Job fair highlights shortage of kindy, sports and history teachers

Kindergarten teachers are still in huge demand because of the baby boom brought about by the second-child policy and the inflow of migrants, while local primary and middle schools are short of sports teachers.

History teachers are also popular in middle schools after the city's new reform of the high school entrance exam attached more importance to the subject.

At a job fair for Yangtze River Delta schools held in the Pudong New Area on Saturday, about 300 local kindergartens, primary, middle and high schools, colleges and district education authorities were looking for teachers, as well as some schools and education organizations from other provinces of the region.

The Hongkou District Education Talent Service Center plans to recruit 85 teachers for preschool education, 37 sports teachers, seven history teachers and eight mental health instructors for schools in the district. To attract more job applicants, this year they brought new policies.

"The increase of children is one reason for the huge demand of kindergarten teachers, and the other is that the number of local graduates majoring in preschool education is not large. So this year we have a more open policy for kindergarten teacher recruitment," said Zhong Jing, director of the center.

Previously, they mainly recruited Shanghai citizens or fresh graduates from the city or other provinces of the major. "Now we welcome both Shanghainese and non-Shanghai natives who graduate from a preschool education major and meet our qualifications to apply for the job."

Qu Jing, head of Dongyuhang Road Kindergarten in Hongkou, said they are looking for six teachers this year. "This year our kindergarten has a new part and it's likely we will open a nursery class for younger kids under the new requirement of joining nurseries and kindergartens into one," Qu told Shanghai Daily. 

According to a sports teaching staffer surnamed Li with the Hongkou District Education Talent Service Center, schools, especially primary ones, need more sports teachers after Shanghai's education authority required local primary schools to add an extra sports class each week for their first- to third-graders last year.

Some recruiters at the job fair told Shanghai Daily that besides sports teams, gyms are another popular choice for many sports major graduates.

Other districts are facing the same situation as Hongkou. 

Dai Xi, director of the Changning District Education Talent Exchange Center, said the shortage of kindergarten teachers has something to do with the second-child policy.

"The cultivation of students majoring in preschool education is being improved now and I believe such conditions will be relieved in a few years," said Dai. 

For suburban Jiading District, another strain on schools is that more and more migrant talent are flowing into the district with their families. The district offers subsidies on purchasing or renting homes.

This year the job fair added two special events for job seekers and schools. One is a matchmaking activity which allows job seekers to show their talent and ideas on stage and have school headmasters evaluate them as judges. If one wins good feedback from the judges, he or she can get a recommendation letter from them.

"Such events can help the public get a better understanding about what a teacher is and how to be a teacher, as well as attracting more people to join the team," said Jin Qi, head of South West Weiyu Middle School and one of the judges.

The other is face-to-face interviews between job seekers and headmasters.