The Ministry of Education (MOE) recently held a national conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province to review achievements and analyze new challenges in teacher workforce development as well as identify key measures for developing the workforce in 2024.
The meeting stressed the fundamental role of a strong teaching force in China’s goal of becoming a leading country in education. It also revisited President Xi’s major instructions on education, including teacher capacity building, and called for sound overall planning, with more effective actions for raising awareness and for inspection and uation, in order to build a more professional and innovative teaching corps.
More specifically, the meeting highlighted several key tasks for 2024. First, great effort should be invested in organizing celebrations for the 40th annual Teachers’ Day (Sept. 10) this year to honor educators’ contributions. Second, efforts should be made to enhance the long-term mechanism for ensuring teachers’ professional integrity. Third, capacity-building activities should be organized regularly for teachers at different levels to ensure that primary and high school teachers have better comprehensive capabilities, vocational school teachers are equipped with both rich academic knowledge and superb practical skills, and university teachers acquire stronger innovative ability. In addition, measures should also be adopted to improve teachers’ digital literacy in general. Fourth, more effort is needed to better define teachers’ qualifications and optimize faculty development. Fifth, teacher remuneration should be increased through various incentive programs. These include programs to increase the seniority allowance and guarantee that the average income of primary and lower middle school teachers is at least on par with local public servant salaries. Such programs will enhance teachers’ sense of professional honor and increase their feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment.
During the conference, education officials from various provinces, including Zhejiang, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Gansu, Hubei, and Guangdong, as well as educators from several universities, shared their experience and insights.
