Int'l school headmaster explains education for expat kids in China

One of the hottest issues in China and for all of Asia, as well as the world is the topic of education. In this episode of China Trends, we welcome Roger Bishop, the headmaster of AISB-Hope International School, shares with us the similarities and differences between the Chinese and Western education systems, and how to combine the best of both.

Transcript

Host：

Hello and welcome to China Trends. I'm Tom Pauken II. One of the hottest issues in China and for all of Asia, as well as the world is the topic of education. Many Chinese parents care deeply about their children's education and they have many discussions to address such concerns. Meanwhile, foreign-born residents and their families, living in China, also think a lot about education for their children. Parents want what is best for their children, but what is the right education system for them? What is China's approach to education? And what should we know about international schools in China? It's time to take a deep dive and I will speak to an expert on education topics in the country. His name is Mr. Roger Bishop, the headmaster of AISB-Hope International School.

Mr. Bishop, you have worked in China for many years, can you tell us more about why you came here as an educator?

Roger：

Yes, of course. I love China. When I came here, I fell in love with the country, the language, the culture. As a trained educator, I could then combine what I love doing, teaching and learning with the culture and putting the two together. 

Host：

For Chinese citizens, parents in China, they might be unfamiliar with international schools. Can you tell us more about the international school system in the country and their policies for enrollment? 

Roger：

There are a variety of different schools and especially international schools. Sometimes, parents will think that all international schools are the same. But actually there are a variety of different ones. For example, there are pure international schools. Those are for students with foreign passports or IDs. There are also bilingual schools, private Chinese schools, as well as other schools as well. Of course each country has its own curriculum and system, and so it's really important for parents to understand the different systems, the curriculums, and especially in international schools, because they may follow different systems from different countries. 

The public school option is there. Although I think that the expat families need to understand the difference between public education and international schools, because of course if they're coming from a country that their children, they don't speak mandarin Chinese, then it's going to be very challenging in that environment. Maybe elementary school would be more suitable, but in middle school that becomes a lot more challenging. So it's really important for expat families to be informed about what to expect in a public school setting. 

We have some families that contact us from overseas and they are planning to come to Beijing, especially a lot of diplomat families. We have a lot of families from different embassies from around the world. They might get information prior through the embassy. This will help them to make that first connection. So it depends on when they arrive. However, the general process is around a month. It may seem like a long time, but that's because we need to check all the documentation, get to know the family. The children also come in to do admissions testing,  and it gives us a chance to really get to know each and every child. So that when they come into the school, we've actually done a lot of work behind the scenes to prepare them, so that they can really be supported in all of their needs. Because one of the challenges is that schools can just place the students, new students into a new school setting, and not think about all the challenges, especially thinking about they're coming to a new country. They're going to be surrounded by new friends. And so how are they integrating? Not only in the school environment, but in the local area as well in the community, how are they integrating and making this their new home? Of course, for children is very important, because we need to establish a safe environment for them to then learn. 

Host：

What's the Chinese government policy for expat families who want to enroll their children in schools?

Roger：

The Chinese government, they welcome expats like myself here and all the international teachers that we have. This is a great environment for us. I work closely with the education bureau here. They always communicate how they want to have a variety of international schools so that when those international families, those expat families are coming to Beijing, to China, that they're not only here for business, but their children can be catered to and there's a school that fits their needs as well. So that's really important. Especially for the Chinese government to promote this. This is very important because this is a need that we have and we want to be able to have those options. 

Host：

Can you explain what are key differences between the Chinese and Western education systems? What are some similarities between them?

Roger：

In China, the education is a system is more centralized, more fixed in that way, which definitely has its benefits. Very different from the American system. It's easy to try and compare different educational systems, but I don't think that's a good way to go. It's really important to understand educational systems in their context. People get used to doing things a certain way. In China, having that more centralized, fixed curriculum, then means that when parents move from place to place, they know what they're getting. It doesn't matter if I'm enrolled in this school or that school, but I know that the curriculum is standardized. This is really helpful for parents, because they know each grade what they are going to expect. This helps the students and the schools and the parents.

The setting here is different from other countries. And of course one big challenge is the population. There are a lot of students, and so class sizes are quite large. How do you then make sure that students are supported both academically, but also social emotionally as well? This is a big challenge for China, because as the population continues to grow, how do they meet the needs of these students? It's good for educators to be thinking outside the box and to be looking at how others may do things, and then maybe take some of those good aspects from other schools and then see how they can integrate or develop their own systems. It's not about just saying, looking at a different system, saying that's better and then trying to replace the current system. But it's about how do you look at what you already do and then apply some of those benefits. So that's what I see the government is doing at the moment is now looking at international schools. Because we're right here on the ground. We are in the city. How can they go deeper to understand what we're doing here and then glean some of those great benefits that we have and insights that we have. How can those then be applied in a Chinese public school setting? Of course teachers are the one of the biggest resources that a school will have. Having the opportunity to collaborate is so important. When we have those collaboration opportunities, it's a great way to also get insights into the challenges that they might be facing. Academics again, very rigorous, especially in China. They want to really push the students so that they are achieving those top grades. And of course, globally, China is recognized in terms of especially mathematics, science. But how do you balance that? Because what the teachers are having more of a challenging in is the social emotional side for students, the mental health, how do you balance having rigorous academic programs, but also making sure that students have good mental well-being? This is something that I believe teachers are thinking more and more about. And also, how do you do that when you have large classes? If you've got a smaller class, that's much easier. You get to know each individual child, and that's the environment we have here. But if you then have a class of 30, 40 students in a class, maybe even more, how do you do that? This would definitely take need more thought. But I see that the government is taking action and taking steps to first really think about how they can grapple with this challenge. What they can do to really make a difference. I think I'm very positive about these future changes. 

I've been in Beijing for a long time. This is my 18th year in China. I've been able to see a lot of development over that time. Actually if I consider the West, things do change, but actually not as dramatically and quickly as they do here. That's one of the benefits of being here. I remember the days when there would be a lot of training centers and students would be studying in the evenings, weekends, as well as trying to do their regular day schooling. When the Chinese government introduced the "double reduction" policy where suddenly schools needed to think about the amount of homework that was given, but also the training centers, all these organizations, then suddenly where not allowed to operate. These government policies are really really useful, because it helps the society to then really recognize the challenges and help families and parents, because if they feel like they're being pressured into enrolling and doing all these extra things, then almost like that worry overtakes the rational thinking. This is then damaging for students. Now, we're in a different situation where those extra training centers do not exist anymore. There are other learning opportunities out there, but now the focus is more on the schooling. I also see how the schools here are also thinking about their programs and making sure, for example, that fitness and well-being is something that's really taken seriously, making sure that students have the right amount of exercise, eating well. It's starting to become more holistic, which is then helping everyone and helps the parents as well as the students. 

All these different areas of education, because education is quite complex, because you're not just talking about individual children developing, but you're actually thinking about how families are being strengthened. When they are thinking about going to school and what the future will hold, they need to also think, okay, what will the future jobs be, for example, as we can see with AI and technology, things are developing very quickly. We need to then consider, how are we preparing students? How are we allowing them to be critical thinkers in the future? Because they will be part of that. This is just beginning that we're seeing now, but the generation in schools now, they will be our future. How are we investing in those students? Because that's very important for China. This is something that I believe with this shift that I mentioned is really important, because it's something that China has to consider in order to continue on the world stage. 

Host：

Can we find a way to combine the best of both China's and the West's education systems? 

Roger：

I think definitely there is a way to learn from each other. And I think when we stop learning, especially as adults, this is something that will impact schools in general. We need to be open-minded and not to necessarily compare this system against this system, but it's thinking what are the benefits of the two. I remember quite a number of years ago in the UK where they took some teachers from China, and they took them to the UK and they used the Chinese method of teaching math. They spent a whole term there to teach the math. The students themselves did not like the approach, because it was very different approach to learning. However, the benefits was that actually their math levels increased dramatically. It was something that then the school had to think, okay, are there aspects of the Chinese education system that we can incorporate into the British system in order to help the students? I thought that was very interesting that documentary that came out as a result of that. But just like I mentioned with now, how the Chinese government is really looking at international schools and working with us to consider how can we do things better, how can we support the needs of our students in different ways and having a collaborative approach to helping schools and not seeing schools as just separate entities, but how do we become closer and work closer?

We have lots of different international students in our school. We have over 25 different nationalities represented in our school. It's very important that students, because they are in China, they are in Beijing, they need to know about their environment, the city that they live in, the language that they are surrounded by. As part of our curriculum, we teach Chinese as a foreign language, and we allow students to learn the language as well as the culture and to interact with that culture, in that culture, because we want to make sure that when they go outside of the school walls that they can really integrate into the society.

When students are in a classroom setting, how do we then give the students the opportunities to share and to think about where they live, where they're living at the moment, the language that's being spoken and what are the cultural differences? Because I really believe that when we understand the different cultures in its context, we can work together much easier. It's when there is we don't have the understanding, then problems arise, those challenges. There are conflicts, misunderstandings, lots of things can happen. So it's really really important for us, as a school, to really promote Chinese language and culture to all these different students from different countries so that they can gain a deeper insight into the country that they live. And so that as they connect with locals, they are able to live comfortably, but also understand the environment that they're in. So that's really important for us. As part of this cooperation I mentioned to you before, we are actually connected to a local primary school. For events and different things, we do have some collaboration with that school. This is a good way to help students to learn and to see what even happens in a local school and try and connect with the students as well.