive recruitment, in some places, after two rounds of competitive recruitment, the education bureau will make overall adjustment and arrange jobs for teachers who are not employed. In some places, it is divided into intra-school competition and inter-school competition. Those who have been hired can organize transfers and also participate in off-the-job business training.
In addition, many places mentioned the need to improve the teacher withdrawal mechanism. If a teacher fails to pass the annual assessment and does not agree to adjust his/her post, or if he/she agrees to adjust to a new post, the school may terminate the employment contract according to relevant regulations. The person in charge of a primary school in Changsha revealed in an interview with the media that in 2022, the school renewed 58 people and dismissed 4 people.
Some teachers from a certain place in Guangxi also revealed that they have been engaged in several rounds there, and all of them have been hired by schools. There is no need to worry about being dismissed. "At most, it is to change places and schools."
Teachers have different feedback.
Some people think that "the teacher is very tired"
The feedback from teachers is different for this reform. Many teachers believe that this move can activate the internal vitality of the education system through competition for posts, and at the same time let schools and teachers choose in both directions to promote the flow of teachers.
Some teachers believe that the county (district) management school employment is not a good opportunity to mobilize, compared with the past in the same school until retirement, for some people, this is also a new opportunity to break through the status quo.
In practice, many teachers told reporters that in many places, the education bureau only co-ordinates the preparation of resources during recruitment, and there is no competition system for all employees. "I have heard that in a certain district, teachers rotate to different schools to achieve fairness in educational resources." A teacher from Zhejiang told reporters.
A teacher from Guangdong told reporters that she was pessimistic about the employment of schools in counties (districts), which was "not conducive to ordinary people".
Some teachers also believe that this measure is another form of "last elimination". If the flow is too frequent, it will toss teachers and students and make teachers very tired. At the same time, in the process of competition, it may cause the headmaster to have too much power and many human factors, which is unfair to some teachers.
A teacher from Jiangxi said that the county-run school recruitment can indeed transfer teachers beyond the establishment to schools without establishment, which is necessary for schools with insufficient teachers. To a certain extent, it can indeed arouse the enthusiasm of some "lying flat" teachers.
The teacher believes that the policy starting point is good, but in practice, each school’s competitive employment scheme is different, some schools’ competitive employment schemes are unreasonable and unfair, and some even exist in name only. "It’s not scoring according to the plan that really decides who will leave and who will stay, but the way of the world, networking and entering through the back door. In this way, the teachers who have been hired are actually hard-working and diligent teachers, which has greatly hit their educational enthusiasm. "
She also mentioned that some school leaders and middle-level personnel are directly employed, which is unfair. "I know that in a township school around me, because the middle-level leader was directly hired, the leader was a music major, but he was directly hired for sports posts. As a result, the physical education teacher in their school was hired."
"Some leaders also use this policy to make teachers do a lot of things beyond teaching. If they don’t do it, they will threaten to be hired. How can teachers be practical in teaching?" The teacher said.
In this regard, some scholars believe that the flow of teachers under the background of "county-run school recruitment" may trigger a crisis of trust between school leaders and teachers, and reduce teachers’ job satisfaction and self-efficacy.
In 2020, a representative of the National People’s Congress proposed "rural teachers ‘ County Management School Appointment ’ The disadvantages outweigh the benefits, and the proposal to suspend implementation throughout the country. " In its reply, the Ministry of Education pointed out that there are still some problems in the practice of reform, such as outstanding backbone teachers flocking to urban schools and high-quality schools, excessive power of principals, great contradictions among teachers, and dampened enthusiasm.
The Ministry of Education pointed out that these problems focused on the "recruitment" link, especially in some places, the competition for all teachers was blindly carried out, and the "reinvention" and "last elimination" were mechanically carried out, which blurred the focus of the reform. The focus of the reform of "county-run school recruitment" is to reform the rigid teacher management system, so that teachers scattered in different departments can manage human rights, administrative rights and financial rights relatively uniformly, instead of engaging in employment in a big way.
Expert: Prevent the problems of administration and utilitarianism in teacher evaluation.
According to Xiong Bingqi, president of 21st Century Education Research Institute, the main purpose of county (district) management and employment is to strengthen the effective allocation of teachers’ resources and better strengthen the construction of teachers’ team, thus effectively promoting the balanced development of compulsory education.
He believes that the promotion of county (district) management and school employment has also increased the difficulty of teacher management and evaluation. "The key is who will assess and who will evaluate. This is a big problem." In some places, there is no institutionalized exchange rotation.
Xiong Bingqi believes that it is necessary to reform teacher evaluation, implement teacher peer evaluation, prevent the problems of administration and utilitarianism in teacher evaluation, and promote the professionalization and specialization of teachers. At the same time, before the implementation of relevant policies, teachers’ opinions and suggestions need to be widely listened to.
Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, believes that the county (district) management and recruitment of teachers from a wider range has a positive effect on promoting the balanced allocation of resources, which has its own advantages compared with the past. At the same time, however, the effect of its implementation is still different from the ideal situation, and it should be judged according to the effect of local implementation.
He believes that whether the evaluation of teachers’ work is objective and fair, and whether the county education administrative department can effectively evaluate, manage and use teachers is the key to determine the reform of school management and employment in counties (districts).
Regarding the possible "last elimination" problem, Chu Zhaohui believes that if the evaluation is objective and fair, then this elimination is normal, and any institutional mechanism will be eliminated if it is effective. If there is a problem with the evaluation, it may distort the system, either putting pressure on all teachers or eating a bigger pot of rice.
In addition, the Ministry of Education also mentioned in its reply to the NPC deputies that the Ministry of Education, together with the Central Organizing Committee and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, will further strengthen the investigation and study on the implementation of the management reform of "managing schools and hiring schools in counties", make an in-depth assessment of the existing problems, strengthen the guidance to local governments, avoid causing "tossing" to teachers, and ensure that the original intention of optimizing the allocation of teachers’ resources is better realized. (End)





