Reform of Employment System for Preschool Teachers in Zhenjiang,China

Keywords: reform,employment system,education policy,preschool teachers,Zhenjiang City,personnel agency   As a national pre-school reform and development experimental zone in China, Zhenjiang City successfully passed the... [ view full abstract ]

Keywords: reform,employment system,education policy,preschool teachers,Zhenjiang City,personnel agency  

As a national pre-school reform and development experimental zone in China, Zhenjiang City successfully passed the project acceptance and has come out in front in the country. A new personnel management model called "personnel agency" was created and used for the reform of employment system for preschool teachers. The new system is set up for effectively protecting the rights of preschool teachers who are not in bureau of educations’ establishments and provides useful experience for the reform of the employment system of preschool teachers in the most part of China. Project team members have interviewed the head of preschool education in Zhenjiang Board of Education and the professor in education policy with the semi-structural interviews. Meanwhile, a questionnaire investigation is done for the 249 principals of kindergartens from different areas in Zhenjiang under the help of Zhenjiang City Board of Education. We found that Zhenjiang fully supports the reform of preschool education in order to clarify the government's responsibility from both horizontal and vertical at the same time. It is unrealistic that all preschool teachers are fully paid by government. A key measure is to use the "personnel agency" for Zhenjiang preschool education reform. However, personnel agency still has no access to many private and non-governmental kindergartens in Zhenjiang currently which should be valued more. Most personnel agency bonus funds can’t meet the demand neither. Still, the merits of Zhenjiang’s experience outweigh such flaws. Related principals in other parts of China should consider an own concrete circumstance when they use for reference such as hiring local preschool teachers for the sake of the stability of the teaching force. Furthermore, government departments should cooperate with each other to formulate policies for better reform of the employment system of preschool teachers.