How to fill the gap in kindergarten teachers?

  "The gap between kindergarten teachers and childcare workers exceeds 3 million." A few days ago, this topic rushed into hot searches on Weibo.

A research report from Southwest University predicts that in 2019, nearly 6 million children of the appropriate age will be added to the preschool education stage due to the “comprehensive two-child” policy.

By this year, kindergartens may lack more than 3 million preschool teachers and childcare workers.

  Xu Xingchun, executive deputy dean of the School of Preschool Education of Southwest University, pointed out that according to national regulations, kindergartens must fully implement the "two education and one care", that is, a class is equipped with two full-time teachers and a childcare worker.

However, due to the shortage of funds and manpower, many kindergartens can only provide one teacher per class and one childcare worker in multiple classes.

  The lack of kindergarten teachers directly affects the growth and education of children and restricts the development of kindergartens.

In the long run, it is not conducive to improving the quality of basic education.

How to make the occupational health of kindergarten teachers develop smoothly has become an important issue facing society.

Dilemma: Pay is not proportional to return

  "Work at least 9 hours a day." Speaking of his work, Teacher Hou from a kindergarten in Beijing opened the conversation to reporters.

  7:15 in the morning is the beginning of Teacher Hou's work day.

According to the requirements for normalization of epidemic prevention and control, kindergartens have greatly increased the requirements for the classroom environment.

After entering the class, "open the windows for ventilation, clean the classroom, and retrieve the sterilized towels and water glasses. All preparations must be completed before the child enters the kindergarten."

  At 7:30, Teacher Hou came to the gate of the garden to welcome the children into the kindergarten.

According to the shuttle system implemented by the kindergarten, she and her colleagues need to take each child into the class.

  12:10 is the nap time.

The classroom was quiet again, and Teacher Hou, who had been busy all morning, was able to take a breather and start eating lunch.

  At 4:45 pm, after Ms. Hou and another class teacher escorted the children to each parent, they had to go back to the class to clean and disinfect and summarize the records of the day.

At this point, the work day is over.

  "There are specific arrangements for each time point." Teacher Hou introduced.

In addition to daily tasks such as snacks, lunch, and nap, the teacher also has to lead the children to participate in a number of games and sports activities.

  "The protection of personal safety is only a basic requirement." She said, "Kindergarten teachers must adjust the content of activities at any time according to the children's recent development goals and provide guidance to individual children."

  Later each day, Teacher Hou will push the photos of the day in the parent group and report on what the children learned that day.

  "Parents are very concerned about children’s performance in the kindergarten: whether the children eat seriously, whether they are in high mood or not, these may be the reasons why everyone believes in us privately." Teacher Hou explained that sometimes we have to communicate with two or three parents by phone in just one night .

  "Trivial and delicate, no sloppy is tolerated." A sentence expresses the daily work status of kindergarten teachers and childcare workers.

  However, many academic surveys and many kindergarten teachers have pointed out that the salary in this industry is not directly proportional to the work effort.

This is particularly evident among non-staff personnel in public kindergartens, teachers in private kindergartens, and kindergarten teachers in impoverished areas.

  Teacher Tian, ​​a kindergarten teacher who lives in Zhejiang, reported that after comparison and calculation by colleagues, the salary of non-organized kindergarten teachers is 1/3 to 1/2 less than that of establishment kindergarten teachers. There is a significant gap between the two. She bluntly told reporters: "No With satisfactory salary and no establishment, teachers naturally have ideas."

  The contradiction between high work pressure and unsatisfactory returns has caused many kindergarten teachers to leave their jobs and change careers, and it has also discouraged many preschool education graduates from the profession of kindergarten teachers.

Xu Xingchun believes that the "comprehensive two-child" policy is only the tip of the iceberg of the shortage of kindergarten teachers. In the final analysis, it is the shortage of talents caused by the imbalance between the income and expenditure of kindergarten teachers.

  Therefore, to bridge the gap in the number of kindergarten teachers and childcare workers, the focus is on improving salaries and attracting and retaining talents.

Bail out: Work hard on absorbing talent

  In the beginning of the school season in September 2020, Inner Mongolia National Early Childhood Teachers College has expanded its enrollment for past general high school, secondary vocational graduates, migrant workers with high school diploma or equivalent academic ability, and personnel from enterprises and institutions.

After admission, they will receive professional education for kindergarten teachers, which is a full-time college degree.

  From October to November 2020, Guiyang Preschool Teachers College has expanded its enrollment in two batches, attracting members of the public to carry out full-time preschool education and learning. After graduation, the school will issue a nationally recognized college diploma certificate that is electronically registered by the Ministry of Education.

  In 2019, secondary vocational colleges began to add early childhood care majors at the request of the Ministry of Education, and gradually transferred preschool education majors to early childhood care majors, focusing on training kindergarten nurses.

  This approach is quite meaningful: According to a survey report released by the Foresight Industry Research Institute, as of 2019, China's pre-school education teachers are dominated by junior colleges, accounting for 58.5%, supporting half the sky in the supply of talents in the kindergarten teacher industry.

Secondary and higher vocational colleges are "open source". Past students and members of the community who were unable to engage in relevant professional studies in the past are absorbed, which naturally sends more fresh blood to the kindergarten education industry.

  But for rural and remote areas, the expansion of vocational colleges is not enough.

Due to the relatively backward economic conditions and development level, the shortage of resources for kindergarten teachers is more serious than in cities.

How to fill this "depression"?

  Local governments have explored a way to train rural kindergarten teachers at public expense: In 2015, Hunan Province included the pre-school education major in the training plan for rural teachers' publicly directed teacher students; in 2018, Shandong Province launched a free teacher student training plan for rural kindergarten teachers.

  Free tuition training and targeted distribution to rural areas after graduation. Gradually, teachers in these areas are effectively supplemented.

  In 2020, 400 junior high school graduates from poor families in Yi District, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, ushered in the "spring" of life: Leshan City implemented the special talent training program for secondary vocational education "Concentric Spring Bud Class" and arranged them to Mount Emei The Municipal Tourism School accepts 3-year preschool education professional secondary vocational education.

After completing their studies, these graduates will return to Meigu County to feed back the career of kindergarten teachers in their hometown.

In terms of the number of people, the scale of 400 is not large enough, but this move has released a positive signal that Sichuan Province is striving to alleviate the shortage of teachers.

Future: Comprehensively improve the salary of kindergarten teachers

  In September 2020, Teacher Shi, a teacher in Hubin Kindergarten, Jiangbei District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, received a 10,000 yuan start-up "gift package", which included a one-time reward of 2,000 yuan and an annual bonus of 8,000 yuan.

  It turned out that the Jiangbei District Education Bureau introduced a policy in 2020-the establishment of the "Excellent Contract Teacher Annuity System" for non-edited teachers in its jurisdiction, and the "Jiangbei District Preschool Education Excellent Contract Teacher Annuity Incentive Management Measures (Trial)".

According to the regulations, the Education Bureau will issue a certain amount of rewards every year for non-kindergarten teachers who have won city and district awards in the "Rookie of Education (including Skills Competition)", which will be deposited in the personal annuity accounts for a total of 5 years.

  Teacher Shi participated in the competition in early 2020 and won the second prize. This is where the "gift package" came from. At the same time as her, there were 18 other kindergarten teachers who benefited from the award.

  The annual fee is 8,000 yuan, and after 5 years, it is 40,000 yuan. Teacher Shi said that receiving this bonus as a contract teacher proves the government's recognition of non-edited teachers and the determination to improve everyone's salary. It can also fully stimulate non-staff kindergarten teachers to improve their business. Passion for competence.

  But bonuses are only temporary, and fundamentally improving teachers' salary levels is the right way to solve the problem.

  At present, many places encourage private kindergartens to apply for the recognition of inclusive kindergartens, which may be regarded as a beneficial attempt.

Through subsidies, the income of kindergarten teachers and childcare workers is guaranteed. Especially during the epidemic, government subsidies play an important role in covering the income of these teachers.

  If the above-mentioned policies bring short-term visible rights and interests to kindergarten teachers, then to promote kindergarten teachers' "Zheng Gao" professional title evaluation, more attention will be paid to fostering their long-term career development.

  In the eyes of Mr. Zou, the principal of the Wuxi Binhu Experimental Kindergarten, who has devoted himself to the study of early childhood education, "Zheng Gao" was an unattainable goal. In the past, the development of kindergarten teachers was limited, and the title of "Associate Gao" was the end.

However, in 2020, after being reviewed by the Senior Professional and Technical Qualification Evaluation Committee for Primary and Secondary School Teachers in Jiangsu Province, she was qualified as a senior teacher in kindergarten and became a senior teacher in rural kindergartens.

According to statistics from the Provincial Department of Education, 11 of the 268 teachers participating in this evaluation are kindergarten teachers.

  These are all due to the fact that Jiangsu Province has continued to favor kindergarten teachers, especially rural kindergarten teachers, in recent years.

As early as 2013, Jiangsu Province took the lead in formulating the "Professional and Technical Qualifications for Kindergarten Teachers in Jiangsu Province" to open up a channel for kindergarten teachers to participate in the "Zhenggao" title.

In recent years, it has continuously optimized the proportion of senior, deputy senior, intermediate and junior professional technical structure, and increased the proportion of "positive senior" kindergarten teachers.

At the same time, the Department of Human Resources and Social Security of Jiangsu Province and the Department of Education jointly issued the "Notice on Several Opinions on the Evaluation Policy for Rural Teachers' Titles in the Province" to increase the inclination of rural teachers' title policies and take a solid step in exploring and solving the problems of the development of kindergarten teachers .

  Improve the level of professional titles and open up the career development channels for kindergarten teachers. Teachers have hope for development, work more practically, and they have more energy to do research.

  Xu Xingchun told reporters that starting from 2010, the domestic preschool education industry has gradually explored and improved teachers' salaries in all aspects.

Thanks to the attention paid by governments at all levels to pre-school education, the remuneration of kindergarten teachers has been greatly improved. Especially in the past two years, it has received strong support from the central and local governments in terms of policies and funds.

  In September 2020, the "Draft of the Preschool Education Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" opened to the public for comments.

Among them, Article 42, Article 48, and Article 49 of Chapter 5 respectively explain the job evaluation, salary, welfare, and other benefits of kindergarten teachers to protect the legitimate rights and interests of kindergarten teachers.

  Starting from the top-level design, we will focus on improving the welfare of kindergarten teachers and childcare workers. It can be expected that there will be laws to follow when relevant policies are issued in the future.

(Reporter Wang Jingyue)

  Social Discussion

  The government, schools, and kindergartens must coordinate the training of preschool education talents in a “trinity”.

A working organization composed of pre-school education experts, professional leaders, school and kindergarten key teachers from teaching and research institutions can be established to investigate talent needs, revise training plans, organize teaching teams, establish training bases, and evaluate the quality of talent training.

  ——Cai Hefang, member of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and professor of the School of Literature and Media, Chizhou University

  At present, some places set the threshold of "undergraduate degree" when organizing the recruitment of kindergarten teachers, which has a certain "impact" on the employment of students in higher vocational colleges and the training of talents in related institutions.

Therefore, recruiting kindergarten teachers requires people to make the best use of their talents, not just academic qualifications, and the general public should also change their minds to give outstanding preschool graduates more opportunities to participate in competition on an equal footing.

  ——Dong Gang, vice principal of Ningbo Preschool Teachers College, Zhejiang Province

  Higher vocational colleges, which are the source of preschool education, should closely integrate market needs and cultivate comprehensive talents who can broaden their horizons and are competent for the most basic childcare work. Students are required to develop in a balanced manner, and they must take care of the five major fields of health, language, society, science and art. Dabble.

After entering the work position, graduates of pre-school education must be prepared to "reinvent" and temper their vocational skills through the form of mentoring and teaching.

In addition, the relevant departments should strengthen the training of the principals and scholars.

  ——Su Xiushan, principal of Shuixie Huadu Kindergarten, Honggu District, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province

  The quality of the source of students affects the quality of training and also affects future job capabilities.

Relevant departments should improve the examination enrollment system and policies, give priority to the admission of preschool education teachers, encourage and attract more students who like preschool education; develop a targeted enrollment and public subsidy system, and carry out special training for preschool teachers in rural areas, and expand free The scale and scope of normal school students; increase support for independent normal colleges, especially kindergarten teachers' colleges, and improve the guarantee level of normal education.

  ——Sun Cheng, Dean of the Preschool Education Department of Hefei Preschool Teachers College, Anhui Province

  "People's Daily Overseas Edition" (version 05 on January 11, 2021)