Foreigners seek jobs at the 1st Shanghai Job Fair for Foreign Culture and Education Experts and Foreign Teachers May 13, 2006. (Shanghai Daily Photo)

    BEIJING, May 15 -- Schools in Shanghai are more aware now that some foreigners claiming to be English teachers are unqualified for the position.

    Schools at the first Shanghai Job Fair for Foreign Culture and Education Experts and Foreign Teachers on Saturday said they raised both qualification standards and work experience criteria to weed out unqualified teachers.

    "Schools now know that not every foreigner with white skin and blue eyes is qualified to teach English," said Cindy Mi, director of the ABC English Training Center Shanghai.

    Nearly 30 kindergartens, schools and training institutes posted more than 200 job vacancies at the fair. Most of the positions were for English teachers.

    The pay scale ranged from 6,000 yuan (US$749) to 12,000 yuan per month, plus medical insurance, accommodation and air ticket allowance.

    Soong Ching Ling Kindergarten offered the highest annual salary of US$50,000 for a native English-speaking director of its international division.

    "Few applicants are really qualified for the position," said Ye Yiyun, director of Soong Ching Ling's international division.

    Most of the positions required a native speaker with at least a university background in education and a Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate.

    Schools said work experience was also essential for teachers taking charge of special curriculums for early age education or in high schools.

    However, some applicants had neither the university background required or professional qualifications.

    A British man, who teaches in neighboring Jiangsu Province, was turned down by Soong Ching Ling Kindergarten as he had a bachelor's degree in human resources management.

    Shanghai Jincai High School also placed several recently graduated foreign university students on the waiting list due to a lack of experience.

    Previously, most schools could only recruit foreign teachers via the Internet or through some international agencies.

    Lack of direct recruitment channels and blind trust in a Westerner's appearance left many schools hiring unqualified foreign teachers.

    Some teachers even turned out to be tourists who taught part time. They had no interest in teaching, but just wanted to earn money to continue traveling.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)