International School Policy Development: Insights from China (Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices) 9811988161, 9789811988165

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Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices

Jian Li

International School Policy Development Insights from China

Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices Series Editors Eryong Xue, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China Simon Marginson, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Jian Li, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

This book series explores education policy on Pre-K, K-12, post-secondary education, and vocational education, informing multiple experts from academia to practitioner, and specifically pays focuses on new frontiers and cutting-edge knowledge that transforms future education policy development. It has been initiated by a global group of education policy research centers and institutions, whose faculty and staff includes internationally recognized researchers in comparative education policy studies. The series’ mission is to advance the modernization of the education and social construction. This series provides policymakers and researchers with an in-depth understanding of international education policy from diverse perspectives. Topics include cuttingedge and multidisciplinary studies on identifying, analyzing and uncovering education policy reform and practice among the fields in education policy and pedagogy. It addresses how education policy shapes the development of education systems in different regions and seeks to explain how specific education policies concentrate on accelerating the development of quality education and social progress. More importantly, this book series offers policymakers and educational stakeholders, government, and private sectors a comprehensive lens to investigate the trends, rationales of education policy development internationally.

Jian Li

International School Policy Development Insights from China

Jian Li China Institute of Education Policy Beijing Normal University Beijing, China

Funded by Huiyan International College, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. (General Project) “A Study on the Governance Policy and School Path of International Education Localization” (No. 300104). ISSN 2730-6356 ISSN 2730-6364 (electronic) Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices ISBN 978-981-19-8816-5 ISBN 978-981-19-8817-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8817-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

This book explores the international school policy reform in China from various perspectives. In recent years, the international schools, international classes, international departments, and various international education projects have emerged in the field of education in China, which introduce foreign curriculum and teaching system, foreign teachers, and original foreign textbooks, adopt foreign educational concepts and teaching modes, and carry out international education. Along with above, in this book, the idea of international school is explored and analyzed, and conceptual model of the international education policy development is divided into several parts, including the international school policy in China from multiple dimensions, the international school student cultivation in China, the teacher cultivation of international schools in China, international school management in China, international school curriculum in China, and the quality assessment of international schools in China. In addition, we also offer a relatively comprehensive and systematically perspective on practically efforts on shaping China’s international school policy development and management. Chapter 1 explores the international school policy in China from multiple dimensions. With the rapid development of education internationalization and the opening of education field after China’s entry into WTO, the international exchanges and cooperation in the field of education are increasingly frequent and close. In recent years, the theoretical and practical experience of international schools in education philosophy, talent training objectives, education mode, curriculum and teaching material system, and teacher construction has important enlightenment and reference value for the current Chinese–English bilingual education in China. Education internationalization refers to the international allocation of educational resources, accelerated international flow of educational elements, and increasingly frequent international exchanges and cooperation in education under the premise of the opening of international education trade market and the promotion of world economic globalization and trade liberalization. Countries should not only meet the requirements of their own countries and localization, but also adapt to the new situation of economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation such as international industrial division and trade complementarity in terms of the determination of talent training objectives, v

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the selection of educational content, and the adoption of educational means and methods. In the end is the core or essence of education internationalization, under the background of economic globalization and trade liberalization, the two countries are to make full use of domestic and international education market, optimizing the allocation of education resources and factors of their own, cultivate internationally competitive high-quality talents, to serve their own best interests. As we all know, in the era of knowledge economy, the competition of national comprehensive strength is the competition of talents in the final analysis. Therefore, the goal of education internationalization is to cultivate talents with international awareness, international communication ability, and international competitiveness, who can be based on the local, look to the world, and actively participate in international competition. Chapter 2 concentrates on the international school student cultivation in China. With the deepening of global integration and the internationalization of Chinese education, international schools have developed rapidly and formed a certain scale in China, especially in cities with developed economy and high degree of openness. International schools have become an important part of China’s education. At present, with the boom of studying abroad, western educational concepts are more and more easily accepted by Chinese people. Many students and parents have changed their educational attitudes and choose to receive international education. With the deepening of economic globalization, the exchanges among countries become more and more frequent, the transnational flow of human resources has become a normal state, and the internationalization of education has become a global trend. However, there are some problems in the process of cultivating students in international schools due to some factors. In this paper, the problems in the process of cultivating international students are discussed in sections, and the problems and challenges are discussed in detail from all levels. If there are problems, there are countermeasures. In view of some problems raised, this paper puts forward detailed and comprehensive countermeasures based on consulting research materials. Chapter 3 explores the teacher cultivation of international schools in China. Since the reform and opening, the development of China’s international schools experienced from scratch, from less to more, from disorder to standardization, the process of its development from economic globalization brings not only the globalization education resources, and more from the improvement of people’s consumption level caused by the reform of market economy and diversified education demand growth. By 2021, there were nearly 1000 international schools in China, whose vigorous development not only reflects China’s economic development and the progress of education concept, but also reflects the promotion of China’s national education reform and innovation by the internationalization and industrialization of school running. The teaching staff of international schools in China attaches great importance to the teaching of basic courses and pays attention to cultivating students’ good style of study and active academic thinking. They are a team with high theoretical level, strong practical ability, rigorous style of study, and diligent and professional work. To build such a strong faculty, we need to rely on national fiscal policies, local fiscal policies, school-enterprise cooperation, etc. This chapter reviews the development of international schools in China, focuses on the problems and

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challenges in preschool education, primary education, and secondary education in China’s international schools, and puts forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions. Chapter 4 investigates international school management in China. In today’s various modes of running schools, with the comprehensive adjustment of China’s education system, international schools have developed into schools that can provide foreign education mode for local students in recent years. With the progress of era, the development of international school is becoming more and more attention, has become the focus of attention in education, school for their own development needs to improve, constantly seeking self-improvement and beyond, but in the current international school management level, the good and bad are intermingled, many school management level is far behind the establishment of management target, and management problems emerge in endlessly. In the development of international schools, international schools have experienced different policy changes, the purpose of which is to better improve the management system of international schools. However, due to the particularity of complex students, international schools are difficult to manage. Therefore, only by being familiar with and understanding the development history, reform changes, problems and challenges of international schools can we better propose solutions, which is more conducive to the leadership and management of international schools. Based on previous research literature and works, this paper summarizes the definition, development process, characteristics, problems, and countermeasures of international school management in China, aiming to analyze the problems, summarize the reasons behind the problems, and put forward corresponding countermeasures by studying the influential factors of international school management. Chapter 5 concentrates on international school curriculum in China. Economic globalization brings prosperity and development opportunities to the world economy, but also brings the globalization of education. Educational globalization is a common feature of educational reform and development in all countries in the world, and the emergence of international schools is one of the concrete manifestations of educational globalization. Curriculum is the soul and basis for the existence of international schools, as well as the concrete embodiment of the global value orientation of international schools advocating international understanding, mutual respect, mutual learning, mutual learning, and common progress. Information, economic globalization, and increasingly close connections between countries in the world are increasingly demanding that education in each country produces global citizens with an international perspective and a global awareness. Western developed countries on the issue of global citizenship education have accumulated rich experience, theory, and practice, global citizen education in China starts late, both theory and practice experience are very weak, and global civil education of primary and secondary school curriculum construction in China also has many problems, which seriously affects the quality of the global citizen education in our country, the construction of good potential in international education course will do. At present, there are relatively few studies on the curriculum of international schools in China. This chapter

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studies the curriculum of international schools in China, so that we can have a further understanding of the curriculum of international schools in China. Chapter 6 examines the quality assessment of international schools in China. With the revolutionary changes taking place in education in the world today, China’s high net worth families have increasingly strong diverse demands for their children’s education. The concept of learner-centered, focusing on ability cultivation, promoting the all-round development of people, and advocating universal learning, lifelong learning and personalized learning has become increasingly popular. In addition, as China is increasingly approaching the center of the world stage, it has gradually become the urgent need and expectation of more families for international education for their children to have national confidence and cultural confidence while expanding their international vision. The international school is a kind of school that takes the global perspective of international understanding and thinking as its value orientation, serves the floating people around the world as its main target, and cultivates the language, knowledge, ability, and attitude necessary for students in the process of globalization. This paper first briefly introduces international education and school quality assessment and then makes a research review of international school quality assessment. Secondly, it describes the challenges and problems encountered by China’s international schools in practice, puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for the corresponding challenges and problems, and finally makes a summary. International education quality assessment should run through the whole process of education and teaching, from the establishment of schools and institutions to the graduation of students. To sum up, in the initial stage, the establishment of a school often needs to obtain the certification of some curriculum organizations to ensure the quality of its education. In the process of running a school, teachers’ teaching and students’ learning should be controlled, including the supervision of teachers’ teaching and the evaluation of periodical learning effect. In the end, students’ admission results and ability development are important outcome evaluations for international schools. Quality is the lifeline of education, education is an unrepeatable experiment, and each experiment is related to human development. Therefore, quality supervision and evaluation is an important issue for the future development of international education. Beijing, China

Jian Li

Contents

1 The International School Policy Development in China . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 Definition and Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 The Characteristics of China’s International School Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.3 International School Policy Tends to Be Politicized . . . . . . . 1.2 The Main Contents of China’s International School Policy . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Enrollment and Fees of International Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Management of International Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 Trend: Private Brands with Chinese Characteristics . . . . . . . 1.2.4 Teachers: Systematic Planning to Accelerate Training . . . . . 1.2.5 Innovation: Innovation and Continuous Proof . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 The Historical Development of International Schools in China . . . . 1.3.1 From Nothing to Something—Embryonic Period (1980–1989) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 Preliminary Development—Exploratory Period (1990–1999) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 Rapid Development—Rising Period (2000–2009) . . . . . . . . . 1.3.4 Vigorous Development—Explosive Period (2010–2019) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Problems and Challenges Facing the Development of International Schools in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.1 The Development of International Schools Still Needs Greater Policy Breakthroughs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.2 To Ensure the Quality of Education is a Problem to Be Faced by Private International Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.3 The Enrollment Threshold of International Schools Is Not Transparent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.4 Insufficient Funds for Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1.4.5 Lagging Laws and Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Suggestions for Challenges and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.1 Reasonable Operation and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.2 Expanding Sources of Education Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.3 Expanding Space for Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.4 Improve the Quality of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5.5 Adhere to Sustainable Development, Improve the Overall Level of Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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2 International School Student Cultivation in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 The Cultivation of International School Students in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 Concept of International School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 Characteristics of Student Cultivation in International Schools in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Historical Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 Initial Development Period (1980–1989) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 Accelerated Development Period (1990–1999) . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 Rapid Development Period (2000–2009) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.4 Transformation Period (2010–2019) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Challenges and Problems in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 The Training Objectives of Chinese Course Materials Do Not Match with the Directional Needs of Students . . . . . 2.3.2 Chinese Education and Teaching Are Superficial and Formalized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.3 Chinese Education Resources Can Hardly Meet the Development Needs of Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.4 Students Lack Initiative in Theoretical Learning . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.5 Uneven Quality of Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.6 Curriculum Optimization Needs to Be Improved . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.7 The Management System of International Students Still Needs to Be Improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.8 Exploration of Training System and Standardization of Process Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Countermeasures and Suggestions for Challenges and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.1 Improvement Strategies of Chinese Curriculum and Teaching in China’s Private International Schools . . . . . 2.4.2 Deepen the Understanding of the Status of Ideological and Political Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.3 Pay Equal Attention to Practice and Theoretical Study . . . . .

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2.4.4 Establish Standard Management System, Introduce Supervision and Inspection Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.5 Improve the Enrollment System of International Schools to Provide Institutional Guarantee for Improving the Quality of Enrollment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.6 Formulate Highly Targeted Enrollment Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3 The Teacher Cultivation of International Schools in China . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 The Faculty of International Schools in China . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Focus on Comprehensive Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Teaching Staff of International Schools for Primary Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Historical Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Embryonic Period (1980–1989) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Exploratory Period (1990–1999) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Rapid Development Period (2000–Current) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Challenges and Problems in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 Lack of National Legal Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 Lack of Long-Term Planning for the Construction of Teaching Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3 The Cultivation Channel Is Narrow and Single . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.4 The Distribution of Teachers Is Not Balanced . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.5 The Utilitarianism of Education Is Becoming Increasingly Serious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.6 The Development of the Discipline Is Still Unbalanced . . . . 3.3.7 Ignore Traditional Culture and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Countermeasures for the Construction of Teaching Staff in International Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Attach Importance to Teacher Training and Broaden the Channels for Teacher Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 National Legislation, Clear Preschool Education Teacher Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.3 Provide Policy and Institutional Support for the Management of Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.4 Strengthen the Professional Development of Teachers . . . . . 3.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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4 International School Management in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 The Sustainable Development of China’s Economy . . . . . . .

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4.1.2 The Legal Environment Faced by International Schools in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.3 Joint Governance Under the Concept of Education . . . . . . . . 4.2 Historical Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Embryonic Period (1980–1989) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Exploratory Period (1990-Current) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Challenges and Problems in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 The Sharp Increase in the Number of Private Schools Providing International Education is Driven by Demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Unreasonable Curriculum Setting and Supervision . . . . . . . . 4.3.3 The Principal’s Core Leadership is Insufficient . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.4 Some Schools Lack Management Characteristics . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Countermeasures and Suggestions for Problems and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.1 Countermeasures for the Demand Pulling Problem Caused by the Sharp Increase in the Number of Private Schools Providing International Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.2 Strengthen International Education and Publicity . . . . . . . . . 4.4.3 Strengthen the Characteristics of School Management . . . . . 4.4.4 Strengthen the Construction of Teachers, Improve the Ability of Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4.5 Strengthen Chinese Language Training for International School Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 International School Curriculum in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 The Contextual Development of International Schools . . . . . 5.1.2 Development Status of International Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.3 The Increase of the Audience Brings Incremental Demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Challenges and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 Challenges Brought to Teachers by the Course Implementation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 Higher Requirements Are Put Forward for Teachers’ Teaching Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.3 International Schools Do not Pay Enough Attention to Some Domestic Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.4 Unreasonable Curriculum Setting and Marginalization of Local Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.5 The High Selectivity of International Courses and the Complexity of Educational Administration . . . . . . . .

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5.2.6 The High Selectivity of International Courses and the Reform of Teaching Evaluation Methods . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Countermeasures and Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 To Advocate Distinctive School Running, Integrate Chinese and Western Essence, and Take the Road of Professional Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 Strengthen Research and Promote the Deep Integration of International Curriculum and Local Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Quality Assessment of International Schools in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.1 The Development of Governments and International Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.2 The School Quality Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.3 Evaluation of School-Running Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.4 Evaluation of School-Running Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Policy Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Modern International School Was Officially Born . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Application for Establishment of Taiwan Compatriots’ Children’s School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.3 Tighten Policy on Public International Classes . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Challenges in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 Uncertainty in Running a School Due to Changes in the International Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 Lack of High-Quality Chinese and Foreign Teachers . . . . . . 6.3.3 Inadequate Quality Management of Students, the Enrollment Rate, and Acceptance Rate Are Inconsistent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Countermeasures and Suggestions for Challenges and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 The Support of Relevant Policies, Regulations, and Funds Needs to Be Strengthened . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 The Structure of Students Needs to Be Further Optimized and Improved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.3 Seize the Opportunity and Continue to Expand the Advantage of “Internationalization in the Local” . . . . . . 6.4.4 Strengthen the Construction of Policies and Regulations of International Schools and Improve the Quality Supervision System of International Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.5 Improve Rules and Regulations and Work Standardization Process from Top to Bottom . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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6.4.6 Scientific Orientation International Education Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 6.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

About the Author

Jian Li is the assistant professor in China Institute of Education Policy, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. She received her Ph.D. degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS), School of Education, Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interests focus on Education Policy Studies, Globalization, and Internationalization of Higher Education. Dr. Li currently also serves as the think tanker at China Institute of Education and Social Development, Beijing Normal University. In the past years, she has published more than 100 papers in Chinese and English in Higher Education, International Journal of Education Research, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Educational Research, Comparative Education Research, China Education Journal, and other SSCI and CSSCI indexed journals. She has published 20 English monographs and published more than 40 articles in China Education Daily, People’s Political Consultative Conference News and People’s Daily Overseas Edition. More than 30 international academic conference papers, national, provincial, and ministerial level decision-making departments adopted or participated in the writing of more than 60 proposals of the CPPCC National Committee. Presided over or participated in six national, provincial, and ministerial projects and serves as the editorial board member and the reviewer of several international English journals.

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Chapter 1

The International School Policy Development in China

This chapter explores the international school policy in China from multiple dimensions. With the rapid development of education internationalization and the opening up of education field after China’s entry into WTO, the international exchanges and cooperation in the field of education are increasingly frequent and close. In recent years, the theoretical and practical experience of international schools in education philosophy, talent training objectives, education mode, curriculum and teaching material system, and teacher construction has important enlightenment and reference value for the current Chinese–English bilingual education in China. Education internationalization refers to the international allocation of educational resources, accelerated international flow of educational elements, and increasingly frequent international exchanges and cooperation in education under the premise of the opening of international education trade market and the promotion of world economic globalization and trade liberalization. Countries should not only meet the requirements of their own countries and localization, but also adapt to the new situation of economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation such as international industrial division and trade complementarity in terms of the determination of talent training objectives, the selection of educational content, and the adoption of educational means and methods. In the end is the core or essence of education internationalization, under the background of economic globalization and trade liberalization, the two countries are to make full use of domestic and international education market, optimizing the allocation of education resources and factors of their own, cultivate internationally competitive high-quality talents, to serve their own best interests. As we all know, in the era of knowledge economy, the competition of national comprehensive strength is the competition of talents in the final analysis. Therefore, the goal of education internationalization is to cultivate talents with international awareness, international communication ability, and international competitiveness, who can be based on the local, look to the world, and actively participate in international competition.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 J. Li, International School Policy Development, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8817-2_1

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1.1 Introduction In recent years, international schools, international classes, international departments, and various international education projects have emerged in the field of education in China, which introduce foreign curriculum and teaching system (Alevel, IB, AP, IGCSE), use foreign teachers and original foreign textbooks, adopt foreign educational concepts and teaching modes, and carry out international education. Like the education development research center, the development of international education project, Shanghai Normal University of Cambridge International Center, Beijing Sino-Canadian School, Beijing New Talent, Beijing Huijia Private School, Shenzhen Sino-Canadian School (IB), Tianshan Experimental School of Qingdao, Yantai Yao Hua International School, Changchun American International School, and so on, emerges in endlessly, cannot be counted. These international schools are favored by Chinese people for their introduction of international curriculum and international high school education, providing quality international education and direct access to international universities. At present, there are two levels and forms of bilingual education in the field of education in China, namely bilingual teaching experiment in the field of basic education and bilingual teaching in colleges and universities. Bilingual teaching experiment in the field of basic education, it is to point to in the 1990s, such as Shanghai, Shanghai New Huangpu experimental school middle school, and the leader of a group of middle and primary schools conducted in view of the traditional foreign language teaching “high consumption inefficient” disconnect “study” of ills, to open up a new way of English teaching and change English “language teaching” as the “language”. The bilingual teaching experiment aims at improving students’ comprehensive English application ability and level and then improving the quality and efficiency of English teaching and learning. Later, the bilingual teaching experiment was gradually carried out in Liaoning, Shandong, Wuxi, Suzhou, Zhejiang, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Chengdu, and other provinces and cities. Moreover, Shanghai, Liaoning, Suzhou, Wuxi, Chengdu, and other provinces and cities have officially issued the documents to carry out bilingual teaching experiments, vigorously supporting bilingual teaching, and bilingual teaching has developed vigorously in the field of basic education in China (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

1.1.1 Definition and Characteristics China International Schools are a group of schools emerging in China after the reform and opening up, which focus on basic education (kindergarten to senior three) and adopt international curriculum model and evaluation system in part or in whole. These schools focus on cultivating talents with international vision, thinking, and ability, and their graduates are mainly exported to overseas higher education institutions or enrolled in Chinese universities as international students. The definition

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of “China International School” is based on two key points: first, the characteristics of curriculum system, which has gradually changed from the previous curriculum structure based on introducing western curriculum to the “integrated” system based on national curriculum and second, the characteristics of students’ export. Graduates are mainly exported to overseas higher education institutions or enrolled in Chinese universities as international students. In 2015, the first International School Development Report of The New Doctrine defined international schools for the first time in the industry based on the cognition and current situation of international school market in China at that time and divided international schools into three categories: schools for children of foreign nationals, schools established by various foreign institutions and foreigners legally residing in China to provide convenience for children of foreign nationals to receive education in China; according to Chinese law, only non-Chinese students can be admitted. A privately run international school refers to a privately run school that mainly enrolls Chinese students and partly or wholly adopts overseas curriculum system, teaching materials, and examinations, among which the overseas curriculum is mainly taught in English. International department (Class) of public schools: It is an international education program jointly organized by domestic public schools and foreign schools. Chinese public schools undertake the teaching management and adopt bilingual and All-English teaching mode to cultivate international composite talents according to overseas teaching plans, teaching programs, textbooks, and examinations. According to the requirements of the government, such Sino-foreign cooperative education projects in the field of secondary education are limited to senior high schools (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

1.1.2 The Characteristics of China’s International School Policy The regulations on the Implementation of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education revised in 2021 and some newly issued education policies have made provisions on the establishment, organization, and activities of private schools, teachers, and educatees, and reiterated the requirements on overseas teaching materials and courses, which have brought some impacts. In November 2021, Harrow School in Haikou, Hainan province, issued a message to the parents of its current students that they were required to take the high school entrance exam to enter high school due to government policy. This indicates that many international schools in China will also start in-depth “storm rectification”, which will inevitably “shuffle” a large number of non-compliant so-called international schools. According to the current “New Deal”, the country is constantly strengthening the management norms within the system of “nine-year compulsory education”, and the “high school entrance examination” implemented in China is actually a “one examination system” mode, that is to say, the high school entrance examination system has combined the “middle school

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completion examination” with the “high school entrance examination”. Under the new policy, only qualified private schools, Chinese-foreign high school cooperative programs, and overseas curriculum programs approved by local education authorities can offer high school international courses, which must meet the enrollment requirements of ordinary high schools. At the same time, under the policy of “one enrollment for all citizens”, the situation of studying in international schools across regions will be greatly limited, so some private international schools may face pressure from both the size and quality of students, and the layout of international schools in some regions may also be adjusted. In addition, the policy also reaffirms and reinforces the increasingly stringent requirements for foreign curriculum, textbooks, and foreign teachers in recent years, which also poses more challenges for international schools. Under the influence of policies, international schools in the stage of compulsory education must return to the original intention of running schools and guard against the excessive influence of capital. The revision of laws and policies has eliminated the education bubble caused by capital and created a favorable external environment for those who really want to run education and do it well (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

1.1.3 International School Policy Tends to Be Politicized According to the policy, privately run schools should adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, adhere to the socialist direction of running schools, adhere to the non-profit nature of education, strengthen the education of core socialist values for the educatees, and fulfill the fundamental task of fostering morality and cultivating talents. As for privately run international schools, whether they are primary and junior high schools featuring international bilingual education or senior high schools offering international courses that link up with overseas study, they are all part of socialist education, and the Party’s education policy must be implemented. Privately run schools providing ordinary senior high school education and compulsory education may independently offer courses with their own characteristics based on the national curriculum standards and carry out innovations in education and teaching. The courses independently provided shall be reported to the competent education administrative department for the record. Therefore, private international primary schools and junior high schools can strengthen international elements and foreign language teaching in the curriculum and innovate teaching methods. Private international high schools can also explore the opening of international courses. This is exactly the space for international schools in the future. Facing the future, international schools should realize diversified and individualized development. International schools in China should not copy the western school-running model completely but should have Chinese characteristics and develop their own brands (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

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1.2 The Main Contents of China’s International School Policy Through collecting the relevant policies of China’s international schools, we can know that the main contents include the standardization of international school enrollment and fees, the management of international schools, the requirements of “double reduction”, school-running qualifications, etc.

1.2.1 Enrollment and Fees of International Schools In December 2013, the Ministry of Education issued the draft interim measures for the Administration of International Programs in Senior High Schools, which clearly regulated the “international departments” and “international classes” of various senior high schools in terms of enrollment, fees, and other aspects, and sorted out or changed some of the “international classes” that did not meet the requirements. Since then, Beijing and Shanghai have announced that they will no longer examine and approve new international classes for public high schools, while Zhejiang, Anhui, Heilongjiang, and Jilin provinces have transferred the right to examine and approve international classes for public high schools to the provincial level. Therefore, it is a general trend for public high schools to withdraw from the international class market. In March 2019, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on Enrollment of Regular Primary and Secondary Schools in 2019. Compulsory education schools are not allowed to recruit students under the names of “international departments”, “international courses”, or “overseas classes”, the circular said. In July, the CPC Central Committee and The State Council issued the Opinions on Deepening Education and Teaching Reform to Comprehensively Improve the Quality of Compulsory Education. Compulsory education schools are not allowed to introduce foreign courses or use foreign textbooks, according to the guideline. Enrollment of privately run compulsory education schools shall be subject to unified management of examination and approval places and be enrolled at the same time as public schools. The number of applicants who exceed the enrollment plan will be randomly enrolled by computer.

1.2.2 Management of International Schools In November 2016, the new Private Education Promotion Law was passed, implementing classified management of private schools and allowing for-profit private school sponsors to benefit from running schools. In 2021, the Regulations on the Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Promotion of Private Education were revised, and a series of new documents and policies were

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promulgated. While standardizing the running of international schools and strengthening supervision, the reform of international schools was accelerated, and international schools were encouraged to return to their original intention of educating students and move toward connotative and characteristic development. Training institutions are no longer allowed to hold “international high schools”. Most universities in major destination countries such as the UK and the USA do not require Chinese students to obtain a state-recognized high school diploma. Therefore, there has been a situation in some areas of China that training institutions offer full-time international course training for high school age students. In the minds of the market and many families, these training institutions are regarded as “international high schools”, no different from international schools. The document clearly requires that it is strictly forbidden to provide overseas education courses, and no new discipline training institutions outside the school for ordinary senior high school students shall be approved. “The management of discipline training institutions for ordinary senior high school students shall be carried out with reference to the relevant provisions of this opinion”. Therefore, setting up overseas education courses with the qualifications of training institutions will constitute a violation, and full-time subject course training cannot be conducted any more. The 2021 Annual Development Observation Report of International Schools, written by ten educators, summarizes international schools throughout the year from the perspectives of trends, overseas study, layout, new policies, double reduction, fees, curriculum, teachers, principals, and innovation, in order to provide reference for the standardized and high-quality development of international schools. It should be noted that the international schools in the report mainly refer to primary and secondary schools with international characteristics, including international departments (classes) of public schools, private international schools, and schools for children of foreign nationals (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

1.2.3 Trend: Private Brands with Chinese Characteristics International schools are facing new challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic for two consecutive years, the tightening of enrollment policies in some foreign universities, and some changes in domestic education policies in 2021. The epidemic has hampered student flows, but in the long run, it is a trend for international schools to operate overseas. As China’s national strength enhanced, going out to the school becomes inevitable, and from the China group, internal teaching gradually turned to different RACES, different language, different culture background of the students in class together, can let the student to experience the essence of international understanding education, through the study of multi-cultural, and develop international language ability, communication ability, thinking habit, and the international field of vision. This is also a kind of exploration and attempt to construct “Chinese plan” of international education system. In addition to the above two trends, the development of some international schools deserves attention. Since the reform and opening up

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of the first batch of international schools, it has a certain social reputation, stable development momentum. Some small international schools, with a small number of students, are geared to overseas education, and some schools are geared to foreign art schools, which are very distinctive. There are also some international schools with a short history, which gradually form characteristics and show a rising momentum. It is worth noting that, with the further expansion of reform and opening up, international schools should achieve diversified and personalized development in order to meet the needs of foreign children to receive preschool education and ordinary primary and secondary education. International schools in China should not copy the western school-running model completely but should have Chinese characteristics and develop their own brands. Many countries have responded to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in various ways, leading to a “rebound” in applications from international students. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the evolution of online and offline hybrid education. The application of online technology in teaching will help every child enjoy high-quality education and bring new opportunities for international education cooperation and exchanges. As vaccination speeds up, some overseas schools have gradually resumed offline teaching, boosting students’ confidence in studying overseas. At present, “safe study abroad” is a concept that international students should uphold. We encourage students to take “safe study abroad” and “successful study abroad” as the dual principles of studying abroad. “Supporting overseas study, encouraging return, coming and going freely and playing a role” has been China’s policy on overseas study for many years and should be implemented consistently. Studying abroad is not the ultimate goal, but a process. It is expected that more and more overseas students will choose to return to China after completing their studies. In 2021, international schools will face certain challenges in curriculum construction, which can be embodied in the following aspects: First, under the new regulations, how to absorb, learn from, and integrate foreign courses on the premise of the concrete implementation of the national curriculum is an urgent issue, which is not a small challenge for many international schools and puts forward higher requirements for the management of international schools and the construction of teaching staff. Second, in the aspect of curriculum evaluation, after the issuance of the Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of Education Evaluation in the New Era, the state issued a number of policies to regulate international schools one after another last year, which will affect the reform of international school evaluation. Third, in terms of students’ ability cultivation, the curriculum of international schools not only attaches importance to students’ group cooperation ability, but also emphasizes the cultivation of students’ independent learning ability and independent learning ability. Facing the future, we need to think, what kind of international curriculum is needed in the stage of basic education in China? First, it should contain Chinese cultural elements, have distinct Chinese characteristics, and be able to inherit and spread Chinese culture and values. Second, it should adapt to China’s national conditions and be suitable for Chinese and foreign students whose mother tongue is not English. It should have independent intellectual property rights and not be controlled by others. Third, it is not a traditional domestic curriculum, but the development and innovation of domestic curriculum standards, which can be

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promoted overseas. Fourthly, it has also been certified by domestic and international authoritative certification bodies, and its credits have been recognized by universities around the world (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

1.2.4 Teachers: Systematic Planning to Accelerate Training China education international exchange association and the Chinese society of education in 2020 published “international bilingual education teachers’ professional education teaching ability standard” and the relevant evaluation standard, based on the 2021 international education formal launch of bilingual teachers’ professional education, teaching ability examination means international bilingual teaching began to gradually form a “professional” field. In recent years, the requirements of education opening to the outside world have become more and more clear: first, adhere to the position of educating people, adhere to the cultivation of moral integrity, cultivate new people with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics and labor, and international vision; second, we will build a curriculum system with Chinese characteristics and an international perspective and build overseas international schools to tell China’s story in education. To meet the requirements of these two tasks, a team of teachers with high traditional Chinese cultural literacy, international advanced education and teaching theories and methods, and strong bilingual teaching and cross-cultural understanding abilities is the key. Facing the strategic goal of high-level education opening to the outside world, colleges and universities, especially normal universities, should make a systematic layout and speed up the training of international professional bilingual teachers. International bilingual teachers should further understand the similarities and differences between the international curriculum system and China’s national curriculum on the basis of understanding the curriculum concept, curriculum content, and teaching methods and guide students to adhere to the correct position and concept. It is necessary to understand the formation rules of students’ cognition, emotion, and values in crosscultural educational situations while skillfully applying multi-language teaching. China’s teacher education should not lack any teacher training for Chinese students.

1.2.5 Innovation: Innovation and Continuous Proof In recent years, some “new ecological” schools have attracted more attention. Investors, founders, parents, and students have come together to create innovative schools that are more or less incomprehensible. It is neither an international school, nor a traditional public school or private school. It tries to integrate the advantages of “public school” and “international school” and cultivate “happy actors with heart and efficient learners with rational innovation”. The school’s characteristics

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are based on the local, break through the traditional thinking, and actively explore the way of curriculum implementation, school management, and student learning resources provision. It pays attention to the individualized development of students, pays special attention to the connection with the real life of students in the implementation of the curriculum, and draws lessons from the teaching methods of some mature curriculum systems in the world. In terms of the home-school relationship, parents are deeply involved in students’ learning management and school curriculum construction, creating a “shared learning” relationship among parents, students, and teachers. The home-school community builds a good community in which everyone grows together. In fact, some public schools are also exploring similar courses and teaching and research implementation paths, which can be regarded as new ecological innovation schools, such as Hongling Experimental Primary School in Futian District, Shenzhen City. Its biggest bright spot is the implementation of national curriculum in the way of superdisciplinary large unit theme learning, and students’ learning way has changed completely. The school embodies innovative characteristics in teacher staffing, teacher performance evaluation, teacher class and class composition, teacher teaching research and training methods, teacher teaching design methods, student learning methods, learning space construction, home-school relationship, and other aspects.

1.3 The Historical Development of International Schools in China 1.3.1 From Nothing to Something—Embryonic Period (1980–1989) Founded in 1969, The Pakistani Embassy School in Beijing was the first international school in China in a broad sense. Compared with ordinary public schools at that time, it increased the proportion of language teaching and the teaching content of its own nationality, but it was very different from today’s international schools in terms of essential definition. In 2002, ISB began accepting children of non-embassy staff. When the city’s economy develops to a certain extent, it becomes a trend for foreigners to work in China. When the internationalization of the city reaches a certain degree, there will be a corresponding demand for international education. For example, the establishment of Shenzhen Shekou International School in 1988 solved the educational needs of the children of foreign employees working in Shekou. By 1989, there were about six international schools in China, including five schools for foreign children and one public school international department. At that time, the internationalization of Chinese education was not obvious, and most international schools were for children of foreign nationals, mainly to solve the learning problems of children of embassy staff and children of foreign nationals working in areas with rapid economic development. At the same time, in the early stage of reform and

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opening up, China’s overall education level and education concept are relatively backward, and most people have no concept of international education. Taking the college entrance examination is the main way for students to enter higher education, and the international department of public schools and private international schools hardly develop (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

1.3.2 Preliminary Development—Exploratory Period (1990–1999) In this decade, 80 new schools were established, including six public schools with international departments, 39 private international schools, and 35 foreign schools. By 1999, there were 86 international schools in China, including ten public schools with international departments, 39 private international schools, and 38 foreign schools. This is a decade of deepening reform and opening. China’s door has been further opened, and its economy has developed further. Many foreign companies have entered China, and China’s economic development has attracted many foreigners to work in China. The increasing number of children of foreign staff has created a spring for the development of foreign children’s schools. On July 31, 1997, The State Council issued the Regulations on Running Schools by Social Forces to encourage social forces to run schools, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of sponsors, schools, other educational institutions, teachers, educators, and promote the healthy development of running schools by social forces. With the continuous economic development, the emergence of local high net worth people in China has promoted the continuous development of private international schools.

1.3.3 Rapid Development—Rising Period (2000–2009) A total of 271 new schools were established during the decade, including 75 public schools with international departments, 133 private international schools, and 63 schools for foreign children. By 2009, there were 357 international schools in China, including 84 public schools with international departments, 172 private international schools, and 101 schools for foreign children. During this period, the national income level kept rising and the high net worth population kept growing. More and more families are beginning to change their minds and do not want to let their children go through the “single-path bridge” of the college entrance examination. It has become a popular choice to send their children abroad to study and apply for overseas undergraduate courses. In this situation, some public middle schools have opened their own international courses to meet this demand. Private international schools have won more market development space with their flexible enrollment and scope. At

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the same time, with China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 and its successful bid for the Beijing Olympic Games, more and more Chinese are going global, while more and more foreigners are settling down in China (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

1.3.4 Vigorous Development—Explosive Period (2010–2019) According to current statistics, 346 schools are expected to be built in this decade, including 131 public schools with international departments, 193 private international schools, and 22 foreign schools. This has been the decade of international schools in China. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the parents became the main body of the group. The overall quality of the parents improved, and the education of their children from vision to idea and even economic strength reached an unprecedented height. At the same time, the society attaches more importance to education, and the education competition in public schools has become white-hot. On the other hand, parents born in the 1970s are more eager to change the path of education for their next generation due to their own experience of China’s exam-oriented education, so their demand for international education is particularly strong. Public international classes and private international schools have sprung up in large Chinese cities. Especially after the revision of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education in 2016, private schools adopted classified management methods to distinguish for-profit and non-profit schools, which further promoted the vigorous development of private schools. As for schools for foreign children, the number of foreign schools has been nearly saturated due to the lack of a large increase in foreign students, and few new international schools choose to open schools for foreign children. On January 18, 2017, The State Council issued several opinions on Encouraging Social Forces to Run Education and Promoting the Healthy development of Private education. The opinions point out that private schools should be actively guided to serve social needs, inclusive private kindergartens should be encouraged in preschool education stage, and the phenomenon of “primary school” should be prevented and corrected. In January 2017, the Ministry of Education and other three departments recently issued the Implementation Rules for the Supervision and administration of for-profit private schools. The detailed rules specify the specific requirements that social organizations and individuals should have to set up for-profit private schools, stressing that school charging items and standards should be published to the public 30 days after implementation and that schools should not charge other fees in addition to the publicized projects and standards, apportion fees to students or force them to raise funds under any name. In August 2017, the introduction of the new revision of the “private education promotion law”, in order to adapt to the non-profit and for-profit private schools classification management of the new situation, the state administration for industry and commerce, the Ministry of Education jointly issued “on the for-profit private schools name registration administration announcement

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concerning the work, the for-profit private schools naming rules, and the name of the approval process specification”.

1.4 Problems and Challenges Facing the Development of International Schools in China 1.4.1 The Development of International Schools Still Needs Greater Policy Breakthroughs In 2016, the research group of think tank for China and Globalization (CCG) conducted a survey and analysis on the development status of international schools in China and the development status of international school students in Beijing. Based on relevant literature research, a questionnaire was designed to obtain relevant information of 309 international schools nationwide through sampling survey. Among the 309 international schools, 158 only enroll Chinese students, accounting for 51.1%, while 105 can simultaneously enroll Chinese and foreign students, accounting for 33.9%. There are 46 schools that only recruit foreign students, accounting for 15.0%. In the form of entrance examination, 197 students were admitted independently, accounting for 63.7%; 95 schools adopted “independent enrollment + entrance examination”, accounting for 30.7%; seventeen schools, accounting for 5.6%, adopted the middle school entrance examination. More than half of international schools only enroll Chinese students, which is limited by the policy. Greater breakthroughs are still needed in the development of education internationalization. The form of independent enrollment shows the characteristics and ideas of international schools to a certain extent.

1.4.2 To Ensure the Quality of Education is a Problem to Be Faced by Private International Schools In recent years, due to the restrictions of household registration or school status, many students have turned to international education. In recent years, local governments have tightened the “international classes” in public schools, and some provinces and cities have issued policies to stop approving all kinds of “international classes” in public schools. As a result, many private schools providing international education appear. In this context, private schools providing international education usher in new development opportunities. It is because of the growing demand for international education that a large number of private schools providing international education appear, but the management work is obviously lagging behind. Foreign teachers in international schools have problems such as difficulty in teacher quality identification, lack of professional support and frequent turnover, while local teachers

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lack relevant teaching experience and training, so it is difficult to get involved in the teaching of international courses, so the quality of education is difficult to be guaranteed. Teachers and principals change more frequently than ordinary schools. Many international schools employ well-known principals in the industry with high salaries to improve the popularity of the school. However, many principals choose to leave the school because they find that the school has many problems after working for a period of time, or their ideas are incompatible. The principal is the soul of the school, what kind of person he is, what his teaching philosophy is, he will train your children into this aspect of a person, these are particularly important. And the frequent change of principals is very detrimental to the development of school education. When applying for private schools for international education, some international school organizers pay more attention to capital operation, while the corresponding professional preparation is obviously inadequate, especially in school planning, curriculum construction, teacher selection, and employment, and the quality is difficult to guarantee. Faced with the huge demand, some private schools offering international education are “hard to find”, while others rush to get started and then wind up. It not only reflects the lack of preparation of the organizer, but also highlights the lax control and lagging management of the management department, which should be paid attention to and strengthened supervision. In the process of running schools, some international schools have not fully recognized the differences between Chinese and foreign cultures in managing students and lack management innovation. In terms of students’ physical and mental health counseling and regular communication between schools and parents, they have not really established the “trinity” educational ecosystem of school, students, and family. Parents are not fully mobilized in the education of students, which has a certain negative effect on the overall and healthy development of students. The proportion of private international schools is nearly half, which is the main force in the development of international schools in China. According to the survey statistics, after 2010, the demand for international schools has become more vigorous, and private international schools have attracted much attention from the market and entered a stage of steady growth. However, to ensure the quality of education while developing steadily is a problem to be faced in the future development of private international schools. In a survey of international schools in China, it is found that Beijing Royal School has made remarkable achievements in improving the quality of education. Beijing Royal School cooperates with Harvard University and other prestigious universities to provide short- and medium-term training for teachers. In terms of the curriculum system, the international curriculum system of “Integration of China and Foreign countries” has been implemented to form a unique international education system. There are only a handful of such explorations in private international schools. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the educational quality of private international schools (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

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1.4.3 The Enrollment Threshold of International Schools Is Not Transparent In recent years, international schools have developed rapidly due to top-class facilities, powerful teachers, and international teaching concepts. This circle is no longer limited to the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, but is gradually expanding to the second- and third-tier cities, and more and more families are in need of international schools. International school tuition is expensive, everyone knows, but international school is for the sake of domestic students to study abroad, not only can improve grades, still can broaden horizons, enrich their knowledge, a good preparation for studying abroad, to learn there is a big advantage in the future, so many parents also want to let their children scraped into the international school. In the face of high demand market, most international universities now have thresholds, such as international schools need not only excellent students, but also excellent parents. Parents are also generally interviewed by the school. Parents need to help their children gradually adapt to the international environment and gradually integrate into the international circle. Every activity in the school requires parents to participate in. But in reality, the admission standards are not transparent. It is known that many international schools with foreign identity requirements have lax identity verification problems, and some high-quality international schools that are difficult to enter have the problem of backdoor. Some students with superior family conditions can ignore these threshold requirements only through some improper ways and means and directly through special channels to enter the school does not accept the threshold restrictions, obviously very excellent children cannot enter the school to receive education. This is a big problem for international schools nowadays.

1.4.4 Insufficient Funds for Education Investment in international understanding education in primary and secondary schools is the material basis. For example, high land price, if you choose to study in an international school in a city with high land price, then the land price will account for part of the cost; recruitment of excellent teachers: International schools not only need Chinese teachers to teach, but foreign teachers are the most important. Hiring those excellent teachers will lead to higher education expenses. Complete high-end equipment: The equipment in international schools is more high-end than that in ordinary schools, which provides students with complete places for interest development. Therefore, this cost is not small. Funds for study tours: International schools often organize various study tours and extracurricular activities to broaden their horizons and broaden their knowledge, which also needs financial support. However, the funding guarantee measures for curriculum development and teaching, international exchanges, teacher training, and professional development of international understanding education in primary and secondary schools need to be improved. China’s

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insufficient investment in education has seriously affected the improvement of education level, unable to meet the huge educational needs of the people, and unable to adapt to the development of international education service trade. Running an international school requires a lot of capital investment, and the return cycle is relatively long. Therefore, some investors who do not know education often rush to recover their capital, so they will be too involved in the daily management of the school, which leads to the real education practitioners have no real power, which is detrimental to the long-term development of the school. Education internationalization activities need a lot of financial support, without certain financial support, internationalization activities cannot be carried out. Different from other schools, international schools have a special management model, and the current comprehensive budget management system is difficult to meet their own development needs. International schools, for example, involve the primary school, junior high and high school education stage, primary school, many organizations to take part in spring outing, sketch, and dance, such as cultural activities, the junior middle school stage pays more attention to improve students’ practical ability, many organizations to participate in activities such as robot, military camp, while high school focuses on students of the college entrance examination study orientation, education mode, and the different periods such as a focus is different. The financial department of the school should make corresponding budget preparation and adjustment according to the actual situation. At the same time, the lack of teaching funds and the unreasonable internal structure of international schools make the implementation of budget expenditure, and the internal reform of private international schools has an obvious contradiction. International schools in the implementation of the comprehensive budget management, just stay in the system phase, did not give enough attention, making its efforts in supervision and management, also because of this, cause international school comprehensive budget management difficult to achieve, failed to give full play to the comprehensive budget management in the international important role in the process of school running. For example, the budget of a general international school consists of two parts: One is the total budget collected by the lower responsible personnel to the higher competent department; the second is the budget for elementary, middle, and high schools. The funding problem is mainly reflected in the following aspects: First of all, the slow growth of education investment, especially the government’s investment in education, cannot keep pace with the rapid growth of education scale and the improvement of education quality. Compared with the international level, the proportion of government expenditure on education in GDP is low. Secondly, China’s educational investment structure is not reasonable. The original educational management system of our country basically implements the system of national centralized plan, government direct management, and single financial allocation. The diversified educational investment system has not been completely established and cannot meet the needs of educational development (Li & Xue, 2022; Wang, 2022; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

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1.4.5 Lagging Laws and Regulations In recent years, international schools have mushroomed. And the construction of corresponding policies and regulations is relatively lagging behind. Although China has promulgated some laws and development programs, these are far from meeting the needs of international school education development. Therefore, it is urgent to introduce a private education law with a complete system and strong operability, and the existing policies are mainly the industrial rules of the education system itself. What is needed has not been introduced, and existing constraints are not in place [2]. All these have become bottlenecks in the development of international education service trade in Chinese universities, which also reflects the relative lag of international education legislation in China. As far as the current situation is concerned, the Ministry of Education has little intervention in the implementation of international curriculum in primary and secondary schools and kindergartens, and its authority is mainly placed in local areas. Some responsible local governments have formulated relevant policies in the name of standardization (mainly for high schools), and the international curriculum of public schools is strictly supervised, such as Shanghai and Shenzhen. Most local governments are “inactive”, since the state does not have a hard and fast requirement, it simply does not manage. As a result, a large number of schools recruit students with international curriculum/international class/bilingual version in many places, but few international schools are actually approved according to the regulations of cooperative running schools, and many places have not been approved by any cooperative running institutions. For example, national laws on tuition fees are out of step with The Times. According to the sample survey statistics of the new theory, from the perspective of tuition fees, the tuition fees of some private international schools are kept at a relatively high level. The average level in developed regions is 130–160,000 yuan in general, and the average level of tuition fees of international schools in other regions is also basically up to 80,000–100,000 yuan. In contrast, according to Dubai knowledge and manpower development council (KHDA), run by the local to the top ranks of the Dubai international junior high school tuition average 6.5 dirhams (about 110,000 yuan), the quality of the average private international junior high school tuition 2.9 dirhams (about 50,000 yuan), poor quality of the private international junior high school tuition is not even on average. On the other hand, the provisions of laws and regulations to the problem of international school admissions are not clear, causing chaos of recruit students, each international school has its own admissions standards, but the admissions standards are not transparent, and many international schools have foreign citizenship requirements that exist in the problem of identity verification which is lax, some very difficult problems to enter through the back door of the high-quality international school. As a result, many students who do not meet the requirements of the school can get into the school through special channels. On the other hand, China’s international education legislation is relatively scattered, the relevant provisions are mainly scattered in some education laws and regulations. In recent years, China has made many attempts to legislate, but many attempts have been made, and the trend of state management and

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control has become stronger. The implementation of the New People’s Promotion Law is still very difficult, with “insufficient confidence”. Moreover, it takes a lot of time to implement the new law (Li & Xue, 2022; Wang, 2022; Zhou, 2021).

1.5 Suggestions for Challenges and Problems International schools are in great demand and have great development space in the long run. However, the problems exposed in the development of international schools cannot be ignored. Therefore, we propose the following suggestions.

1.5.1 Reasonable Operation and Management International schools, like countless other organizations, exist in an economic context. International schools attract all kinds of consumption and income, but also need to be managed. Manage an international school. Not only to solve its teaching problems, as a successful school leader should know how to do a good job in the management of the school organization. In the face of fierce market competition, management innovation is very helpful for enterprises to win competitive advantages, especially in international schools. Like other schools, international schools have the common characteristics of educational activities and enterprise activities and have the dual attributes of education and industry. International schools, as public welfare undertakings, differ from private enterprises in that the latter take profit as the main day, while the schools take human cultivation as the value orientation. Enterprises follow the principle of maximization of economic benefits, while schools follow the principle of maximization of social benefits. The fundamental purpose of fees charged by schools is to compensate for the cost of running schools, rather than to make profits. In terms of school system construction, international schools also adopt a series of organizational management forms similar to the modern enterprise system to maximize operational efficiency. For example, in international schools, the principal takes responsibility under the leadership of the Labyrinth, and decision-making power is separated from management power. For the recruitment of faculty and staff, the employment relationship shall be determined by signing contracts; adopt flexible and varied forms of salary and welfare treatment and so on. In terms of the results of school operation, the school board can make scientific and democratic decisions and fully occupy the market share of students. Brand management of international schools is also a powerful competitive strategy. Brand is a strong driving force for the sustainable development of a school. Schools can enhance a sustainable competitive position.

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1.5.2 Expanding Sources of Education Funding Only sufficient fund reserve can improve the level of teachers, increase the teaching facilities, and meet the teaching needs. The principle of fund-raising of private international schools is to raise funds by themselves, and their finance does not need to be examined and approved by the financial department. Based on the current fundraising situation and development trend of the university, training income, scientific research funds, and other fund-raising channels can be opened on the basis of setting up characteristic majors and expanding students. For example, existing educational resources are utilized to open private classes, winter and summer camps, English training, and summer training courses; actively participate in the higher education part of the horizontal project for education funds; we will open industry-universityresearch projects within the scope permitted by law and increase income from selfsupporting services. We need to expand funding channels in a flexible way to avoid the dilemma that tuition fees are too high to deter students and too low to be sustainable. It is suggested that regular financial funds be set up to allocate funds based on the enrollment scale, which will be used for tuition reduction and self-development to help maintain the operation of schools, to enhance the competitiveness of schools and promote sustainable development, provide certain funds to support the purchase, lease land, establish a campus, equipment purchase, teacher introduction, etc., and encourage domestic enterprises to cooperate with colleges and universities and run schools in the form of “equity”.

1.5.3 Expanding Space for Development According to Article 8 of the Interim Administrative Measures of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China on Opening Schools for Children of Foreign Nationals, “The students of the school shall be the children of foreign nationals holding residence certificates in China, and the school shall not enroll the children of Chinese citizens in China”. With the development of economic globalization, international talents are more and more popular, and those in the international school at an early age to accept education, dealing with different countries children students are more likely to develop international vision at an early age, the development of communication and communication ability, have experience in the international school of children in college applications that are easy to be a priority; there are also more advantages in job hunting and career development. Therefore, more and more parents, including parents of students in mainland China, also hope that their children can be enrolled in international schools, so that their children can receive international education from an early age. So, if the government can relax the policy and allow domestic children to study in international schools, for these children, they will have a high-quality education resource to choose from; and for

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these international schools, it also expands the development space, because after all, the overall number of overseas students is very limited.

1.5.4 Improve the Quality of Education International schools should provide differentiated, diversified, and characteristic education. To achieve high-quality, distinctive, and diversified development, private international schools should carry out educational reform and exploration more actively and think more about the possibility of connotation development. On the one hand, we must adhere to the socialist orientation in running schools, uphold the overall leadership of the Party, actively implement the Party’s education policy, uphold moral integrity, cultivate people, and train socialist builders and successors who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and artistically. International school, on the other hand, in terms of environment, curriculum, and resource has a natural advantage, openness, and diversity, and international education resources have a deeper level of communication and fusion, can quickly absorb advanced education experience and research results of other countries in the world, so international school in its positioning to go beyond simple “agents”, to train more people with “global competency” as their mission. At the same time, we should spread our achievements accumulated over the years to the international community, build an international curriculum system with Chinese characteristics, promote the pilot construction of overseas Chinese international schools, be the “spokesperson” of Chinese schools in the international community, and help China deeply participate in global governance, and build a new world order. Private international schools should return to educational logic from market logic. In recent years, with the influx of capital into the international education industry, international schools have encountered some problems in running schools. Education should meet the needs of individual personality development, while the market pursues the largescale replication of products. The size of the school is limited, but the profit of the market is infinite. Excessive capital intervention will disturb the development logic of education itself and then directly affect the quality of education and education ecology. Some developed regions have already jumped out of the old framework and tried something new. Such as Shanghai in strict audit, under the premise of ensuring quality, determines the 21st international high school curriculum pilot schools, in the recruitment of students, curriculum, management, first try first, some of the more mature international school to get rid of the foreign curriculum is highly dependent on, set up his own curriculum system, and even try to put forward China international curriculum system and obtain certification of relevant international agencies. At the same time, these schools are putting more and more efforts into teacher selection and training. These are all useful explorations. Facts show that most of these schools are on the path of high-quality and sustainable development. More international schools should learn from these more mature international schools and “practice internal

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skills” in curriculum construction, teacher training, classroom teaching, support for student development, and other elements of school connotation development.

1.5.5 Adhere to Sustainable Development, Improve the Overall Level of Teachers The identity of the teacher is various, the teacher has the important position in the whole teaching process, and the teacher is the leader, is the builder, and so on. Teachers’ “teaching” affects students’ “learning”, and the level of teachers’ international understanding ability also affects the implementation of teachers’ international understanding. In 24 “UNESCO” youth international understanding of the cultivation of the spirit and the teaching of the international organizations concerned, teachers themselves should have the spirit of international understanding and specialized training, make it qualified for this part of the essential teaching in the whole education, no matter this kind of teaching is direct or indirect. Therefore, in the implementation of international understanding education in primary and secondary schools, attention should also be paid to the improvement of teachers’ international understanding ability. “In 2010, Chapter 16 of the Outline of the National Plan for Mediumand Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) clearly stated that it is necessary to strengthen international understanding education, promote cross-cultural exchanges, and enhance students’ knowledge and understanding of different countries and cultures”. In August 2016, the Ministry of Education issued the Education Action Plan for Jointly Building the Belt and Road. It clearly stated that primary and secondary schools should carry out extensive interschool cooperation and exchanges, teacher-student interaction, teacher training, and international understanding education. The revised Law on the Promotion of Privately run Education stipulates that “the sponsors of privately-run schools may independently choose to set up non-profit or for-profit privately-run schools, but they may not set up forprofit privately-run schools providing compulsory education”. For some includes compulsory education but also the private schools that offer international education of high school, if “part of compulsory education” choice for for-profit private schools may be involved in the school of “compulsory education” and “part of compulsory education”, including the division of property, debt stripping, etc., which need to be prepared accordingly. At present, private schools providing international education include international curriculum as the main mode, international and domestic curriculum integration mode, and international examination curriculum as the main mode in high school curriculum setting. It is an important policy orientation to strengthen the review and management of the introduction of international courses and foreign textbooks by private schools providing international education, pay attention to the integration of international courses and domestic courses, and ensure the

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basic quality requirements stipulated by the state. Private schools providing international education need to conform to this trend and direction. International understanding education aims to promote international harmony and human peace. It aims to cultivate international talents with international awareness, international understanding ability, awareness of international rules, understanding of differences, and facing up to differences. It guides students to understand different cultural customs of different countries in the world on the premise of respect and based on tolerance. “In July 1968, recommendation No. 64 of ‘Education for International Understanding as an integral part of school curriculum and life’ advocated the integration of education for international understanding into all curricula and the infiltration of the spirit of international understanding into school life”. Through the method of integration and infiltration, teachers can find a meeting point when students are learning subject knowledge, and with appropriate expansion, students can increase their knowledge unconsciously, so that they can get the best of both worlds and get twice the result with half the effort. Subject infiltration is different from school-based courses of international understanding education. There are two main ways to infiltrate relevant content in the subject under the condition of ensuring the completion of the basic objectives of the subject. One is to integrate the relevant content of international understanding education into the subject. The second is to explore the existing content of international understanding education in the discipline. As can be seen from the compulsory education curriculum standards in 2011, most of the subjects contain education content about international understanding. Teachers should sort out the contents, create scenarios, select appropriate cases, and extend them appropriately. International understanding education is value education. Teachers should design a variety of teaching methods to integrate the concepts related to international understanding education into the teaching of subjects, so as to cultivate students’ tolerant understanding mentality and further enrich the humanistic value of each subject (Li & Xue, 2022; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

1.6 Summary “Education for international understanding” refers to education that promotes mutual understanding and respect between different countries and people with different social and cultural backgrounds. Its core idea is to respect the other, to understand the multi-culture and multi-value, to accept the existence of difference and uniqueness, and to develop the understanding, respect, and tolerance of different cultures and emotions. International understanding education should be permeated in mathematics teaching, and it is more important to guide students to learn multi-angle and multi-dimensional way of thinking, to try diversified learning methods such as independent inquiry and cooperative learning, so as to form the good character of independence, respect for others, and the ability to grasp problems in the whole situation and think as a whole. With the rapid development of our economy, the

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number and type of international schools are growing rapidly. International schools have their own unique educational philosophy, management system, and curriculum. These international schools have gained some experience and achievements in the process of development, but also encountered a series of challenges. The author hopes to make a comprehensive study on the survival and development of international schools. Let everyone have a certain understanding of this new thing, but also help this kind of school to analyze and think about some problems facing. Globalization has brought the internationalization of education, and the internationalization of education has led to the emergence of international schools. Internationalization is the economic globalization as the forerunner, economic globalization basket into a whole world. The internationalization demand of economy leads to the internationalization demand of talents, and the internationalization demand of talents leads to the internationalization demand of education. The internationalization of education is not only an objective trend, but also a universal international phenomenon. It is not something we can choose subjectively. Nor is it unique to any one country. In addition to the internationalization of education causing waves of study abroad, it has also led to the proliferation of international schools around the world. (Li & Xue, 2021; Meng, 2004; Wang, 2022; Xu, 2021; Xu & Gao, 2021; Zhou, 2021).

References Li, J., & Xue. E., (2022) Exploring the epistemology of internationalization at home: a scoping review approach educational philosophy and theory. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2021.202 2473 Meng, D. (2004) The status quo and development of international schools in Shanghai. Shanghai Education research, 20(1), 11–18. Wang, F. (2022) International Schools’ characteristic education helps students to open the door of overseas famous universities. 21st Century Business Herald, 20(2), 11–17. Xu, H. (2021). Review of international schools and international school curriculum. Education Theory and Practice, 20(06), 41–44. Xu, S., Gao, G. (2021). The current situation, problems and suggestions of international curriculum for domestic students in senior high schools: a case study of Shanghai. Education Development Research, 32(6), 11–19 Zhou, J. (2021). Research on existing problems and countermeasures of Chinese course teaching in private international Schools. Chinese in Middle School. New Space for Reading and Writing, 20(4), 3–5.

Chapter 2

International School Student Cultivation in China

This chapter concentrates on the international school student cultivation in China. With the deepening of global integration and the internationalization of Chinese education, international schools have developed rapidly and formed a certain scale in China, especially in cities with developed economy and high degree of openness. International schools have become an important part of China’s education. At present, with the boom of studying abroad, western educational concepts are more and more easily accepted by Chinese people. Many students and parents have changed their educational attitudes and choose to receive international education. With the deepening of economic globalization, the exchanges among countries become more and more frequent, the transnational flow of human resources has become a normal state, and the internationalization of education has become a global trend. However, there are some problems in the process of cultivating students in international schools due to some factors. In this paper, the problems in the process of cultivating international students are discussed in sections, and the problems and challenges are discussed in detail from all levels. If there are problems, there are countermeasures. In view of some problems raised, this paper puts forward detailed and comprehensive countermeasures based on consulting research materials.

2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 The Cultivation of International School Students in China The overall research ideas on the cultivation of international school students in China can be divided into three aspects. On the first hand, the definition in the research review is discussed, in which the concept of international school and the cultivation objectives of international school are, respectively, discussed. Secondly, it discusses © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 J. Li, International School Policy Development, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8817-2_2

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the characteristics of international school student training in China and the content of national school student training. The historical development and policy changes of international schools in China are discussed again. Finally, the author and scholars’ views on international school research are discussed. The second part discusses the problems and challenges in the training of international school students in China. Through literature analysis, this paper puts forward the problems in the cultivation of international school students in China from different levels to deepen the understanding of the research and provide support for the research of strategies and suggestions in the next part. The third aspect puts forward targeted countermeasures and suggestions for the problems in the cultivation of international school students in China. According to the problems in the previous part, countermeasures and suggestions are put forward in a targeted and all-round way, which promotes the understanding of the research and improves the content of the research. The chapter adopts that the method of research mainly is the literature analysis method and is based on the purpose of China’s international school students, through the investigation of literature to obtain information, thus comprehensively, the correct understanding to study the problem of China’s international education students, through this research method to understand the history of the problem first development and the status quo, and to help determine the research purpose. Secondly, it can form a general impression about the research object, which is helpful to carry out their own analysis. Finally, we can get realistic information, which is conducive to the overall picture of the cultivation of students in international schools in China (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Lin, 2014; Wen, 2009; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

2.1.2 Concept of International School In 1964, Beridlauveris noted: “A whole new concept – the international school. With a clear goal of advancing international education”. The original intention of the international school is to solve the educational problems of the children of the staff of foreign embassies in China. It takes the implementation of international education as its own responsibility and has its own clear purpose, organization, and curriculum, with distinct school-running style and academic characteristics. International education is the result of the internationalization of world politics and economy and the reflection of new interdependence in international education. International school is mainly existing in the secondary education stage, the global perspective of international understanding and thinking of value orientation, features a diverse curriculum for bilingual or multi-lingual teaching way, to the world of personnel as the main service object, to train students in the process of globalization the necessary language, knowledge, ability, and attitude of the school. The training objectives of international schools are generally in line with international standards, that is, on the premise of enhancing students’ international awareness and understanding of multi-culturalism, taking students’ lifelong development as the basis, and cultivating students’ sound

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personality and good personality. Some international schools are positioned to be in line with international standards, hoping that students can apply for foreign universities directly after years of study. However, some international schools are positioned on the contrary, enabling their foreign students to gradually integrate into China’s social culture through a period of cultivation and study, and even to continue their study in domestic universities as international students (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Lin, 2014; Wen, 2009; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

2.1.3 Characteristics of Student Cultivation in International Schools in China International schools have a relatively relaxed and free learning environment. So international schools to cultivate students have good learning ability and time management skills, they can arrange my time, can do everything in an orderly way, such habits will help the development of the children in the future, only aware of their ability, to realize the importance of learning, to stimulate the potential of him, more conducive to the development of later. International schools focus on cultivating students to have their own ideas and dare to question. Teachers in international schools do not blindly indoctrinate students with knowledge but inspire and encourage students to think and learn by themselves. For example, in the physical chemistry exam, there are few questions requiring calculation. Most of them require students to understand some concepts and definitions and write answers based on their own analysis, integration, and reasoning, so as to obtain high scores. International schools pay attention to the cultivation of students’ quality and pay more attention to the cultivation of students’ self-learning ability, practical ability, inquiry ability, and independent ability. They allow and encourage students’ personalized development and are committed to cultivating students’ lifelong learning and active learning ability and habit. To the all-round development of students, especially in the international high school, most international schools will build a lot of interest in training classrooms, laboratories, stadium, etc., and each student has different interests, in order for each student to find suitable for their own interests and hobbies, can have their own things to do, and the school will be equipped with professional teachers to cultivate students. Students in international schools come from all over the world. Due to the cultural differences of each country, students’ national ideas and growth environment have greatly different outlook on life, values, and world outlook. Inevitably, schools have a multi-cultural background, which makes international schools become a multi-cultural integration. Due to their different conditions, orientation, and school philosophy, the curriculum of international schools is in a state of “a hundred flowers bloom”. At present, there are two major courses being implemented in international schools, one is “The International General Certificate of Secondary Education”. The other is an International Baccalaureate certificate. In international schools, the concept of “class” and “grade” has been weakened.

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Because it adopts the form of “credit system” and “walking class system”, it cannot produce the concept of “administrative class” in China. Student learning and discipline are managed by the principal, counselor, homeroom teacher, etc. It is because of the international school in the student enrollment, training objectives, curriculum setting and the particularity of management mode, etc., in the process of student management, the want everything to be born, to pay attention to the harmonious multi-cultural atmosphere of the campus to create, to take flexible management of tolerance and understanding, between teachers and students, home school needs to establish a fully equal partnership, mutual respect (Zhou, 2021).

2.2 Historical Development From the perspective of the process of education internationalization, education internationalization develops with the tide of economic globalization, and international schools grow with the evolution and development of globalization and education internationalization. The development of China International Schools in the past 40 years also benefits from the process of globalization, which is the product of China’s participation in the wave of globalization and the promotion of education internationalization. In recent years, the number of international schools in China has maintained a high level of growth. The year-on-year growth rate of the number of international schools in China was 6.92% in 2014, 7.37% in 2015, and 10.72% in 2016, showing a significant increase. According to the classification and statistics of the new theory, as of October 2016, the total number of international schools in China has reached 661. Among the three types of schools, 122 are foreign international schools, 321 are private international schools, and 218 are public international departments. The development of international schools in China can be divided into four development stages according to their relative development speed and growth pattern, taking ten years as a base period and span.

2.2.1 Initial Development Period (1980–1989) As international school of strict sense, the USA, Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand embassy in 1980 set up the international school of Beijing Shunyi, is China’s reform and opening up after the first full use of foreign teaching system and management system of international school, on behalf of the Chinese official and formal international school. At this stage, the internationalization of Chinese education was not obvious. Schools for foreign children, such as Beijing Shunyi International School, were initially designed to provide education for the children of embassy staff and expatriates working in rapidly developing areas. The school for foreign children is the originator of international schools in China and also the main

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body of international schools in this stage. From 1980 to 1989, three foreign international schools were added, namely Beijing Shunyi International School, Guangzhou American School, and Shenzhen Shekou International School (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Jin & Sun, 2012; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

2.2.2 Accelerated Development Period (1990–1999) In this stage, with the deepening of economic development and China’s reform and opening up, the number of children of foreign nationals kept increasing, and China’s local high net worth group took shape initially, which provided sustained impetus for the development of China’s international schools, and the momentum of rapid development began to take shape. In this decade, 77 new schools were established, including 32 foreign international schools, 39 private international schools, and six public international departments. By 1999, there were 86 international schools, including 38 foreign international schools, 39 private international schools, and ten public international departments. Representative schools include Beijing Jingxi School, Beijing Yaozhong International School, Guangzhou Country Garden School, Maple Leaf International School Dalian, Shanghai Middle School International Department, etc.

2.2.3 Rapid Development Period (2000–2009) At this stage, with the acceleration of China’s globalization, the improvement of national economic level and international vision, a boom of overseas study emerged, and the diversification of domestic education choices and demands became increasingly prominent. In this situation, private international schools and public international departments rise to the occasion and win more space for market development. A total of 270 new schools were established during the decade, including 62 foreign international schools, 117 private international schools, and 91 public international departments. By 2009, there were 357 international schools in China, including 101 foreign schools, 172 private international schools, and 84 public international departments. Representative schools include Suzhou Dulwich British International School, International Class of Renmin University of China attached High School, International Class of Beijing No. 11 School, etc.

2.2.4 Transformation Period (2010–2019) This is the decade when international schools in China blossomed everywhere. The reason is not only driven by the inertia of education internationalization development,

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but also the multiple incentives of policy, demand, and market. Private international schools and public international departments have mushroomed in Chinese cities. Up to now, the total number of schools built or prebuilt in this decade will reach 307, including 22 foreign international schools, 165 private international schools, and 120 public international departments. The established representative schools include Shanghai Harrow International School, Shenzhen Besseth International School, Changshu World United College, Shanghai Nord Anda Bilingual School, Vanke Meisha Academy, and so on. With the deepening of global integration and the internationalization of Chinese education, international schools have developed rapidly and formed a certain scale in China, especially in cities with developed economy and high degree of openness. International schools have become an important part of China’s education. The rapid development of international schools is inseparable from the support of policies. In 2010, The State Council deliberated and approved the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-term Education Reform and Development Program (2010–2020), in which chapter 16 of the program mentioned in the 48th chapter of expanding the opening of education, strengthening international exchanges and cooperation. To carry out multi-level and wide-ranging educational exchanges and cooperation to improve the internationalization level of China’s education, fortynine mentioned the introduction of quality educational resources. To attract overseas well-known schools, educational and scientific research institutions and enterprises to establish educational teaching, practical training, and research institutions or projects, we will encourage schools at all levels and of all types to engage in various forms of international exchanges and cooperation and successfully run a number of model China-foreign cooperative schools and a number of Chinese-foreign cooperative school programs and explore various ways to utilize high-quality educational resources abroad. “To adapt to the requirements of the country’s economic and social opening to the outside world, cultivate a large number of international talents with international vision, familiar with international rules, and able to participate in international affairs and international competition” (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Lin, 2014; Wen, 2009; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021). From the perspective of the origin and development of international schools, the definition of international schools is different because of the different research perspectives of different scholars. British international education scholars BlandLord and Shaw believe that it is difficult to define an international school mainly because schools are different in different education stages, different school sizes, and gender of enrollment. In China, international schools can be divided into the following three categories according to the subjects of running schools and students: The first category is schools for children of foreign nationals, which are established by foreign institutions and international organizations in China and do not admit Chinese students, such as The Shanghai American School. The second type is the international department or international class of public schools, which are managed by Chinese public schools, such as the International Department of Shanghai High School and the International Department of Shanghai Fudan High School. The third category is private international schools, which mainly enroll Chinese students but also foreign students. By referring to relevant literature, we can know that there is

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almost no research literature about foreign education in the context of education internationalization. Most foreign scholars prefer to study the management problems existing in schools in the education process and the impact of educational management, while few study international schools. For domestic scholars, most of the research on international schools have integrated the actual situation of China and carried out in-depth research in education philosophy, curriculum construction, teacher management, teaching management, and other aspects, which have corresponding reference significance. To sum up, this paper clarifies the definition of international schools and the status quo of student training in international schools in China from the viewpoints of scholars by searching and reading the journal articles and doctoral dissertations about student training in international schools in China. That is, there is little research on international schools abroad, especially on the cultivation of students in international schools in China. In addition, it is worth noting that although domestic academic research literature on international school issues presents a trend of explosion, the number of literature on the field of student training needs to be improved. In the literature search of student training, it is necessary to expand the search scope, such as curriculum content, educational philosophy, and core literacy, to predict the student training objectives of international schools in China (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

2.3 Challenges and Problems in Practice 2.3.1 The Training Objectives of Chinese Course Materials Do Not Match with the Directional Needs of Students Students in international schools are indifferent to the learning motivation and orientation of Chinese subject courses, do not develop good learning habits of Chinese, and have obvious shortcomings in basic knowledge and skills of Chinese. The implementation of Chinese curriculum in international schools in China is still difficult to get rid of the control and setting of school curriculum materials by the national education system. As a result, the cultivation goals of Chinese curriculum are separated from and misaligned with the goals of international education pursued by students and their parents, which cannot be well matched and compatible. In other words, Chinese curriculum and teaching have become alienated, vague, and fragmented in the compulsory curriculum system of international schools for studying abroad and have gradually retreated into the “secondary subject” of school education and teaching. Chinese curriculum and teaching are not the necessary conditions for international school students to study abroad and have been reduced to a “side feature” in the construction of the curriculum system of international schools and even almost become a “facade”. Correspondingly, this also leads to the lack of standardized operation and management in Chinese curriculum, teaching quality assessment, teachers’

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teaching quality assessment, and other aspects in international schools (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Lin, 2014; Wen, 2009; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

2.3.2 Chinese Education and Teaching Are Superficial and Formalized Chinese teachers have a low sense of dominant efficacy in international school classroom teaching. Chinese teachers in international schools in China generally adopt Chinese textbooks compiled by the state to teach them in a step-by-step manner, and students’ learning enthusiasm is not high. Or teachers have to reduce the requirements of teaching objectives and evaluation standards to meet the learning needs of students; or the teachers one-sided pursuit of Chinese subject education and teaching classroom organization forms of diversity, seemingly lively, repeated patterns, but in fact only form and surface; or only teachers’ leading presentation, lack of students’ main body generation; or teachers’ teaching efficacy and students’ learning efficacy have low unidirectional or bidirectional differentiation. Some international schools developing school-based curriculum of Chinese subject “Chinese student draft”, “language learning”, and so on, but in specific curriculum implementation and implementation process easy to the teacher, there are no real considerations of the students’ learning needs, to really help the students’ main body involved in the formation of Chinese tacit knowledge and lack of the design of the students to explore the language learning content cooperation and lack of integrated implementation of Chinese curriculum system target design on students’ Chinese core literacy. As far as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is concerned, the existing Chinese curriculum teaching in international schools can hardly meet the growing needs of the group of educators, such as their belonging and development needs and self-realization needs.

2.3.3 Chinese Education Resources Can Hardly Meet the Development Needs of Students School teachers are important educational resources for the future development of schools. International school in China’s future development orientation is localization and nationalization, and to further carry forward the Chinese culture and cultivate high-quality Chinese students going abroad, the future development orientation is not only a relationship between China’s national quality engineering education image of the century, but also the private international education is one of the most important aspects of the strategy of “going out”. To realize the vision of the globalization of Chinese education in China, it is necessary to cultivate many bilingual teachers. These bilingual teachers are not only educational builders and promoters of

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the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, but also cultural messengers and civilization messengers of the globalization of national ethnic education. Most international schools in China also lack bilingual Chinese teachers, or the overall quality of Chinese teachers is difficult to match the actual needs of Chinese teaching, which leads to the difficulty of adapting the Chinese education resources of international schools to the development needs of students. The students are more concerned about the ideological and political lessons in the study of life that play a guiding role, hope to improve their own quality through the ideological and political lessons to learn more about current events and politics, and broaden their horizons. This reflects the concept of quality education in international schools. Such appeal also shows that students clearly understand the unique core position and basic role of ideological and political courses in the quality education system, which cannot be replaced by any other courses. However, in the process of learning, some students are superficial in their study of ideological and political lessons, with low concentration. They wait and pass the ideological and political lessons without settling down to study.

2.3.4 Students Lack Initiative in Theoretical Learning According to the survey, almost all students think that the ideological and political class is instructive to the future study and life, more than half of the students think that because the ideological and political class is closely related to real life, so learning ideological and political class is an interesting thing. Secondly, nearly one-third of the students think that learning ideological and political courses is to improve their own quality, and some students hope to understand current events and politics through ideological and political courses. Most international school students can realize the importance of learning ideological and political lessons, not only to get high scores in the exam, but also to guide their future study and life, improve their own quality, and improve themselves through learning ideological and political lessons and related knowledge. It is commendable that students have such a correct understanding. However, according to the survey, although students have realized the important role of ideological and political lessons and can listen to lectures carefully and take notes in the class of ideological and political lessons, and they are not very interested in learning theoretical knowledge of ideological and political lessons. They are impetuous in theoretical learning and overemphasize ideological and political lessons and related content. It takes ten years to grow trees, but a hundred to cultivate people. The real international schools are English teaching, plus transparent administration, plus overseas Chinese returning students or foreigners with their children to work in China, so they send their children to the national schools. With 80% foreigners and not Chinese, such an international school is hard to find for ordinary people. At present, more than 90% of international schools cannot do these, most of them hold the fickle mentality of quick money. In international education, we should focus on the quality of a school and the original intention of a school. We

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should think about what kind of teachers and learning methods we can provide to students. However, instead of focusing on this, many schools are focusing on how to attract students through various means. As a result, many international schools recruit students under the banner of public schools, and there is a lot of corruption and profit transfer in the process, which is difficult for ordinary parents to identify. It takes at least five years to train excellent educators, but those who are qualified for education management have been engaged in education for more than ten years, but this industry has only been more than ten years, so the teaching management is chaotic and the quality is difficult to control. In the past few years, China has seen a great leap forward in “international schools”, with more and more international schools appearing. As many schools are in a hurry and some schools are not equipped with qualified teachers, some students find that there are too many differences in publicity after enrollment, resulting in a high turnover rate of teachers and students. In addition, many international schools also face the problem of unstable management team due to different ideas between investors and management team. At the same time, there is a big gap in the number of educational talents with multi-language ability, which cannot meet the needs of the current crazy development of international schools in China. The qualification of the cooperative project is the key factor in whether the international program can make the students truly connect with the world. However, there are problems with the qualification of many international classes. As a matter of fact, many international courses in China have not obtained relevant certification but are taught according to the form of relevant courses. Because it takes a lot of investment to get certified. International education is not the full introduction of western education, “the introduction of foreign curriculum is not necessarily suitable for China”, and secondly, to measure the merits of international education is not to see the school “how many foreign teachers”. International education is not how many foreign teachers in the school, what kind of foreign teachers can recruit, whether it really has an international vision, whether it really has a very good learning ability, in fact, can affect the character of students, there is a very strong academic literacy, these are very important. “For principals engaged in international education, good foreign teachers are difficult to recruit, it is difficult to keep them, in fact, English level is just the threshold of entry, in well-known universities abroad, the school values what you can contribute to the society” (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Jin & Sun, 2012; Zhou, 2021).

2.3.5 Uneven Quality of Students Students dissatisfied with the lower standards, in order to make profits, indulge unqualified students enrolled. Good boys who go in cannot stand the culture of ignorance. Genuine international schools require children with foreign passports, or students with permanent resident status in legitimate countries. Good word of mouth schools have also selective admission, a difficult to find; some international schools that have just been established or are not well-known enough are faced with

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“hard to find” and have problems in recruiting students. This is a common problem faced by international schools in China. The main reason is the imbalance between supply and demand. In the human market, there are few high-quality foreign teachers themselves and fewer high-quality Chinese teachers. Chinese teachers should have a good understanding of the requirements of foreign universities, be familiar with the international curriculum system, have a rich background of overseas work and study, and be familiar with the basic education in China. Chinese teachers with these qualifications are still in short supply in the talent market.

2.3.6 Curriculum Optimization Needs to Be Improved The curriculum should be both international and local. First of all, in the course implementation process, although many schools will participate in various official trainings of international courses, not every school can be very scientific and efficient in how to integrate with domestic high school education. Secondly, due to the pressure of the number of class hours, many international schools cannot directly solve students’ learning needs for overseas examination preparation in the on-campus teaching. Instead, they can only send students to attend off-campus training, so the learning results of this part are not controllable. Third, a good international curriculum should also include preparatory courses for university academic viability, such as a study skills course that teaches students how to manage time and stress, and how to use library resources. Another course is academic writing, which teaches different types of essay writing, paper format, standard citations, etc. Against the backdrop of the global epidemic and China-US rivalry, the political and economic landscape at home and abroad has undergone profound changes. Inevitably, China’s international education, which had developed steadily, was also affected and impacted. Some parents who had originally decided to send their children to international schools are less determined, and some international education practitioners are also more worried about the future development of the industry. International schools should focus on the future and examine the general direction of education today. At present, on the one hand, due to a series of complicated factors such as the epidemic and the economy, there is anti-globalization trend in the international community to varying degrees. On the other hand, with the rise of China, it is only a matter of time before China steps into the center of the global political stage. In the future, many people rooted in Chinese culture, familiar with international rules, with global vision, and global governance ability are needed. According to the trend of future talent demand, international schools should be responsible for the future of students, for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, adjust the idea and mode of education. While adhering to the direction of international chemical education, increase Chinese elements. For example, we should avoid excessive Westernization in curriculum setting and open all Chinese cultural courses. For example, moral education should adhere to the education of national spirit, traditional culture, and socialist core values. To establish the “integration of Chinese and Western” is the real international thought, and to think

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deeply about the orientation of “for whom to train people”, which China’s international schools must think about. According to the Measures for the Administration of Enrollment and Training of International Students, universities decide their own enrollment plans and majors, and the enrollment of international students is decided by universities. Therefore, different from the domestic way of recruiting international students through the national unified examination of ordinary institutions of higher learning, colleges and universities have greater autonomy in recruiting international students. The enrollment majors, channels and procedures, scale, source countries, and admission conditions are all determined by colleges and universities themselves. However, the source of students studying in China is highly marketable and competitive. When students choose colleges and universities to study in China, they mainly consider the overall level of education, the quality of professional education, and the cost performance of various supporting conditions such as tuition and miscellaneous fees, scholarships, employment opportunities, and preferential policies. The popularity and ranking of universities, majors taught in English, double degrees, scholarships, and fees are the main factors for students to choose universities. By participating in international education exhibition held in target students, cooperation with overseas universities student exchange mechanism, colleges, and universities is marketing its education value and advantage in China, efforts to improve the visibility and influence of education in China, attracting outstanding international students to come from, to expand the scale of international admissions development goals. English-taught majors are an important condition for promoting the education development of overseas students in colleges and universities. Constructing an English-only professional learning system for international students can effectively reduce the learning difficulty of international students without Chinese foundation and attract more students. In addition, for international schools, setting up courses taught in the UK not only requires the basis of students, but also needs to pay attention to the recruitment and cultivation of international students and carry out corresponding long-term strategic planning and deployment, so as to ensure the long-term healthy and steady development of overseas education in China as an important part of the internationalization strategy. Part of the international school of the enrollment of international students and the field of the foreign affairs department is responsible for the daily management, the advantage is to save the students work time, save manpower and material resources, shorten the campus communication time, improve work efficiency, but has the disadvantage of secondary school engagement and enthusiasm, to improve and cultivate the consciousness and the ability of international students to bring certain adverse effect (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Lin, 2014; Wen, 2009; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

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2.3.7 The Management System of International Students Still Needs to Be Improved The recruitment and training of international students have its own unique policy requirements, but in educational affairs, student work, logistics, and other aspects of the same with domestic students. In the Study in China Plan, it is required to actively promote the assimilation of management and service between students in China and Chinese students, improve the logistics and life support system for students in China, constantly optimize the environment for studying in China, and further enrich campus cultural life. This requires universities to adapt to the international student community, in line with the relevant national policy, docking with the domestic student’s management and service work of international students’ management system, covering international student academic affairs, certificates, scholarships, logistics life safeguard, student activities, specialized practice, work-study, alumni connections, insurance, and other aspects. At the same time, colleges and universities are also required to build a foreign language as the working language, familiar with foreign policy, strong management ability of the work team, responsible for the daily contact, and management of international students. However, it is not easy to establish a sound management system for international students and train and build a management team for international students. With the expansion of the scale of international students, the number of source countries and types of students increases, and the difficulty of management will increase day by day. Therefore, in the guarantee the students education condition, the construction of the courses that will appeal to students, on the basis of international schools on the one hand, needs to think about how to improve the management of international students service level, optimize the environment of the students, to help international students understand the development of Chinese society and Chinese excellent culture, rich campus culture activities, and social practices of international students, to better integrate them into the campus, enhance exchanges with domestic students, and deepen their understanding of Chinese society and culture; on the other hand, it is also faced with how to continuously improve the relevant management system of international students, so as to avoid the risk of student management, effectively prevent the occurrence of management loopholes and malignant incidents, and strengthen the management of emergency plans. Some domestic students and university staff need to further correct the positioning of international friends. No matter due to historical reasons or the influence of the curriculum of the realistic education system, domestic ordinary people are less likely to contact international friends and the time is relatively late. In addition, due to the role of news media, language training institutions, and audio and video entertainment, international students are not accurately placed in the mind of domestic students.

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2.3.8 Exploration of Training System and Standardization of Process Construction After years of development, China’s higher education has gradually embarked on the road of mature and rapid development. However, in terms of international student training, it is still a relatively new thing for most universities and institutes, except for a few universities and scientific research institutions that started earlier. In addition to learning from experienced colleges and universities, it is also necessary to explore and innovate a training system to adapt to their own. In the process of exploration and communication among colleges and universities, a set of effective, adaptable, and dynamic basic framework system will emerge to help improve the level of international quality education in colleges and universities and explore the system mechanism of international students’ level evaluation and entry and exit training.

2.4 Countermeasures and Suggestions for Challenges and Problems 2.4.1 Improvement Strategies of Chinese Curriculum and Teaching in China’s Private International Schools First, to create a “world citizen” cultivation and development path with international vision, Chinese background, and national feelings, the school needs to develop school-based courses suitable for students’ future development and teachers’ ability to give full play to their own advantages for the characteristic development of schools and professional development of teachers. This is not only a development issue to be solved in front of every private international school education and teaching staff, it is also a topic that must be solved by education administrative departments at all levels in China to implement the top-level design “going out” strategy, ensure the development and growth platform of high-quality diversified international education and teaching services, and achieve the historical mission of cultivating “world citizens” with the Chinese nation’s national feelings and critical thinking qualities. The research and development of Chinese curriculum teaching system in private international schools should be based on ensuring the quality of cultivating qualified, excellent, and outstanding Chinese students studying abroad, creating a Chinese education quality brand with the influence of Chinese cultural charm, and exploring the integrated development path of nationalization and internationalization of educational and cultural exchanges. The Chinese curriculum and teaching of private international schools in China should cultivate global citizens with Chinese bearing and international vision. It also requires every international school Chinese teacher to make a contribution to the establishment of school-based Chinese curriculum with Chinese characteristics and the integrated development of

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efficient teaching of Chinese curriculum, so as to cultivate qualified and outstanding Chinese students studying abroad and establish school-based Chinese curriculum with Chinese characteristics suitable for their future development and growth, and make up the blind spot in the connection between Chinese education curriculum and national international education. Specifically, it is to pay attention to the universal integration and personalized development of Chinese curriculum in private international schools, and at the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the organizational form of Chinese curriculum education and teaching, generative teaching design, formation, and performance of teaching ecological construction. On the one hand, private international schools should actively construct independent, cooperative, and exploratory Chinese course teaching methods and create a “Chinese culture learning community” to meet the needs of students’ future development and growth. On the other hand, the Chinese curriculum design of private international schools should expand the Chinese teaching of private international schools based on the development and growth of students. This makes it difficult for the Chinese curriculum and teaching of private international schools to truly become a “bridge” to help students walk to the center of the world stage and fully display the charm of Chinese ethnic education and culture. At the same time, it cannot truly ensure the achievement of the cultural and historical mission of sending a large number of Chinese students with both political integrity and ability and excellent character and learning to overseas. More importantly, the strategy of “education power” and the “soft power” of national education and culture cannot be fully implemented. Chinese teachers in private international schools in China generally have a low sense of efficacy in classroom teaching of Chinese. In the process of Chinese classroom teaching, Chinese teachers in private international schools generally lack the feeling of being needed by students, lack of sense of achievement, and sense of gain and happiness. On the one hand, students in private international schools have a lower desire to study independently or attach more importance to The Subject of Chinese than students in domestic public schools who take part in the middle and high school entrance examination. Meanwhile, students in private international schools generally have a lower overall grasp of basic knowledge and skills in the subject of Chinese. On the other hand, some Chinese teachers in private international schools lack creative and exploratory classroom generation in the process of classroom education and teaching, and it is difficult for the classroom teaching design to stimulate students’ interest in Chinese subject learning and motivate them to participate in the growth and development of Chinese course teaching actively and continuously. Therefore, it is particularly important and urgent for private international schools to create a curriculum system that integrates teacher development and student growth (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

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2.4.2 Deepen the Understanding of the Status of Ideological and Political Courses First of all, understand the nature of ideological and political courses. The nature of this curriculum reflects that the basic education curriculum carries the party’s educational policy and educational thought and is the direct embodiment of the national will in the field of ideological and political education. Second, the international school as part of the Chinese basic education should adhere to the correct direction of education and advanced education concept, and teachers and students need to understand the nature of thought political lesson curriculum, strictly in accordance with the requirements of the nature of the thought political lesson curriculum, teaching plan formulation, conform to the thought political lesson of the nature of teaching activity. According to the syllabus and teaching objectives of ideological and political course promulgated by the state, the teaching objective of ideological and political course is to undertake the task of moral education and cultivating people. Ideological and political courses should be taught from the perspective of cultivating students, not just the subject of the college entrance examination. Ideological and political lessons taught by each student are undoubtedly necessary in the growth process, such as moral character, the correct world outlook, outlook on life and values, and so on. Specific to the actual operational level, according to the actual situation, make full use of and integrating various resources, such as listening to visit expert lectures, and discussions, a variety of forms such as speech, writing a paper, omnidirectional to mobilize the enthusiasm and initiative of student learning, constantly improve the students’ thinking, the ability to analyze and solve problems, and cultivate the excellent student ideological and political literacy.

2.4.3 Pay Equal Attention to Practice and Theoretical Study Theoretical knowledge is the foundation, students should realize the importance of ideological and political class in improving their own quality, realize the important role of ideological and political class, clear ideological and political class and its related content in the future of learning, life is of great significance, and theoretical knowledge is the basis of learning ideological and political class. Moreover, the theoretical knowledge taught in ideological and political courses has been tested by time and proved correct by the masses. We should integrate the basic content and requirements of upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, cultivating and practicing core socialist values, and carrying forward and promoting fine traditional Chinese culture. Practice without the guidance of theory is very dangerous. Students in international schools should master the basic theoretical knowledge of ideological and political courses and lay a solid theoretical foundation while paying attention to life practice. And this requires students to realize the importance of ideological and political class, improve their interest in theoretical

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knowledge of ideological and political class, in class, listen carefully, study carefully, take notes, positive thinking, and master the relevant knowledge of ideological and political class theoretically. Practical application is the purpose. First of all, on the basis of learning theoretical knowledge well, we should also realize that theoretical knowledge on paper is not enough, theory cannot be divorced from reality, and facts cannot be divorced from thought. In the process of learning ideological and political lessons, we should follow the principle of linking theory with practice, based on the basic theoretical knowledge we have mastered, and understand knowledge from the connection between theory and practice. At the same time, we should pay attention to the use of knowledge to analyze and solve problems, so as to solve practical problems and apply what we have learned. Second, the international school student’s life experience is very rich, want to make good use of their own conditions, giving full play to the advantages of their material and spiritual, in rich and colorful daily life according to actual condition by using the theory of learned knowledge, in the class to take an active part in social practice activities organized by the school, physically to feel the charm of thought political lesson, realize the ideological and political lesson and its content to help life, so as to learn ideological and political lesson well in both theoretical knowledge and life practice.

2.4.4 Establish Standard Management System, Introduce Supervision and Inspection Mechanism For teaching management, student management, fund management, personnel management, and other aspects that should formulate the corresponding management rules, everything should have rules to follow, according to the rules. There should be corresponding organizations to make decisions on major issues in running a school, and special management organizations should be set up to be responsible for daily management and operation. Attention should be paid to the connection of teaching plans between China and foreign countries, and the teaching work must strictly follow the rules and regulations agreed by both sides, and the work should be standardized and orderly, so as to ensure the quality of teaching. Regular inspection of international schools: Regular evaluation of students’ teaching plan, curriculum, teaching content, teacher level, and other corresponding input plays a restrictive role on both sides of the cooperative school and makes the cooperation more transparent. In the recruitment publicity, the Chinese and foreign curriculum, the situation of Chinese and foreign teachers, the conditions of running a school, fees, admission conditions, penalties, and withdrawal regulations of both parties should be clearly explained to students and parents, so as to make the information of running a school open and transparent, so as to avoid disputes between the organizer and students or parents in the process of running a school (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Lin, 2014; Wen, 2009; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

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2.4.5 Improve the Enrollment System of International Schools to Provide Institutional Guarantee for Improving the Quality of Enrollment According to the requirements of talent training objectives of international school education, different standards are formulated in terms of subject setting and difficulty of test questions by adopting the way of academic ten specialties. In order to truly realize the comprehensive training and effectively link up the talent training at all levels of international school education, we can rely on the industry and give full play to the advantages of international groups to innovate the enrollment mechanism of international school education. It is necessary to standardize the enrollment process and system of international schools and ensure the quality of students in international schools. In the construction of international education teachers, international schools should actively introduce diplomacy and overseas Chinese for teaching. International schools can develop a series of welfare policies and improve financial benefits to attract foreign diplomats and overseas students to carry out English-oriented teaching courses in colleges and universities, so as to improve the educational level and quality of English-oriented teaching. Some rewards should be given to outstanding overseas students who return home and make great contributions to school education, so as to improve the quality of international teaching staff in international schools. International teacher exchange is not only the main means of school education internationalization, but also the purpose and main practice form of school internationalization. Adopting the method of “going out and inviting in” and establishing the international teacher exchange system will be the main measure to attach importance to teachers’ professional development, cultivate teachers’ international vision, and make teaching and research conform to the international standards. By going abroad, local teachers can not only make their professional research directly in line with the international standards and expand their research horizons, but also improve their English level in a short period of time, fully carry out the communication between Chinese and Western cultures, and bring back advanced teaching modes and educational ideas from abroad. The introduction of foreign teachers not only can understand the advanced teaching mode and educational ideas of foreign countries, but also its pure English teaching can make students’ professional English level quickly improve, but also enable students to understand the international research trends. Therefore, international schools should seize the opportunity in international exchanges and cooperation, establish friendly exchanges with foreign schools, exchange teachers for visits and academic exchanges, and continuously input fresh blood into their respective teaching staff. Based on the three core courses of language, culture, and specialty, with the core values with the characteristics of Chinese national development as the link, the curriculum content base points are linked into content lines, combined with the advantages of international interdisciplinary, link content lines into content surfaces, from point to line, form the international curriculum content with Chinese school characteristics from line to plane, and at the same time, according to the goal of talent training and subject development, based on the combination of

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basic curriculum, extension curriculum and research curriculum. In combination with students’ professional interests and hobbies, students simply listen to students instead of teachers’ blindly speaking and set up international courses that students form learning results first and teachers guide later and uphold the concept of “student centered”. The teacher guides the students’ initiative and creativity and conducts teaching in the contrast and dialectical absorption of Chinese and foreign subjects to enrich the curriculum and utilize the systematic planning of the curriculum to incorporate international knowledge into teaching materials, activities, and student assignments, using international textbooks and equipment, school to school, province to province, and country to country learning. The most important factors in the process of internationalization of Chinese schools are to conform to the long-term development strategy of the country, to enhance the ability of international exchange and cooperation, and to adapt to the needs of economic globalization for talents. Therefore, the development of international schools in China needs to establish a correct concept of internationalization, rather than blindly follow. In the education problem and education reform, we should base on the global perspective, practice the international innovative talent view, and promote the humanistic quality education and innovative education. School should realize that the internationalization of talents is not only to understand the multi-cultural, also deal with foreign languages, information technology, and professional knowledge, such as familiar with the master, as a carrier of shoulder to the task of the personnel training, school personnel training target must be adjusted in a timely manner to establish training compound talents with international exchanges and the international competition ability. In addition, in order to achieve the nationalization of school education, we should face the problem of cultivating innovative talents bravely and strengthen the cultivation of students’ innovative consciousness and spirit in education, so as to promote the improvement of international competitiveness and leadership of school education (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Jin & Sun, 2012; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

2.4.6 Formulate Highly Targeted Enrollment Policy Recruitment is the premise and focus of the development of education for studying in China, and the development of targeted recruitment strategies is the basis for independent colleges to expand the scale of international students. Along with the advancement of “area” initiative, China and south-east Asia closer communication, Yao, east central European countries, these areas are the focus of the international students in colleges and universities students; therefore, independent college should be according to their own school-running practice, clear recruit students and international students enrollment way, and seek admissions institutions in the target countries. Through various channels, such as education exhibitions, information sessions, and meetings, non-governmental organizations will cooperate to effectively allocate enrollment resources to the target source countries of key distribution. In addition, independent college should clear the campus to have intention to secondary

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school, ability to recruit international students with professional, using a variety of online publicity approaches, effective promotion school, professional, and the advantages of the geography, environment, schools and professional students and students to the target countries, expand the school reputation and influence, and attraction and competitiveness to improve recruiting international students. Compared with academic and short-term students, it is easier to set up majors, institutions, and supporting facilities and lower threshold for students’ country of origin, age, educational background, and language level. Therefore, independent colleges that have the intention to recruit international students can recruit Chinese language students at the early stage of the study in China education according to their own educational conditions, so as to open up the development path of study in China. However, almost all the countries to develop international students of colleges and universities have set Chinese refresher courses, admissions predictably fierce competition, and Chinese learning is an important factor in language environment, college of geographical location, transportation around, and recreational facilities which will become students in choosing a college students. Therefore, independent colleges in Chinese education projects to innovation, innovation of Chinese graduate students training system and training mode, in order to stand out, in addition to the common hierarchical culture in colleges and universities (such as setting the primary, intermediate, advanced, or regular class, intensive training class, etc.), to carry out short-term learning Chinese and Chinese culture exchange activities measures , also can consider to increase China’s history, geography, history, and art, such as the ancient traditional culture and regional culture introduction to contemporary Chinese society and the content, make Chinese graduate students experience the ancient China, also can increase the study, visit, and other activities outside the classroom, the ways and methods of rich Chinese learning, and make with characteristic of independent college Chinese graduate cultivation model. Independent colleges in the UK teaching professional settings and the teachers with, there is a disadvantage, but with the development of internationalization, the independent college’s Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools, joint training, and international exchange and cooperation projects such as the exchange of communication can help the student’s education and improve the level and quality of independent college cultivate international students. Independent colleges can introduce high-quality educational resources from abroad through diversified international exchange and cooperation projects. On the one hand, international students can enjoy high-quality resources. On the other hand, it is beneficial for independent colleges to integrate internal and external resources and promote the establishment of English-taught majors. A variety of international exchange and cooperation programs are also ways to expand the scale of international students and enrich the recruitment categories of international students. With the development of internationalization of independent colleges, short-term exchange programs have become the star programs of many independent colleges, with the large number of participants and the wide coverage of major. Short-term exchange students studying in China through exchange programs have become an important part of the recruitment and training of international students in many independent colleges, greatly promoting the diversified and multi-level development of the education for studying in China. Colleges and

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universities need to seize the opportunity of integrating ideological and political thinking into the classroom, so that domestic teachers and students in colleges and universities can review the history and remember the history. At present, there are some useful explorations in universities. For example, some experienced colleges and universities are exploring a new mode of training domestic and international postgraduate students in mixed classes, compulsory courses for foreign students, including Chinese and China, and in the classroom teaching, Chinese and English bilingual teaching, with active classroom atmosphere to promote the communication between students and students, students and teachers to lay a foundation for mutual cooperation in experimental research stage. Institutions of higher learning organize foreign students to carry out teaching practice and social practice together with Chinese students in school according to the teaching plan; when choosing internship or practice sites, observe relevant foreign regulations. When doing research work in the laboratory, domestic and international students naturally have more and more frequent exchanges and communication and coordination. The standardized construction of training system and process seems to change the way of education and training for international students. In fact, it is also a huge change for the training of relevant domestic students to gradually reverse the situation of many domestic teachers and students serving the education of international students in colleges and universities, gradually adjust the position and relationship between domestic teachers and students and international students, let international students gradually into the correct social role, and improve the international comprehensive quality of domestic students in colleges and universities (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Lin, 2014; Wen, 2009; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

2.5 Summary According to the research of this chapter, the cultivation of students in international schools in China has the characteristics of students having strong autonomy, paying attention to the cultivation of students’ questioning spirit, paying attention to the cultivation of students’ quality, and paying attention to the overall development of students. The content of international school student training in China includes student source, curriculum setting, and management mode. There are four stages in historical development: initial development, accelerated development, highspeed development, and transformation. The state has issued a series of policies to support the cultivation of international schools. The study found that China’s international school admissions have risen to prominence with students facing the fierce market competition, the students are of variable quality, all the insufficient number of teaching professional, international students management system still needs to improve the teaching quality which is low, charge of the ideological cognition, cultivating system of exploration and process standardization construction, international school high school Chinese curriculum study shortcomings, and ideological and political lessons learning is insufficient, lack of quality teachers, tied with public

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schools, the formation of interest delivery, as well as directional problems. In view of the problems found in the research on the cultivation of students in China’s international schools, the author proposes to improve the Chinese curriculum and teaching of international schools, such as creating the cultivation and development path of “world citizens” with international vision, Chinese background, and national feelings. It is necessary to develop school-based courses suitable for students’ future development and teachers’ ability to give play to their own advantages. The ideological and political curriculum of international schools should be improved, such as deepening the understanding of the status of ideological and political curriculum. We will improve the standardized management system, introduce a supervision and inspection mechanism, and improve the enrollment system of international schools to provide institutional guarantee for improving the quality of enrollment and establish a teacher exchange system to broaden teachers’ international vision. Suggestions and strategies to update the curriculum system and ensure the quality of talent training are put forward to solve the problems in the student training of international schools in China. To sum up, this paper clarifies the definition of international schools and the status quo of student training in international schools in China from the viewpoints of scholars by searching and reading the journal articles and doctoral dissertations about student training in international schools in China. That is, there is little research on international schools abroad, especially on the cultivation of students in international schools in China. In addition, it is worth noting that although domestic academic research literature on international school issues presents a trend of explosion, the number of literatures on the field of student training needs to be improved. In the literature search of student training, it is necessary to expand the search scope, such as curriculum content, educational philosophy, and core literacy, to predict the student training objectives of international schools in China (Cheng & Chen, 2014; Huang, 2009; Jin & Sun, 2012; Lin, 2014; Wen, 2009; Xu, 2001; Zhang, 2017; Zhou, 2021).

References Cheng G., & Chen Z. (2014) Feasibility analysis of developing Chinese wushu in Shanghai international school. Science of Martial Arts, 20(11), 13–22. Huang, W. (2009). Research on the characteristics of international schools and their students. Science and Technology Wind, 20(7), 89–90. Jin Z., & Sun Y. (2012). Study on the learning adaptability of Ordinary Middle School students in Sanming City. Journal of Sanming College, 20(5), 11–18. Lin, Q. (2014). On the development status of international schools in China. Exam Weekly, 20(41), 23–24. Wen, H. (2009). The study of the characteristics of the international school and its students. Journal of the Science and Technology, 20(7), 87–88. Xu H. (2001). Review of international school and international school curriculum. Education Theory and Practice, 21(6), 41–44.

References

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Zhang, F. (2017). A brief analysis of the new measures and enlightenment of the administrative measures for school enrollment and training of international students. Journal of Science and Education, 20(12), 117–118. Zhou, J. (2021) Research on existing problems and Countermeasures of Chinese course teaching in private international Schools. Chinese in Middle School. New Space for Reading and Writing, 21(4), 3–5.

Chapter 3

The Teacher Cultivation of International Schools in China

This chapter explores the teacher cultivation of international schools in China. Since the reform and opening, the development of China’s international schools experienced from scratch, from less to more, from disorder to standardization, the process of its development from economic globalization brings not only the globalization education resources, and more from the improvement of people’s consumption level caused by the reform of market economy and diversified education demand growth. By 2021, there were nearly 1000 international schools in China, whose vigorous development not only reflects China’s economic development and the progress of education concept, but also reflects the promotion of China’s national education reform and innovation by the internationalization and industrialization of school running. The teaching staff of international schools in China attaches great importance to the teaching of basic courses and pays attention to cultivating students’ good style of study and active academic thinking. They are a team with high theoretical level, strong practical ability, rigorous style of study, and diligent and professional work. To build such a strong faculty, we need to rely on national fiscal policies, local fiscal policies, school-enterprise cooperation, etc. This chapter reviews the development of international schools in China, focuses on the problems and challenges in preschool education, primary education, and secondary education in China’s international schools, and puts forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions.

3.1 Introduction There are three aspects to the research on the faculty of international schools in China. The first one is the definition of the concept, the existing research of Chinese scholars, and the historical process of the development of international schools in China, which

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 J. Li, International School Policy Development, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8817-2_3

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provide theoretical basis and basis for subsequent research. Second aspect: challenges and problems in education practice, layered study, found that different levels of international school teachers development issues, such as the strategy emphasis is not enough, the lack of national legal protection, the teachers troop construction, lack of long-term planning, training the narrow channel of single, and the imbalance of the distribution of teachers; from three aspects: put forward the challenge of developing international school teachers in our country and problems, discuss the development of China’s international school teachers response, such as attach importance to teachers, broadening the channels for teacher training, national legislation, and clear preschool education teacher standard, clear the teachers training goal, countries increasing financial support, narrowing the differences between the areas. The educational research method adopted in this paper is mainly literature analysis, that is, by referring to, sorting out, and analyzing relevant works and articles on the sustainable development of vocational education, we can accurately grasp the research status and academic development trends of the research topic, clarify the research direction, and straighten out the research ideas. The specific ideas are as follows: Firstly, from the perspective of etymology, this paper discusses what international schools and teaching staff are, then discusses the characteristics and content of international schools’ teaching staff, the historical development process, and the achievements of the development of international schools’ teaching staff at different stages, and puts forward its own views and ideas. Secondly, it studies the problems and challenges in the development of preschool education, primary school education, and middle school education from objective facts. Finally, countermeasures are put forward to deal with the problems in the development of teachers at different levels, so as to build a team of teachers with higher theoretical level, strong practical ability, rigorous style of study, diligence, and dedication (Cai and Yu, 2016; Guo, 2017; Huang, 2021; Qi, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015; ).

3.1.1 The Faculty of International Schools in China The faculty of international schools in China is a compound word. In order to gain a complete understanding of the concept of the faculty of international schools in China, I try to explain its semantics from the aspect of morpheme composition. From the aspect of morpheme composition, “the teaching staff of international schools in China” can be analyzed from two aspects: “international schools” and “teaching staff”. International schools can be analyzed in both narrow and broad sense. In a narrow sense, an international school refers to a school that provides foreign students with education in their mother tongue according to the education system of their home country. In a broad sense, an international school refers to a school that provides education in its mother tongue for foreign nationals and a school that provides foreign education model for local students through international curriculum. International schools mainly provide education at intermediate level or below, with a significant

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proportion of foreign students, and carry out foreign schooling. However, with the development of international education, international schools are also schools that provide foreign education for their own students. Teachers refer to people who are qualified for the profession of teachers, not teachers, who assume the position of teachers can be called "teachers". The faculty is a collective formed by individuals with the goal of cultivating the educatees needed by the society in accordance with the requirements of the society. In general, teachers can be said to be engaged in educational work of individual composition, and they have quantitative and quality restrictions, mutual influence between individuals, mutual restriction, rather than a simple superposition and accumulation. The selection criteria of international school teachers in China are very important, and not all competent teachers can be admitted. In some schools in China, candidates need to look at their study experience and work experience, as well as whether the major they have learned meets the standards, what is the level from middle school to university when they studied, and what is the level of the school after they work. At the same time, teachers’ academic background and teaching career also need to know. In addition, it also depends on whether a teacher has education feelings, because only a teacher with education feelings is the temperature of the teacher; this kind of teacher will both teach and educate, will be rooted in the teaching front line, rooted in the school, and can be based on the development of students, long-time stable service to the school, and service to the students. The most important thing is that whether we choose Chinese teachers or foreign teachers, we need to see whether they have Chinese feelings, love China and love the school. Only teachers with love in their hearts can take education as their career and ensure the excellent academic development and the development of students’ character. The teacher team is a whole, international school is a team, the level of our international school teachers’ ability determines the quality of our international school teachers, only the ability level of teachers will win the respect and admiration of students, and only the ability level of the team can go further. Teachers in the teaching staff, no matter what kind of system courses, should be able to easily control, have their own teaching discipline solid foundation and unique understanding, can have profound feeling, in the face of different students, to be able to teach students in accordance with their aptitude, according to the characteristics of students, and guide students to use their learning methods to learn. Therefore, the teaching staff of international schools should pay attention to the ability level (Cai and Yu, 2016; Guo, 2017; Huang, 2021; Qi, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015).

3.1.2 Focus on Comprehensive Quality In the selection of international school teachers, China insists on taking teachers’ ethics as the first standard for the construction of high-level teachers and attaches importance to the comprehensive quality of teachers. Students are educated, we cannot determine their quality, only from their own quality can achieve the best

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effect of education, and teachers should be moral, moral learning, moral teaching, shouldering the responsibility of guidance, and guide the healthy growth of students. The high comprehensive quality of teachers in international schools in China not only plays a decisive role in the teaching effect of school education, but also plays an indelible role in the overall development of students. The teaching staff of preschool international schools mainly caters to preschool children. Although the educational content of this stage may not be consistent with real life, it provides the experience that children can learn and imitate for higher education in the future. Experts in educational psychology believe that, more than any other period, before the age of five is an important stage for the formation of a child’s character, personality development, and basic life attitudes. The teachers of preschool international schools meet the conditions for children to grow and develop in a better way.

3.1.3 Teaching Staff of International Schools for Primary Education Primary school international school teachers is mainly for primary school students, comprehensive implementation, strict enforcement of compulsory education curriculum standards, to meet the needs of the development of elementary education, the main primary integration of international curriculum, integrated Chinese and western culture, in bilingual teaching, to help the child develop good character, good study habits, living habits, and the comprehensive quality and ability, for them to become the future with international vision, national spirit, forward-looking thinking, creative ability, social responsibility, elite potential to lay a solid foundation, solid China’s basic education. Junior high school of international school teachers mainly is junior high school students, according to the requirements and development of middle school students to provide dynamic adjustment of the curriculum, course, adopt the method of interdisciplinary study, people-oriented, encourage students to critically evaluate information question, foster critical thinking and solid academic accomplishment, and lay the foundation for sustainable development. At the same time, it also provides rich experience courses of western culture, helping students to get a foothold in China, understand the curriculum of different countries, explore the connections between different disciplines, gain insight from various disciplines, to solve the problems they face in real life, and develop students’ multi-cultural understanding and global participation ability. With the acceleration of economic globalization, China gradually moves to the center of the world stage and occupies a pivotal position in the world. To develop faster and better, talents play an important role, and talents and education are inseparable. In order to build a friendly atmosphere for academic exchanges, China will intensify the training of international school teachers, so that more and more countries can understand China and enhance China’s strength. The teaching staff of international schools in China attaches great importance to the teaching of basic courses and pays attention to cultivating students’

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good style of study and active academic thinking. They are a team with high theoretical level, strong practical ability, rigorous style of study, and diligent and professional work. Teachers are playing an important role in teaching research, teaching reform, curriculum construction, scientific research, talent training, and other aspects and have trained a number of socialist builders and successors with all-round development in morality, intelligence, physique, esthetics, and labor for the country’s modernization.

3.2 Historical Development International schools in China developed with the wave of reform and opening up, so we mainly focus on the historical stage of reform and opening up to discuss its development process. There are several firsts in the history of international schools: the first international school in China: Pakistan Embassy School in Beijing (1969); the first international school in China to adopt foreign teaching and management systems: Beijing Shunyi International School (1980), which only accepted children of embassy staff; the first international school in China to accept children of foreign nationals: Shenzhen Shekou International School (1988).

3.2.1 Embryonic Period (1980–1989) The “Beijing Pakistan Embassy School” was followed by Beijing Parkview International School in 1973 and Beijing No. 55 Middle School’s International Student Department in 1975. These three international schools can be said to be the originators of China’s international schools, but they adopt China’s education system and methods and increase the proportion of language teaching and the teaching content of their own ethnic groups. This is very different by definition from today’s international schools. As more and more countries establish diplomatic relations with China, the number of diplomatic personnel is increasing, and their children’s education is attracting attention. In 1980, the US Embassy and the embassies of Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand jointly established Beijing Shunyi International School, which was the first international school in China to fully adopt foreign teaching and management systems. At that time, the school only accepted children of embassy staff. By 1989, there were about 6 international schools in China, including 5 schools for foreign children and 1 public school international department. At that time, the internationalization of Chinese education was not obvious, and most international schools were for children of foreign nationals, mainly to solve the learning problems of children of embassy staff and children of foreign nationals working in areas with rapid economic development.

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3.2.2 Exploratory Period (1990–1999) During this period, China’s door was further opened and its economy developed further. A large number of foreign companies entered China. China’s economic development also attracted a large number of foreigners to work in China, which promoted the development of international education in China. The established international schools include the International Department of Shanghai High School, the High School attached to Beijing Normal University, the Second High School attached to East China Normal University, Guangzhou Country Garden School, Maple Leaf International School—Dalian, etc.

3.2.3 Rapid Development Period (2000–Current) The established international schools include: International class of The Affiliated High School of Renmin University of China, International Department of Beijing No. 4 Middle School, International Class of Beijing No. 11 Middle School, Shanghai Private Union Bilingual School, Suzhou Dewei British International School, Tianjin Wellington International School, etc. In 1978 generation has become the main body of parents, and their overall quality is generally high. Their education of children has reached an unprecedented height from vision to idea and even economic strength. International schools can be divided into public international schools, international schools for children of foreign nationals, and private international schools. Public international schools are restricted by the Ministry of Education, which means they must have a majority of Chinese teachers. Generally speaking, foreign teachers in such schools are only responsible for academic teaching, especially international courses, while Chinese teachers are responsible for domestic courses and regular student management, such as head teachers. The educational system and curriculum system of the international school for children of foreign nationals will generally refer to the teaching syllabus of the host country and be recognized and supervised by the education authorities of the host country. Of course, such schools will also be appropriate to adopt a globally recognized curriculum. The students enrolled in such schools are distinctly national, and the language of instruction is mostly the mother tongue of the host country. Most of the teachers in these international schools are foreign teachers, and most of the administrative and logistic staff are foreign, with only a small number of Chinese teachers and staff. Private international schools are complicated and dominated by foreign teachers. Dominated by Chinese religion, there are three cases of integration of Chinese and foreign teachers. According to the data provided by the official website of the International Education Front, there are currently 50 preschool education schools in China, all of which are private. The training direction is to train students to study in the USA, Britain, Australia, Canada, and other countries. International schools are mainly private

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schools, followed by national schools international department and foreign international schools. We are mainly talking about private international schools. Along with the economic development and the improvement of living standards, public school system, education is no longer the only way for their children’s education, more and more families choose in the economic conditions allow, let the children accept ideas more open international education, including international school or go abroad to study at home, the two are closely linked, and China’s international schools also focus on preparing for studying abroad. At present, the trend of studying abroad at a younger age is gradually obvious. As an innovative carrier linking domestic and international education, international schools play an important role in expanding students’ international vision, cultivating students’ multi-cultural understanding, cultivating global awareness, and enhancing cross-cultural communication and also play a good role in improving the internationalization level of Chinese education. The number of international schools in China is growing rapidly, and the quality of teaching is also improving. The proportion of private international schools is nearly half, which is the main force in the development of international schools in China. CCG survey found that after 2010, the demand for international schools became stronger, and private international schools attracted much attention from the market and entered a stage of steady growth. However, to ensure the quality of education while developing steadily is a problem to be faced in the future development of private international schools. Beijing Royal School has made a useful exploration in this respect. In terms of teacher team building, it cooperates with Harvard University and other famous universities to carry out medium- and long-term training for teachers. In terms of curriculum system, the international curriculum system of "Integration of Chinese and foreign" is implemented to form a unique international education system. There are only a handful of such explorations in private international schools (Cai and Yu, 2016; Huang, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015). From this, we can see that after the reform and opening up, international schools in China’s preschool education stage show a rising trend of development. Economic development, the improvement of people’s living standards, and the change of people’s ideas make international schools emerge at the historic moment. According to a sample survey of 309 international schools conducted by CCG, in terms of academic system, 100 schools, accounting for 35.7%, set up "primary, middle and high schools", while 17 schools, accounting for 6.1%, set up only "primary and middle schools". Thirty-nine schools, or 13.9 percent, set up middle and high schools. About 118, or 42.1 percent, set only high schools. Six schools, or 2.2 percent, have only elementary schools. It can be seen that high school is an important stage for the establishment of international schools, which is consistent with the future study needs of students who receive international education, namely the ultimate goal of most students who receive international education is to prepare for studying abroad. In the international school system, the basic education stage is not the focus. Due to the demand for foreign universities, international schools account for a large proportion in senior high schools, and the basic stage is in the development stage. With the deepening of the reform and opening up process and the transformation of people’s

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thinking, more and more families hope to cultivate their children’s open thinking and international ability at an early age. The comprehensive education system from primary school to middle school and high school has become the main direction of establishing international schools. International schools in China, especially private international schools in China, are the main actors that fit into this new platform of international cooperation. The educational needs of children of expatriates and the strategic layout of China’s diplomacy and development make the significance and feasibility of developing international schools in areas along the "Belt and Road" increasingly clear (Cai and Yu, 2016; Guo, 2017; Huang, 2021; Qi, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015). In 1993, the State Education Commission issued the Notice on The Problems of Overseas and Individual Non-Chinese Cooperation in Running Schools, which standardized the questions about Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools. In April 1995, the Ministry of Education issued the Interim Administrative Measures of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China on The Establishment of Schools for Children of Foreign Nationals. In the same year, China officially passed the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, which made a series of provisions for "foreign exchange and cooperation in education" in the form of legal provisions. Entering the new century on December 11, 2001, China’s formal accession to the World Trade Organization (VTO) has promoted the further development of international education in China. Gats provides that foreign institutions can use WTO provisions to run schools independently or cooperatively in China. At the same time, China’s accession to WTO has also promoted the improvement of domestic teaching quality, teaching methods, teaching ideas, teacher construction, professional settings, and other aspects. In this context, on September 1, 2003, China issued the Regulations on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, focusing on increasing educational resources and introducing high-quality educational resources. The regulations set the bottom line for cooperative school-running activities as follows: protect the state and public interests; fulfill state commitments. Besides, it standardizes the government’s examination and approval behavior, implements the principle of classified and stratified examination and approval, and emphasizes the supervision and evaluation of cooperative school-running activities. In 2003, China promulgated the "Private Education Promotion Law" to stimulate the development of private education and stimulate the development of private international schools. On May 5, 2010, The State Council deliberated and approved China’s first national education plan for the twenty-first century (national medium- and long-term education reform and development plan steel), specifically expound China’s efforts to further expand the opening of education, which has important practical guiding significance. On June 14, 2012, China issued the 12th Five-year Plan for the Development of National Education (hereinafter referred to as the plan). In the plan, it was stated that "Adhere to the opening-up to promote reform, promote development, and improve the internationalization level of Education in China". This education policy has made China’s education system more open, opened a new chapter in international, district-city, and university-level cooperation in international education, and greatly enhanced its influence and competitiveness. In 2013, the Ministry of Education issued "interim

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measures for the management of high school international project" draft, clear to all forms of high school’s "international" and "international class", in May 2013, Shanghai municipal education commission issued "on the notice of the pilot” to carry out the international course of average high school, a clear introduction of international curriculum value orientation, standardizing the practice and management of introducing international curriculum in senior high schools. Subsequently, Beijing and other places also strengthened their regulations on the enrollment of international classes in high schools in 2014 and said they would no longer approve Chinese-foreign cooperation programs. In addition, some of Shanghai’s substandard public schools have also been restructured and converted to private schools, as of September 30, 2018. The main focus of our current discussion is on the second type. The development process of international schools is the process of China’s opening up. Some courses set by international schools can absorb excellent foreign cultures, and the students we cultivate can export the excellent traditional Chinese culture to a certain extent, which is a two-way cultural exchange process. The construction of teachers in international schools should be one of the key points of school construction. To build a strong faculty, we need to rely on national policies, local financial policies, school-enterprise cooperation, and so on. The ability and quality that Chinese teachers in international schools should possess are self-confidence. Confidence in national development: Chinese teachers should cooperate with foreign teachers from an equal perspective and have the same right of discourse. Confident in national culture helps students understand the essence of traditional culture, dialogue, and collision with other cultures; confident in the advantages of education, under the nature of Sino-foreign cooperation of the education model and the Chinese and western integration of management and curriculum model (Cai and Yu, 2016; Guo, 2017; Huang, 2021; Qi, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015).

3.3 Challenges and Problems in Practice Under the background of promoting the internationalization of education in China, international schools at all levels of education are actively exploring internationalization paths suitable for their own development, and preschool education is no exception. From a strategic level, but many more training of the teachers of the international school of enrollment scale, selection of partner schools, student recruitment channels, the construction of the hardware facilities, the choice of training scheme design, etc., and to cultivate suitable for Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools and students education teachers consider not enough careful. Generally speaking, the problem is that all the teachers involved in the project are professional teachers in their respective majors, and strict selection and planned training are not carried out, which may cause the phenomenon of low quality of teachers, and then lead to the effect of the project which cannot achieve the expected results.

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3.3.1 Lack of National Legal Protection Therefore, it can be seen that at the present stage, there is no separate legislation for the construction of preschool education teachers in domestic schools and international schools, so the legal protection in this aspect is lacking, and it is still not perfect compared with developed countries.

3.3.2 Lack of Long-Term Planning for the Construction of Teaching Staff However, this kind of sudden training also brings many problems. For example, these selected teachers need to transfer all the current teaching tasks to conduct language training wholeheartedly, and the large-scale change of teaching tasks in the teaching process will bring great difficulties to teaching management. In addition, during the training period, selected teachers do not receive class hour allowance because they do not have teaching tasks. Although the school will give a certain training subsidy, it is far lower than the class hour fee for teaching teachers. This tends to result in "one-off deals", which is not conducive to the long-term development of the project. However, the cultivation and learning of teachers are long term and lifelong, rather than quick fix. This way is irresponsible to teachers and students of international schools.

3.3.3 The Cultivation Channel Is Narrow and Single Generally speaking, there are only two ways to cultivate international teachers: "relying on others" and "self-sufficiency". "Depend on others" means to send teachers abroad to study or visit and to rely on overseas programs or institutions to train teachers. In this mode, teachers can learn in a real language environment, which is not only conducive to the improvement of their language ability, but also to broaden their horizons and learn foreign advanced education concepts, education technologies, and advanced knowledge in professional fields. "Self-sufficiency" means that the institution itself achieves the goal of cultivating international faculty by integrating and coordinating internal resources. However, China’s national teacher training channels are relatively simple, generally based on the mode of "relying on others", but this may lead to the disadvantage of relying on others, which affects the independent construction of China’s international teacher team. The teaching skills of teachers will not only become proficient by learning theories but can only be exercised and reflected in teaching practice when theories are applied to practice. Therefore, it is extremely important to create good teaching practice conditions for the cultivation of international teachers. In international schools, bilingual teaching or all-English

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teaching is the necessary skills of teachers, which happens to be the biggest problem in the training process, because the mastery of language skills can only be improved through continuous practice and application.

3.3.4 The Distribution of Teachers Is Not Balanced International school in our country should not be ignored in the development of economic level, sufficient fund is the basis and guarantee the teachers troop construction for some developed areas, they have the power to develop the international school, but for some of the less developed areas, they do not have too much money to develop the international school. Restricted by the economic development of Central and Western China, the urbanization process, and the imbalance in the supply of talents for foreign affairs, the geographical distribution of Chinese-foreign cooperatively run schools and projects in the country also shows a pattern of favoritization in the east and favoritization in the west. In the open cities along the eastern coast, resources for Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools are obviously concentrated and of relatively high quality. Chinese educational institutions have rich cooperation experience, and the investment environment is relatively in place. Compared with the market-oriented operation of education in Eastern China, the supply of overseas education resources in Northwest China is very limited, and the level of cooperation is not very high. However, some foreign friends and foreign educational institutions have emerged to support the development of education in poor areas of China. The resources of Chinese-foreign cooperatively run schools and projects are closely related to the construction of preschool teaching staff of international schools. Resources are crucial to the development of international schools, so China’s international schools are mainly concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other developed regions. Take Beijing for example. Under the international school model, students have a lot of study intensity and homework. The new education model, assessment method, and English teaching also make students feel great pressure. Although the teaching of specialized basic courses is only two more hours per week than that of ordinary classes, the preliminary preparation, teaching process, and homework correction of teachers are obviously different from ordinary classes, requiring a new way of thinking in an all-English environment. In addition, the experimental course combined with the course also needs to be prepared in advance. There are 70 students in a group of 5 each. In order to give each student the opportunity to do hands-on work, an experimental class needs to last for three days, which is a heavy task in addition to normal classroom teaching. Therefore, the teaching workload of international teachers in a school year is about 450 class hours, which is twice the normal teaching workload of ordinary classes. But the actual arrangement and class process will only increase and not decrease. Seven out of nine teachers in international teaching are PhD students who graduated from prestigious universities. Generally, they can teach cooperative classes only after three years in our school. The five years after graduation of PhD students is

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the golden period of frequent research achievements, and it is easy to stand out if there are good research teams and research directions during this period. However, the heavy cooperative class teaching task will obviously affect the scientific research work of young teachers. First, it is difficult for them to have enough time to conduct scientific research and establish their own research team. Secondly, if you join the research team of other professors, considering the discontinuity of collaboration time, either your research level cannot be effectively improved, or it is difficult to complete the tasks assigned by the team, which will affect your development in the professional field over time. In addition, from the perspective of the school, it is difficult to form a research echelon of professors, associate professors, lecturers, post-doctors, doctoral students, and master’s students in the teaching of cooperative classes, and it is difficult to carry out undergraduate scientific research education according to the traditional domestic teaching ideas. As more and more attention is paid to teaching, scientific research is indispensable if teachers want to achieve better development. If a doctoral graduate wants to become an excellent teacher, provincial and national funds are essential, and other honors need to be supported by excellent scientific research achievements. Under the conditions of international education, teachers undertake more work other than teaching and scientific research, and their scientific research achievements are difficult to compete with teachers in ordinary teaching classes, which will affect their career development plans over time. Just think in terms of academic and technical titles of school, if schools take unified title evaluation criteria, the cooperation in running schools teachers can be difficult to compete with the average class teachers, will have great difficulty in job title promotion, thus affect the career planning, and if not good coordination, eventually will form a vicious circle (Cai and Yu, 2016; Huang, 2021; Guo, 2017; Qi, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015).

3.3.5 The Utilitarianism of Education Is Becoming Increasingly Serious For a long time, basic education that has been around the middle and high school entrance examination, not enough attention to primary education, should focus on the mastery of knowledge and inspection in middle and high school, for the vast majority of people, still one examination for life. Although at present, this is a relatively fair selection, but due to the examination content caused by the "emphasis on knowledge, not practice", "emphasis on memory, not thinking", "emphasis on inheritance, not innovation", the high emphasis on test scores and excessive competitive psychology, the whole educational thought and environment become eager for quick success and instant benefits. Education puts political and economic functions in the first place and pays more attention to how individuals acquire knowledge and skills to meet the needs of social, political, and economic life. The inherent function of education is lost, and humanistic education is abandoned or forgotten to seek the inner purpose

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of "comfortable and self-sufficient". The process of primary education is not enough attention. In contrast with international educators, some local education leaders are short-sighted and lack of a broad educational outlook, emphasizing only intellectual education while neglecting moral education. In many schools because of the objective existence of college entrance pressure, the college entrance examination is still the focus of schoolwork at present, and even in the future for a long time, all the schoolwork around it. Therefore, moral education tends to fade. Moral education in many schools often lacks serial, in-depth, and effective development. Students’ limited time is still compressed in class. Although it has been advocated that students should be excellent in both character and learning, in fact, academic performance is all the more important. Such education cultivates many students with unhealthy thoughts, which will have negative effects in the future.

3.3.6 The Development of the Discipline Is Still Unbalanced Many primary schools do not arrange classes according to the national class hour standards, and the curriculum of non-unified subjects is often arbitrarily squeezed. To advertise themselves as quality-oriented education, some schools carry out so-called community activities. In fact, it is better for the school to open all the courses such as music, body, and beauty, which are much better than the club activities of only one session a week. In elementary education, students are regarded as machines to receive education and teachers as tools to impart knowledge, ignoring the subjectivity and uniqueness of human beings. Basic education produces unified educational products with unified curriculum, unified requirements, unified organizational form, and unified teaching level. The uniqueness of human beings is limited in a very limited scope, and the individuality is fundamentally ignored. Emphasize knowledge, but do not guide knowledge to humanistic care; emphasizing democracy and equality between teachers and students, the fact is that the freedom of teachers and students is constrained; emphasize on the development of human subjectivity, but many people occupied the space of thought and activity, so that the subjectivity cannot be fully developed. On the one hand, such education results in poor mental health of teachers, great psychological pressure, and shorter job burnout cycle. On the one hand, the phenomenon of student weariness is increasingly serious (Cai and Yu, 2016; Huang, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015).

3.3.7 Ignore Traditional Culture and Education If we look at primary and secondary schools, we can find such a strange phenomenon: Our primary and secondary students spend much more energy on foreign languages than on Chinese; they are familiar with many myths and stories of foreign countries, but when it comes to some traditional Chinese culture, they know nothing at

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all. Our excellent traditional culture is being frozen, abandoned, or even destroyed, and now children are getting further and further away from the core of traditional Chinese culture. The affection for the fine culture of China is gradually drifting away, becoming indifferent, and even disappearing. This is a tragedy for a country and a nation and a history and a civilization. Looking at the phenomenon of "worshipping foreign things and fawning on foreign things" in the whole country today, in fact, fundamentally speaking, it is because China has been paying attention to economic development in recent decades, while ignoring the inheritance and prosperity of national culture. In elementary education in our country with the continuous development of education career, teachers gradually increase, the size of the teaching equipment is more, more complete teaching level is also rising, hundreds of thousands of primary school teachers in our country, the elementary school teachers is the nation’s largest teaching professional groups, and scale of elementary education in our country is the largest in the world. However, there are problems of unbalanced distribution and unreasonable structure of teachers, which is mainly due to the imbalance of economic development and education level in various regions of China, and the increasing difficulty of teachers’ professional development. At present, China’s primary school teachers’ professional development has the problem that teachers’ individual living environment autistic professional development is not strong. Individual teacher’s way of life in China mainly lived a repeat school home two-point one-line boring life, they are teaching and strict requirements, in pursuit of teachers’ morality is very perfect, but with the continuous development of era, teacher’s iconic status began to decline, and this kind of iconic status change to the teacher’s inner caused a huge impact. In recent years, China’s requirements for teachers in the system have also changed. The current education system not only provides the responsibilities and obligations of each teacher, but also makes specific provisions on the content of the teaching course, the form of teaching organization, and teaching methods. China’s education system has gradually improved, making teachers become the servants of education from the idols in people’s hearts. This change in the status of teachers seriously affects the subjective initiative of teachers, makes them tired of their work, and affects the professional development of teachers. It could be that the more you try to improve your education, the harder it gets, but it is not just that, and it is also the difference between urban and rural education. If we divide China into two regions, one urban area and one rural area, for comparison, the average education level of the rural residents of our country is three years less than that of the urban areas. That is to say, if the average educational level of urban residents in China is about the same as that of a junior high school student, then the average educational level of residents in rural areas is the same as that of primary school graduates. Therefore, China’s per capita education level is not high. Next, if we want to improve China’s per capita education years, we must greatly improve the education level of our rural residents; of course, the focus is rural registered children. Compared with other countries, studies show that the level of vocational education in China is relatively poor.

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3.4 Countermeasures for the Construction of Teaching Staff in International Schools In the process of global integration, preschool education in international schools has gradually developed. Improving the international level and teaching ability of teachers is an important method and means to promote the comprehensive development of preschool education teachers in schools. Starting from the actual needs of preschool education students in international schools and combining with the problems and challenges faced by the existing preschool education teachers in international schools in China, this paper puts forward the following suggestions on promoting the construction of preschool education teachers in international schools in China.

3.4.1 Attach Importance to Teacher Training and Broaden the Channels for Teacher Training Our international schools can attach importance to the advanced teaching experience of other countries. With the rapid development of the internet, international schools can innovate the education system for preschool teachers and adopt the operation method of "academic upward" and "skill downward". Network conference provides convenience for teachers of international schools to learn advanced classroom teaching experience of foreign countries. Preschool education teachers of different international schools can carry out academic exchange through network conference and share teaching experience and teaching process of preschool education with each other. For example, preschool education teachers in international schools in China who are not teachers major cannot carry out foreign language teaching activities for preschool children with scientific methods without professional education and training. They can learn the experience of foreign teachers through the internet, mainly foreign language teaching ability. Secondly, international schools can exert the combined force of formal training and informal learning to help preschool teachers transform tacit knowledge into systematic and clear knowledge through formal training and provide a real environment for teachers to apply abstract knowledge through informal learning.

3.4.2 National Legislation, Clear Preschool Education Teacher Standards The state has accelerated legislation on presecondary education of international schools to regulate the ways and standards of teacher training in a legal form. For example, the German Conference of Ministers of Culture and Education approved the

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Framework Agreement on The Training and Examination of Preschool Teachers in 2000 and made detailed provisions on the professional quality of preschool teachers, which is generally binding in all federal states. First of all, the legislation clearly defines the social status and treatment of preschool education teachers. International schools can attract excellent talents to join through generous salaries and highquality welfare benefits, so as to improve the quality of preschool education teachers. Secondly, the legislation clearly stipulates the minimum educational requirements for presecondary education teachers in international schools. At present, all countries make provisions on the minimum educational standards of preschool teachers from the whole teaching team; some countries and regions not only set benchmarks for the minimum educational background requirements, but also divide different levels of qualifications among preschool teachers and stipulate the educational background requirements of preschool teachers of different levels. International schools should organize preschool education teachers to carry out educational and teaching research and improve the quality of preschool education teachers. First, precise training should be implemented to create a sustainable professional development system for kindergarten teachers. Based on the current national training, provincial training, and local training, we should enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of training and gradually establish a kindergarten teacher training system that can accurately meet various needs, so as to realize a sustainable and lifelong professional development system for kindergarten teachers. Secondly, parents supervise the training of teachers in preschool education of international schools. At present, parents of preschool children are more inclined to choose international schools with higher-quality teachers. Under the pressure of enrollment, international schools are urged to attach importance to the construction of teachers. Because children in the preschool stage are in the peak of intellectual development, with good memory, high learning enthusiasm, teachers and children are in contact for a long time, on children’s physical and mental development of a far-reaching impact. Preschool education can lay a good foundation for children’s future learning. Therefore, when choosing a school, parents should not only pay attention to the external environment and hardware facilities of the school, but also pay more attention to the quality of teachers and teaching. Preschool teachers in international schools should be both qualified preschool teachers and qualified foreign language teachers. In terms of teacher management, international schools in China should make the following requirements for preschool teachers. First, teachers should be strictly required to carry out bilingual teaching in class, immerse students in a foreign language environment, and create a strong foreign language learning atmosphere for students; teachers lead students to adopt foreign language communication in interpersonal communication at school, which can not only promote the stability of teachers’ foreign language level, but also promote students to improve their own foreign language level. Secondly, teachers should be required to use more speaking and singing in teaching, as far as possible to improve the fun of class. Since preschool children have shorter attention spans, teachers need to keep classes as interesting as possible. Finally, to promote the internationalization of teachers’ ideas, preschool children have a strong sense of teacher, and teachers not only need to learn foreign languages, but also need to understand the actual cultural background

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of the foreign language. Due to the differences in customs and habits among different countries, students cannot use a foreign language flexibly if they do not understand the application situation (Cai and Yu, 2016; Guo, 2017; Huang, 2021; Qi, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015).

3.4.3 Provide Policy and Institutional Support for the Management of Teachers The formulation and implementation of international school teacher management regulations should not violate national laws and regulations and the policies and systems of the provinces and cities where the school is located. Although international schools are thriving in China, the supporting policies and systems of international schools are not perfect. For example, there are obvious loopholes in the teacher recruitment system and teacher evaluation system in schools. After checking relevant materials, it is found that the current national education department lacks specific provisions for the supervision and evaluation of international school teachers, as well as a special mechanism for the supervision and evaluation of international school teachers, which brings freedom and autonomy to the teacher management of case schools to a certain extent, but at the same time leads to the lack of appropriate standards for reference in teacher management, which makes the teacher management system less appropriate. For state and local education departments, on the one hand, should be on the basis of investigation and consideration of the difference of teaching and teacher of the remaining vacancies international school teacher management policy to supplement, make school in teacher management system, construction of teachers’ management culture with related laws and policies of the text can be used as a reference, such as in full consideration of teaching and teacher education background. On the other hand, after the policy is formulated, relevant departments should be timely dispatched to each school to collect feedback on the implementation of the policy, find out the irrationality of the policy, and make adjustments in time. Only when higher education departments lay a solid foundation at the bottom, international schools construct a teacher management system culture that is not only in line with national and regional realities, but also suitable for their own school management and development goals. On the basis of following the spirit of superiors and running schools in accordance with the law, we should enhance the motivation and skills of teachers in international schools and improve the system of professional development of teachers in international schools. The running funds of private education are mainly raised by individuals, invested by enterprises, donated by society, and charged by students’ tuition fees, which is also the case for most international schools. In the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Promotion of Private Teachers amended in 2018, the state stipulates that private schools should be encouraged, supported, and guided. In the process of running and managing international schools, if there is a shortage of funds,

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the state can provide certain financial support. When leading international school, the school need more money, money is not enough, cause for teachers’ management of the construction of the limited funds is relatively common, superior departments can provide international school funding support of the shortage of funds, help optimize allocation of teacher resource international school, teacher recruitment, and training of subsidies, and establish relevant supervision department, supervision, and feedback to the superior. In addition, the superior can also provide certain living subsidies to foreign teachers who work in international schools and have difficulties in material life, so as to help international schools retain foreign teachers. National Office of Chinese Language International Promotion Leading Group of China organized and developed the Standards for International Chinese Language Teachers [ ] (hereinafter referred to as the "Standard") which is a comprehensive description of the knowledge, ability, and quality that teachers engaged in international Chinese teaching should possess, and a complete, scientific, and standardized teacher standard system should be established to provide a basis for the cultivation, training, ability evaluation, and qualification certification of international Chinese teachers. The Standards require: international Chinese language teachers should have a solid foundation in Chinese language teaching; can use English or other interlanguage for communication and teaching, flexible and diversified Chinese teaching methods; able to understand the characteristics of major world cultures; respect different cultures and have multi-cultural consciousness; can consciously compare the main similarities and differences between Chinese and foreign cultures and apply them in teaching practice; understand the basic principles and strategies of intercultural communication; master intercultural communication skills; and can effectively solve the problems encountered in intercultural communication (Cai and Yu, 2016; Huang, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Zou, 2015).

3.4.4 Strengthen the Professional Development of Teachers Especially for the teacher of the global consciousness, this includes teachers should not only have the open culture vision, understanding of health, environment, population, international organizations, the peace, human rights, and other global consciousness, but also has the sensitivity to other cultures in the critical analysis. The ability to resolve conflicts, cooperate with others, and educate students about international understanding should be democratic, fair, respectful, and tolerant. As early as in the late 1940s, UNESCO began to advocate special training for teachers to equip them with the spirit of international understanding and focus on cultivating teachers’ global awareness. In order to better promote the sustainable development of people and society, UNESCO clearly points out the four pillars of education: learn to seek knowledge, learn to work, learn to coexist, and learn to survive. Many studies have shown that the quality of teachers has an important impact on students’ academic achievement, and many experimental studies have also confirmed this point with data.

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Any school attaches great importance to the development of teachers. As an organization different from schools in the general basic education system, international schools have different requirements for teachers; from the selection and recruitment of teachers to the whole process of teacher induction training to in-service training, international schools have their strict and people-oriented system. Schools are the key departments responsible for teachers’ professional development. They should pay enough attention to constantly update and improve the connotation of teachers’ literacy in all aspects and provide teachers with various opportunities in practice, which can form benign interactions, not only conducive to teachers’ development, but also improve the quality of schools (Cai and Yu, 2016; Guo, 2017; Huang, 2021; Qi, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015).

3.5 Conclusion According to the research of this paper, the teaching staff of international schools in China has the characteristics of attaching importance to selection criteria, ability level, and comprehensive quality. With the education aspect of international school teachers in China, including preschool education international school teachers, primary school education school teachers, and middle school education international school teachers, the goal of international school teachers in our country is building a higher theoretical level, and practical ability is very strong, rigorous style of study, diligent professional teachers, and attaches great importance to the basic course teaching. Attention should be paid to cultivating students’ good style of study and active academic thought. The training of high-quality teachers also requires the introduction of high-level, highly educated, high-quality, excellent overseas teachers. Construct a reasonable performance system, guarantee the treatment and welfare policy of teachers, and remove their worries. We will build a team of lifelong learning teachers and constantly improve their learning and teaching abilities through government-sponsored learning and exchanges. In the research, it is found that there are some problems in the teaching staff of international schools in China, such as insufficient strategic attention, lack of national legal guarantee, lack of long-term planning for the construction of teaching staff, narrow and single training channels, unbalanced distribution of teaching staff, uneven educational background of teachers. In view of the problems found in the research on the construction of teachers in international schools in China, the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward, such as attaching importance to teacher training, broadening the channels of teacher training, national legislation, clarifying the teacher standards for preschool education, clarifying the teacher training objectives, increasing financial support from the state, and narrowing the differences between regions. Actively improve teachers’ international vision, optimize the structure of teachers, strengthen their cultural awareness, and strengthen their preservice training; teachers should be trained on language problems, and their professional development should

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be strengthened. The paper puts forward solutions to the problems in the construction of international school teachers. To sum up, this paper clarifies the definition of international schools and the status quo of international school teachers in China from the viewpoints of scholars by searching and reading the journal articles and dissertations for master’s and doctoral degrees. It also puts forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions for the problems in the construction of teachers in preschool education, primary education, and middle school education, so as to better assist the construction of teachers in international schools in China. Teachers undertake the historical mission of spreading knowledge, spreading ideas, and spreading truth and shoulder the important task of shaping the soul, life, and people of The Times. They are the first resource for the development of education and an important cornerstone for the prosperity of the country, the rejuvenation of the nation, and the happiness of the people. The Party and the state have always attached great importance to the work of teachers. Entering the new era, it is more important to take the construction of teachers as the basic work, enhance their sense of responsibility and honor in teaching and educating, deepen the comprehensive reform in the field of teacher management, effectively raise the income and treatment of teachers, elevate the social status of teachers in an all-round way, and forge a high-quality professional and innovative team of teachers. Let the ranks of teachers become an important support force for building a modern socialist country (Cai and Yu, 2016; Guo, 2017; Huang, 2021; Qi, 2021; Qian and Wan, 2018; Tang and Zhou, 2017; Wang, 2019; Zhang, 2021; Zou, 2015).

References Cai, J., & Yu, Z. (2016). Opportunities and challenges of professional development of full-time teachers under Sino-French cooperative education model. Education Modernization, 20(3), 1–3. Guo, W. (2017) Blue book of China’s international schools (2017) China’s international schools have great potential in the Belt and Road Initiative. World Education Information, 30(23), F0003. Huang, J. (2021). The connotation and realization of “quality” preschool education in China. Journal of East China Normal University (Education Science), 39(3), 33–47. Qi, J. (2021). Investigation and suggestions on the experience of international School teachers’ pre-service training courses. Journal of Anyang Normal University, 20(3), 1123–1126. Qian, B., & Wan, X. (2018). Review and analysis of the education strategy of the African Continent (2016–2025). World Education Information, 31(23), 11–16. Tang, H., & Zhou, C. (2017). International experience of preschool education teacher team construction and its enlightenment. Cooperative Economics and Science and Technology, 20(13), 140–142. Wang, Y. (2019). The main problems and challenges facing the current management system of Preschool education in China. New Curriculum (Comprehensive Edition), 20(8), 30. Zhang, L. (2021). Analysis on problems and countermeasures of international faculty construction in higher vocational colleges. Journal of Hubei Open Vocational College, 34(6), 40–41. Zou, S. (2015). The main problems and challenges facing the current education management system of primary and secondary schools in China. Curriculum Education Research, 20(32), 51–52.

Chapter 4

International School Management in China

This chapter investigates international school management in China. In today’s various modes of running schools, with the comprehensive adjustment of China’s education system, international schools have developed into schools that can provide foreign education mode for local students in recent years. With the progress of era, the development of international school is becoming more and more attention, has become the focus of attention in education, school for their own development needs to improve, constantly seeking self-improvement and beyond, but the current international school management level the good and bad are intermingled, many school management level is far behind the establishment of management target, and management problems emerge in endlessly. In the development of international schools, international schools have experienced different policy changes, the purpose of which is to better improve the management system of international schools. However, due to the particularity of complex students, international schools are difficult to manage. Therefore, only by being familiar with and understanding the development history, reform changes, problems and challenges of international schools can we better propose solutions, which is more conducive to the leadership and management of international schools. Based on previous research literature and works, this paper summarizes the definition, development process, characteristics, problems, and countermeasures of international school management in China, aiming to analyze the problems, summarize the reasons behind the problems, and put forward corresponding countermeasures by studying the influential factors of international school management.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 J. Li, International School Policy Development, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8817-2_4

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4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 The Sustainable Development of China’s Economy With the sustainable development of China’s economy, with the growth of household income, as well as the widespread phenomenon of the one-child parents’ emphasis on their children’s education unprecedented increase, the demand for high-quality education resources gradually strengthen, conditional family in basic education stage to send children to international schools, schools, and even abroad. The development of economic globalization has promoted the allocation of global resources, and international education has become a new choice for Chinese families to educate their children. An international school is a culture that is very different from ordinary schools, but the purpose of any school is the same: to teach students how to be human. In terms of the nature of running schools and the number of students they receive, domestic international schools can be divided into three categories: international schools for foreigners and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan compatriots, international departments of public schools and private international schools. Many international schools adopt advanced education concepts, teaching evaluation methods, reasonable and practical curriculum systems, flexible and diverse teaching methods, and strict management modes. Many teachers have lived and taught in different parts of the world; establish a scientific and effective performance assessment system in international schools to improve students’ independent learning ability; will foster strengths and circumvent weaknesses, pay attention to classroom teaching and examination ability; pay attention to improve English ability, set up humanities foreign teachers’ courses. In terms of teaching management, international schools can be divided into three types: native teaching method, combined teaching method, and Chinese teaching method. Native teaching is mainly found in international schools run by expatriates. There are two ways of teaching in these international schools: One is American-style, with instruction in English and “walking classes”; The other is European-style education and oriental education, using the national language teaching. The combination teaching method mainly exists in the international department set up by local schools. These international schools operate on a grade-level or “walking” basis, with teachers teaching in English, Chinese or both languages. The Chinese teaching method is completely in accordance with the requirements of the syllabus of the Ministry of Education of China. Foreign students who come to study in such schools must receive the whole Chinese education. Therefore, this kind of teaching method is especially suitable for those overseas Chinese students or those who have a considerable Chinese foundation. International schools first appeared in China at the beginning of the last century. The early emergence of “international schools” was mainly to solve the schooling problem of children of embassy staff. International school is a mainly exist in the secondary education stage, the global perspective of international understanding and thinking of value orientation, features a diverse curriculum for bilingual or multilingual teaching way, to the world of personnel as the main service object, to train students in the process of globalization

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the necessary language, knowledge, ability and attitude of the school. International school is a new type of school, which takes the implementation of international education as its own responsibility and has its own clear purpose, organization, and curriculum. It has distinct school running style and academic characteristics. International schools have their own unique management system. The orderly operation and effective governance of an international school need to actively optimize the internal and external governance structure of the school and coordinate the power balance and mutual relations of different stakeholders in the school governance structure on the basis of meeting the requirements of national policies and norms. In 2013, the third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clearly pointed out the need to “deepen the reform of education management system”. Specifically, in the field of education, it means promoting the modernization of education governance system and governance capacity and improving the internal governance structure of schools. In 2017, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China called for the establishment of a social governance pattern featuring joint contribution, participation, and shared benefits. The main body of education management has changed from “one yuan” to “multiple”, and the governance mode of government functions has gradually changed from the previous top-down one-way mode to the multi-subject equal participation, multi-subject joint consultation, and organic interaction between the upper and lower. The Outline of the National Medium—and Long-term Education Reform and Development Program (2010–2020) also proposes to “build a modern school system with independent management, democratic supervision and social participation in running schools according to law”, which further defines the construction of school governance. In addition, the Law on the Promotion of Private Education established the principle of “classified management and public welfare orientation” in 2016 to promote orderly governance of private schools. In this context, educational management is facing new challenges and reform opportunities. Strengthening school management ability and constructing a new school management structure are important links to achieve the goal of education work. As an important part of China’s educational structure, international education is not only a product of The Times, but also an inevitable choice for China to improve its international strength. Improving the management structure of international schools and improving the management ability of international schools is not only required by The Times to promote the professionalization, diversification, and efficiency of school governance, but also the practical need to further optimize the national governance capacity in accordance with the current pattern of educational management modernization (Huang, 2016; Li, 2010; Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Xiao, 2016; Ying, 2016; Zhao, 2016).

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4.1.2 The Legal Environment Faced by International Schools in China From the perspective of international school management, on the one hand, from the perspective of school development, from the legal environment faced by International schools in China, this paper analyzes the current situation of international schools in China from the perspectives of funding sources, financing channels, and management structure and puts forward corresponding financing countermeasures. It is suggested that the implementation of comprehensive budget can promote schools to improve various management systems and improve the management level and quality of schools: It is beneficial to balance the decision-making, execution and supervision power in school management, and optimize the governance structure of school management such as school board. It is beneficial to achieve the shortterm goal and long-term goal of school development and realize the combination of the two. In general, the international education is still a new thing in the field of education research in China; study of international school also increasingly rich and diverse, although more and more on the study of international school management, but at the international school management or management structure of the theoretical research and empirical studies are limited; therefore, increasing the research can not only enrich the theory in the field of research, it can also enrich the research based on practice and expand the research scope.

4.1.3 Joint Governance Under the Concept of Education The educational philosophy is integrated into the school’s different inquiry activities and the national international school management system and is committed to cultivating international talents who can not only understand the essence of Chinese culture, but also have comprehensive cross-cultural ability. The IB education concept of “common governance” creates a good governance atmosphere and space for stakeholders inside and outside the school to participate in school governance. School administrators, teaching and research staff, teachers, students, parents, and community members are indispensable in the new ecological construction of school education development, and they can play a certain value and function in the learner community. The internal governance structure of international schools involves the power distribution and mutual relations of decision-making, executive, and supervisory bodies. The decision-making body of the school is centered on the school board, which includes the principal. The executive members mainly include the vice president, the Office of Teaching Affairs, the Office of Politics and Education, and the Office of General Affairs. The supervision organs are mainly the party branch, the staff congress, the labor union, and the student congress. Under the trend of educational governance modernization, the connotation development and effective

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governance of schools not only depend on the effective cooperation and normal operation of decision-making organs, executive organs, and supervision organs inside schools, but also depend on the participation of stakeholders outside schools, such as government, parents, and society (Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018).

4.2 Historical Development 4.2.1 Embryonic Period (1980–1989) The first international school in China was the Pakistan Embassy School in Beijing, which was established in 1969. The “Beijing Pakistan Embassy School” was followed by Beijing Parkview International School in 1973 and Beijing no. 55 Middle School’s International Student Department in 1975. These three international schools can be said to be the originators of China’s international schools, but they adopt China’s education system and methods and increase the proportion of language teaching and the teaching content of their own ethnic groups. This is very different from today’s international schools. As more and more diplomatic relations are established with China, the number of diplomats is increasing, and their children education is attracting attention. In 1980, the U.S. Embassy and the embassies of Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand jointly established Beijing Shunyi International School, which was the first international school in China to fully adopt foreign teaching and management systems. At that time, the school only accepted children of embassy staff. By 1989, there were about 6 international schools in China, including 5 schools for foreign children and 1 public school international department. During this period, the internationalization of Chinese education was not obvious, and most international schools were for children of foreign nationals, mainly to solve the learning problems of children of embassy staff and children of foreign nationals working in economic development areas.

4.2.2 Exploratory Period (1990-Current) During this period, China’s door was further opened and its economy developed further. A large number of foreign companies entered China. China’s economic development also attracted a large number of foreigners to work in China, which promoted the development of International education in China. The established international schools include the International Department of Shanghai High School, the High School attached to Beijing Normal University, the Second High School attached to East China Normal University, Guangzhou Country Garden School, Maple Leaf International School—Dalian, etc. The post-70 s generation has become the main body of parents, and their overall quality is generally high. Their education of children

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has reached an unprecedented height from vision to idea and even economic strength. At the same time, the society attaches more importance to education, and the education competition in public schools has become white-hot. After 70, on the other hand, parents should try education for China’s own experience makes them more eager to change the next generation of education growth path, so the demand for international education is particularly strong, public international class, run by the local international schools of various types of international school began in China’s big cities or even second—and third-tier cities. In December 2013, the Ministry of Education issued the draft Interim Measures for the Administration of International Programs in Senior High Schools, which clearly regulated the “international departments” and “international classes” of various senior high schools in terms of enrollment, fees, and other aspects, and sorted out or changed some of the “international classes” that did not meet the requirements. Since then, Beijing and Shanghai have announced that they will no longer examine and approve new international classes for public high schools, while Zhejiang, Anhui, Heilongjiang, and Jilin provinces have transferred the right to examine and approve international classes for public high schools to the provincial level. Sub-cultures, characteristics, school traditions, and regional characteristics are different in international schools, and it takes time for principals to understand them. This is necessary for the principal to lead the development of the school. In this way, when designing the development blueprint of the school, the tradition of the school can be retained, and some innovations can be made on this basis. Due to ignorance and abuse of power, mistakes can adversely affect the development of the school through the school and its culture, eespecially for leaders and middle managers who are eager to establish their authority. Leadership style is often regarded as the most critical factor in running a school, especially in the past. There is some debate about the concept of leadership. Some experts say it refers to who has control, while others say it refers to authority, influence, or knowledge and status. There are a variety of leadership styles, subtle and complex, and a variety of options, and now more discussion is participatory leadership and distributed leadership. Different leadership styles adapt to different needs, occasions, work focus; this is conducive to their own work. Effective leaders see themselves as part of the school’s development process. Rights are a complicated factor in education. We can see from the literature on international schools that most leaders are unwilling to give up their rights. It is about the security and confidence of a man in his position and those who work with him. However, delegating power to those who have professional skills, knowledge, skills, and status in the school can lead and develop the school effectively. It is about empowering, trusting, and finding the best in others. It is also about developing leadership in others and helping to create a culture of trust where policy is implemented as a positive force for the betterment of all stakeholders. Schools are more than the interaction of people, systems, and factors. It is first and foremost a physical location. Much of the loneliness and frustration on campus is caused by the architecture, the style of architecture, and the lack of warmth. Proactive use of the school environment, including social spaces and soft objects such as plants, art, and trees, as well as local culture and architectural design, can create a more pleasant and harmonious work environment. Environment and surrounding

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facilities have a significant impact on the behavior and inner life of people in an organization. Therefore, it is very beneficial to establish an environment where all stakeholders feel relaxed, empowered, and fun. Of course, this approach requires financial support, time, and planning. In international schools, long- and short-term groups have their own subcultural and social circles. They have their own characteristics, symbols, and rules. This can easily lead to alienation between individuals or organizations, especially those who are new to the school or who do not know enough about the school. Estrangement between isolated groups can lead to misunderstandings, lack of communication, and tension. So, just like the discussion of the use of power, there are some big events and occasions that need to bring people and organizations together. A proactive leader creates the possibility of interaction with all organizations. He will ensure that the school is effectively led, including follow-up conversations with new staff who will stay at the school. This support system needs to be well organized so that those coming (staff, students, parents) feel confident and safe from the school and its leadership. Like other organizations, schools are constantly changing and interacting with the environment in the face of internal and external pressures. Schools are more like living organic structures, with history, regional characteristics, and ideas and understand that schools are unique, complex and created by the emotions and needs of many people. Leadership is a way to ensure that schools operate efficiently and proactively. Unlike other organizations, school is a complex and emotional place. Everyone is different from others. Schools should respect this difference. School education that respects individuality is more conducive to the growth of students. With the rapid growth of the number of families and children of foreign nationals in China, International school administrators face increasingly tough tests. However, China has just started in the field of international school education, and more experts, scholars, and administrators need to carry out in-depth theoretical research and practical investigation (Huang, 2016; Li, 2010; Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Xiao, 2016; Ying, 2016; Zhao, 2016).

4.3 Challenges and Problems in Practice International schools are hot today, and domestic international schools are also growing up with the hot, but the international education growing under this trend is not so perfect, and success and failure of the case constantly appear. Under the influence of education policies and the epidemic, the international school industry is facing a bottleneck period of development, with both opportunities and challenges. In recent years, policy changes and safety management problems occur frequently, and academic quality needs to be improved. These are all problems that international school administrators need to solve. Experts call for continuous improvement and reform of international education in China to keep up with the pace of internationalization, rather than ignoring the quality of education itself. According to media reports, Shenzhen has seen a great leap forward in the past two years in terms of “international schools”, with more and more “international

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schools” appearing in the city. Some “international schools” are hard to find; others fail to survive the one-year “freshman” period and end up being acquired.

4.3.1 The Sharp Increase in the Number of Private Schools Providing International Education is Driven by Demand According to an institutional survey, there are 122 schools for foreign children, 321 private international schools, and 218 international departments of public schools in China, among which the number of private schools providing international education has increased significantly. In recent years, a large number of private schools providing international education have appeared in some places, including Shenzhen, which is directly related to the booming demand for international education, which is driven by many factors. Some parents take the initiative to lay a solid foundation for further study abroad, which is the main motivation for parents to choose private schools that provide international education. Of course, some parents have no choice but to let their children receive high-quality education in public schools. However, due to various reasons, they have no choice but to choose private schools that provide international education. In recent years, due to the restrictions of household registration or school status, there are many people who choose international education. The survey found that there is a shortage of public high schools in Shenzhen, and it is even more difficult to enter high-quality high schools in Shenzhen. In addition, the emergence of a large number of private schools providing international education is also related to the tightening of “international classes” in public schools in recent years. Some provinces and cities have issued policies to stop examining and approving “international classes” in various public schools. In this context, private schools providing international education face new development opportunities. It is precisely because of the growing demand for international education that a large number of private schools providing international education appear, but the management work is obviously lagging behind, which is highlighted by the low entry threshold. When applying for private schools providing international education, some organizers pay more attention to capital operation, while the corresponding professional preparation is obviously inadequate, especially in school planning, curriculum construction, teacher selection, and employment, and the quality is difficult to guarantee. In the face of huge demand, some private schools offering international education are “hard to find”, while others rush to set up and then finish hastily. It not only reflects the lack of preparation of the organizer, but also highlights the lax control and lagging management of the management department, which should be paid attention to and strengthened supervision. Private schools providing international education have sustained healthy development and need to adapt to new changes. With the rapid increase in the number of private schools providing international education, the competition among individual schools is inevitable, and survival of the fittest

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and quality victory has become an inevitable trend. However, on the whole, private schools providing international education also face some common challenges. At present, it is urgent to adjust and change relevant education laws and policies. On the one hand, the revised Law on the Promotion of Privately run Education stipulates that “the sponsors of privately run schools may independently choose to set up non-profit or for-profit privately run schools, but they shall not set up for-profit privately run schools providing compulsory education”. For some includes compulsory education but also the private schools that offer international education of high school, if “part of compulsory education” choice for for-profit private schools, may be involved in the school of “compulsory education” and “part of compulsory education”, including the division of property, debt stripping, etc., which need to be prepared accordingly (Huang, 2016; Li, 2010; Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Ying, 2016).

4.3.2 Unreasonable Curriculum Setting and Supervision At present, private schools providing international education include international curriculum as the main mode, international and domestic curriculum integration mode, and international examination curriculum as the main mode in high school curriculum setting. It is an important policy orientation to strengthen the review and management of the introduction of international courses and foreign textbooks by private schools providing international education, pay attention to the integration of international courses and domestic courses, and ensure the basic quality requirements stipulated by the state. Private schools providing international education need to conform to this trend and direction. In the absence of effective supervision, international schools are prone to different charging standards, uneven teaching quality, diversified school-running mechanisms, and unclear rights and responsibilities, which also affect the benign development of the international school market to a certain extent. Many international schools have advanced teaching concepts, strict management systems, and flexible teaching methods. Known for its practical content, the program is growing in size, but expansion can be expensive because international schools do not enjoy tax breaks and other incentives in China. So one of the problems facing many international schools is how best to allocate the resources they already have. Dance classrooms, swimming pools, etc., are no longer just a decoration, but something that children can participate in every day. International schools invest not only in infrastructure and equipment, but also in teaching staff and the value system of the school. International schools in China need to hire a large number of teachers from overseas, and due to differences in the talent market, foreign teachers’ salaries differ several times from those of domestic teachers. Teachers play the most important role in teaching, but in fact, schools are limited by time cost, economic cost or human cost, and do not necessarily design their improvement space and development path. The failure of teachers to grow and gain professional satisfaction in the school also indirectly increases their demission rate. The instability of teaching team will

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have a significant impact on the academic security of the school. It is extremely urgent to set up different platforms for teachers so that they can have the opportunity to choose and develop, so as to fundamentally protect their interests and launch a scientific mechanism for training excellent teachers.

4.3.3 The Principal’s Core Leadership is Insufficient As the saying goes, a good headmaster is a good school. The headmaster’s culture is the school’s culture. The headmaster’s style of doing things, what kind of people he likes to use, what kind of work he focuses on, etc., all affect all aspects of the school’s work. This culture gradually evolved into a team culture and eventually a campus culture. As the soul of the school, the principal’s leadership is particularly important. But in fact, due to lack of management experience or their own habitual thinking, the leadership of the principals of some international schools still needs to be improved. Leadership itself needs to have a clear connotation, that is, empowerment, motivation, and training. The reality is that many principals like to do things themselves without really understanding what delegation is; at the same time, managers are vague about some of the basics needed to motivate employees; in addition, due to the change of competition and the continuous updating of knowledge, people need to be constantly improved. Some school administrators are training and reserving talents, and their ability to empower subordinates needs to be improved. The height of the headmaster determines the height of the school. As the head of a school, only by constantly improving leadership can the school continue to develop forward. In recent years, there have been frequent safety accidents in and out of campus. According to relevant data, about 16,000 students die of unnatural causes every year, and about 40 students die of food poisoning, drowning, traffic accidents, and other safety accidents every day. Of the safety accidents in the education industry, 45% were caused by students’ lack of safety awareness, while 18% were caused by school management problems. Campus security is no small matter; every campus security incident will affect the heart of the society. Behind every campus security, there are certain problems in school management. Protecting children is a moral responsibility, a legal responsibility for the school and its staff, and a matter of prestige. Strengthening campus safety construction is an important issue concerning the survival of schools. In recent years, in order to integrate the advantages of educational resources, share the idea of running a school and improve the benefits of running a school; more and more organizations begin to adopt the group running a school. They want to maximize the benefits of running a school by taking advantage of the advantages of scale. However, there are some drawbacks in the group education itself, because education is a long-term process and can never be accomplished overnight. Unlimited expansion is bound to dilute quality resources; the successful model of elite schools may not be copied. In addition, some education groups will “cut the peak and fill the valley”, and under the premise of damaging high-quality education resources, inferior education resources may not be able to leverage the strength. In

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the process of expansion, management is rigid, too administrative, and many education groups brought infinite trouble. Affected by the epidemic in recent years and its affiliated problems, China’s international school has greatly affected the recruit students: On the one hand, the number of “conformities” abroad greatly reduced, in abroad very large proportion in the past of “go with the flow”, “go abroad to go abroad, there is no substantial purpose” or domestic students are turning to public school curriculum direction. On the other hand, the fluctuation of economic situation reduces the family’s ability to pay, and some parents can no longer afford the high tuition fees of international schools or overseas study fees for a period of time. It is hard to say how long these changes will last, but they are far from temporary. International schools adopt the educational characteristics of eastern and western schools, and not only have strict management systems and rules in terms of management system, teaching methods, and teaching contents, but also have diversified and flexible teaching methods and reasonable teaching contents, providing an ideal learning environment for international students from all over the world. However, because each international school has its own specific group of students, its own curriculum, as well as the limitations of some schools’ operating conditions, the shortage of different types of teachers and other problems, international schools still have some shortcomings. Due to some international school is mainly for international students who want to return to country for further study in the future and founded, so in this type of school, professional Chinese teacher is less, generally no Chinese classes, even if there is also as an interest classes, rather than a standardized knowledge class, and thus leads to unable to enter the Chinese university graduate studies. Take the two international schools in Shanghai as an example. These two schools have only 6–10 years of history and employ a large number of young Chinese teachers, and many of whom have only one or two years of teaching experience so far. It is common for primary and secondary schools to have more female teachers. According to teachers, students like young teachers, because they are easy to communicate and have more common language, which is of great help to students’ study and life. The international School of School A has 48 full-time teachers, including 42 foreign teachers. School B has 44 full-time teachers and 36 foreign teachers. Fewer Chinese teachers lead to fewer Chinese courses. International schools in China, especially the international departments of some domestic schools, have limited teachers, especially foreign teachers. Due to the limitation of teaching staff and school conditions, some international schools cannot offer courses with international certification of the international diploma. The diplomas for international students from these schools are mainly junior and senior high school diplomas from their home countries, and it is difficult to obtain international diplomas (Huang, 2016; Li, 2010; Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Xiao, 2016; Ying, 2016; Zhao, 2016).

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4.3.4 Some Schools Lack Management Characteristics Overseas students who also study in Shanghai, different students and their parents, have different needs, and different needs should correspond to different education and teaching. For a school, it is necessary to have a relatively prepared positioning in order to succeed in running a school. For example, the same international school, each school, has its own characteristics. Some international schools do not have a proper positioning, do not know what kind of students to recruit, do not know the strengths of the school’s teaching management, lack of characteristics in management, cannot survive in the fierce competition. On the contrary, for example is the only international school in Shanghai that takes Japanese as its first foreign language, the biggest advantage of their courses is that they can teach Japanese students completely in their mother tongue and students can easily identify with them. Due to the small number of students at present, the school is able to develop a personalized curriculum plan for each student, and some students have benefited from this highly targeted curriculum. This approach gained the recognition of students and parents, do more successful. “There are cultural and ideological differences between different linguistic and ethnic groups. This difference is reflected in the process of education management, which brings some difficulty and confusion to education management, and will exist for a long time”. It is true that people from different regions have some commonness in personality, moral character, and behavior style, but this is not the only or even far from the important reason to judge students from this region. Students are minors, there are still a lot of variables in their personality quality, and plasticity is relatively strong. To classify them as a certain kind of person, prematurely can only lead to poor education and failure. This is because personality is more important than commonality. A student in the international department of a Chinese school was not paying attention in class but was looking at photos he had taken during his weekend trip, and even passed them on to others to see. There were only a dozen students in total in the classroom; suddenly few students in serious class, the teacher of course very angry, angrily walked to the student in front of a want to grab the photo. Did not expect the student is not to give, but also plausibly said: “This is my photo, you have no right to take away”. The teacher was speechless with anger. The teachers and students were deadlocked. Students do not want to give, and teachers cannot forcibly take. In the end, we had to let it go. The curriculum and teaching of multicultural education should also respect the cultural traditions of students’ own countries, and ethnic groups according to the above objectives. The teacher’s teaching methods are tailored to the students’ learning styles, cultures, and patterns of learning motivation. “In the teaching and textbook presents a variety of culture, group for things and understand the concept of”, the principle may migrate to foreign through the education of children, both to understand and respect their culture, habits, and to help students to understand and adapt to local culture and education, make them form the correct understanding of ethnic and cultural diversity, to prepare students for the universal skills and attitudes that society will need in the future, study and live on a campus with students from all over the world. However, the challenges facing

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international schools go far beyond that. Following a Western-focused curriculum, international schools are more likely to adopt western teaching models that require less memorization and less time, raising doubts among mainly Asian parents about whether their children have a solid learning foundation. In terms of regulations, the Chinese government is still very lenient toward international schools, allowing them to write curricula freely and maintain independent operations. China’s Ministry of Education has generally done little to interfere with the curriculum, except by disapproving potentially controversial history textbooks. In addition, due to government regulations, Chinese students are not allowed to study in international schools. Therefore, an international school with only a few Chinese teachers but very few Chinese cultural elements cannot be called “international”.

4.4 Countermeasures and Suggestions for Problems and Challenges With the development of economy and globalization, international schools have developed to a certain extent in all countries around the world, but a new education system will inevitably face many problems and challenges in the process of growth and development. However, we will find some solutions to these problems and challenges. We will keep up with the development of internationalization and make continuous reform and progress so that the international school can develop well and upward. In view of the problems and challenges faced by international schools in the development process, the following countermeasures and suggestions are proposed.

4.4.1 Countermeasures for the Demand Pulling Problem Caused by the Sharp Increase in the Number of Private Schools Providing International Education First of all, we establish a classified management system according to law and constantly optimize the management order of private education. After the full development of private education and the establishment of the classified management system, it is not enough for the educational administrative departments to only perform the function of organizing public schools, and it is possible to implement the whole industry management of all kinds of educational institutions including private schools. To build or set up a non-profit private schools, examination and approval authorities according to the needs of the development of local economy and society and education, as well as national and local standards, the establishment of nonprofit private schools for non-profit organizations and individuals in private schools of economic strength, qualifications, the application materials, etc., according to the

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examination and approval authority for approval according to regulation in accordance with the law, privately run compulsory education schools before the implementation of the new law should be registered as non-profit privately runschools in accordance with the law and regulations, and their charter of running schools should be revised. The government may rectify privately run compulsory education schools with low quality of running schools, irregular conduct of running schools or difficulties in operation by merging, transforming or terminating them according to law on the premise that the sponsors voluntarily do so. For those who establish or choose to register as for-profit private primary and secondary schools, they shall, in accordance with the Implementation Rules for the Classified Registration of Privately run Schools, complete financial liquidation, clarify the ownership of land, school buildings, school-running accumulation and other properties, pay relevant taxes and fees, apply for a new school-running license, re-register, and continue to run schools. In addition, we should adhere to the socialist value orientation and strengthen the implementation of the fundamental task of moral education. Private schools are an important part of socialist education in our country. We should adhere to the socialist direction of running schools and fulfill the fundamental task of moral education. This requires private primary and secondary schools to adhere to the leadership of the Party and fully implement the party’s educational policies; take the people as the center; establish the private education that the people are satisfied with; More emphasis should be placed on education of core socialist values and the roots of traditional Chinese culture, so as to cultivate qualified builders and reliable successors of the “four services”. Even the private primary and secondary schools that offer international courses must adhere to such value orientation, remove the dross and select the essence, reasonably absorb the world’s excellent culture, and carry out education with socialist “soul”, Chinese nation “root” and international vision “eye” (Huang, 2016; Li, 2010; Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Xiao, 2016; Ying, 2016; Zhao, 2016).

4.4.2 Strengthen International Education and Publicity To solve the problem of single source of students, international schools need to promote the opening of school education, improve the level of internationalization of schools, and shoulder the responsibility of international education. At the same time, international schools should strengthen the “Study in China” brand in accordance with the “Opinions of the Ministry of Education and other eight departments on Accelerating and Expanding the Opening up of Education in the New Era”. ➀ Whether international schools can become stronger and bigger depends ultimately on improving the quality and management level of the education for overseas students in China. For school internal management should be to establish a sound system of teaching management, to build the “not for all, but for the” open teachers, strengthen the supervision and review of teachers, improve the talent training scheme, teaching plan, teaching syllabus, increasing international education foreign propaganda, build

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a “open, harmonious, build the” international education college. At the same time, to improve the teaching quality, it is necessary to implement the “three overall education”, and all staff should participate in it, jointly expand the characteristics of school running, and actively strive for resource guarantee from the school to improve the level of running school. To establish and improve the education evaluation system for overseas students in China, strengthen the education and management of overseas students, establish and improve the reward and punishment system for overseas students, improve the quality of overseas students, and strengthen the construction of teachers and head teachers.

4.4.3 Strengthen the Characteristics of School Management School-running characteristics are a relatively lasting and stable way of development formed in the course of school development. They are socially recognized, unique, and excellent school-running characteristics, as well as the school’s own cultural personality and connotation. A general survey of schools at all levels and of various types shows that there are no differences and vague personalities among schools, no matter in terms of school-running philosophy, school-running goals, or school culture. There are still situations where thousands of schools speak the same language. First of all, it is necessary to make clear the four basic conditions for the formation of school-running characteristics: a principal with innovative consciousness and pioneering spirit, a team of teachers with distinctive dedication, a persistent spirit to solidly promote the reform of education and teaching, a good conventional basis and loose external environment. Secondly, it is necessary to clarify the current situation of school management system, mechanism, and system. Then, the international education management should figure out the way the school is developing. All kinds of education standards project and experimental demonstration evaluation promoted by the government, supervision, inspection and supervision of relevant departments at all levels, unified inspection standard and acceptance content, objectively led to the gradual convergence of schools. This is the way that the government promotes the development of schools through evaluation and evaluation, which is in essence an external brake. It is necessary to promote the development of schools by means of external forces at a certain stage. Uniform external supervision and inspection become the main or even the only driving force to guide school education and teaching activities, so it will naturally stifle the phenomenon of internal force. The loss of inner thinking power, inner development power, and inner creativity is a sign that the school loses its main consciousness and ability as the main body of running a school and finally government and education administrative department to reduce political decentralization, transform function, in accordance with the law, increase education investment, improve school conditions, actively explore establishing modern school system, straighten out the school and the government, society, parents, the responsibility, right and benefit relationship between, straighten out the

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principal, teachers, students of the relationship between responsibility, right and standardize the school management process. Schools should be given proper autonomy in running schools. For example, in curriculum reform, schools can be allowed to set up some characteristic courses on their own in addition to those required by the unified national requirements. Only in the relaxed environment, schools can establish the direction of running schools according to their own advantages, and truly run schools out of characteristics. Only diversified education can provide students with a variety of choices. How to create diversified education is the real focus of school-running characteristics. In today’s world, it is difficult for most people to separate culture from the country due to the complex and obscure internal connection between the country and culture. In other words, there is conceptual isomorphism between the culture recognized by people and the nation state, and the fate of culture is regarded as closely related to the fate of the country to a certain extent. And, the behavior of nation state is often interpreted as a specific display of a certain national culture. Caused by the national development and national pride and voice up easily by other countries as a strong cultural invasion, especially when the rise of the new country’s citizens generally have strong national interest is supreme idea, promote economic and even military means to solve international disputes, neighboring countries extremely easy to be interpreted as a full attack color nationalism trend, Then the conflict between the two sides in the national emotion, values and cultural paradigm. In the face of cultural and ideological conflicts in international education, teachers should cultivate their own intercultural teaching ability. Intercultural teaching ability is the professional quality of Chinese teachers, which will affect the quality of classroom teaching and affect students’ cognition of teachers in other countries. Teachers should formulate teaching contents and teaching plans according to the actual situation, and choose appropriate teaching methods and means according to the language level and cultural background of students, so as to teach students in accordance with their aptitude. In teaching communication, teachers should not only overcome cultural conflicts themselves, but also flexibly deal with emergencies in teaching, be calm, tolerate students’ different ideas and avoid over-emphasizing Chinese culture. At the same time, teachers should help students establish cross-cultural awareness and relaxed communicative attitude, and cultivate their own intercultural communicative ability. Intercultural communication competence includes intercultural awareness, intercultural attitude, and intercultural communication knowledge and skills. Cross-cultural awareness includes perspective-taking and empathy. The implementation of International Teaching of Chinese for students can effectively alleviate the communication contradictions caused by cultural differences and strengthen the quality and ability of teaching in this aspect. In order to achieve this goal, teachers need to gradually optimize the teaching mode in accordance with the development trend of modern society, so as to inspire people from other countries to understand the polarity of Chinese culture in the mainland and create conditions for the better development of our country (Huang, 2016; Li, 2010; Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Xiao, 2016; Ying, 2016; Zhao, 2016).

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4.4.4 Strengthen the Construction of Teachers, Improve the Ability of Teachers Strengthening the construction of teaching staff has a great impact on the education, teaching, and management of international students. Therefore, improving the ability and level of teachers in terms of their education and teaching level, language expression, and cross-cultural communication will further optimize the management of international students. In order to strengthen the teaching staff, improve the ability of teachers, first of all, we can directly hire a professional title, a doctor’s degree of teachers or practical experience of foreign trade enterprise staff as full-time or part-time teachers. Secondly, excellent young teachers can continue to be selected for further study in universities or training in relevant enterprises, so as to update teachers’ knowledge structure and improve their practical teaching ability. Schools can set up corresponding guidance institutions to guide teachers’ professional development and provide theoretical guidance for teachers’ professional development. At the same time, schools can also improve the system from the perspective of teachers’ professional development. Then, it is necessary to set up special supervision and management departments for double-qualified teachers, which can not only manage the daily management of double-qualified teachers, but also help teachers solve all kinds of problems encountered in daily teaching work, so as to promote the development of double-qualified teachers. At the same time, the school must not ignore the development of teaching and scientific research activities, to constantly improve the comprehensive evaluation of teachers, to ensure that better teaching results can be achieved. Schools should clarify the relationship between responsibilities and rights of decision-making organs and executive organs within schools and clarify the functional scope and responsibilities of various departments on the basis of improving relevant systems and norms. Specifically, the school needs to clarify the distribution of rights of core members of the school management, such as the shareholders of the school board, the principal, and the main staff of the executive management, respect the interests of different subjects in the decision-making process, ensure the clarity of rights and responsibilities, and focus on handling the relationship between the school shareholders and the Chinese and foreign principals. At the same time, the school should establish a more perfect system to provide effective feedback channels and platforms, so that the school’s grass-roots decision makers and executives have the opportunity and space to give full play to their decision-making and executive power and change the previous work mode of passively obeying the arrangement of the superior. Chinese international schools should not only pay attention to students’ tolerance and understanding of various international cultures, but also guide students to strengthen their recognition of Chinese local culture and do as the Romans do when in Rome. The cultivation of Chinese cultural identity of international school students should not only be limited to the learning of Chinese language, but also strengthen students’ knowledge and understanding of Chinese culture. Schools can regularly hold traditional Chinese culture activities to integrate Chinese culture into the classroom and campus, guide students to feel the charm of Chinese culture, strengthen

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students’ sense of identity with Chinese culture, and help students gain wisdom from the essence of traditional Chinese culture. In addition, international schools can learn from the essence of traditional Chinese culture and absorb the wisdom of Chinese culture in the process of carrying out multi-directional interactive student management and integrate the excellent educational concepts of China and the West. For example, international schools tend to focus on western educational concepts and excessively pursue equality between teachers and students. Administrators can indoctrinate students with traditional Chinese education concepts such as respect for teachers and respect for students, so as to help schools create a more harmonious teacher–student relationship in the process of implementing multi-directional interactive management and achieve positive interaction between various subjects (Huang, 2016; Li, 2010; Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Xiao, 2016; Ying, 2016; Zhao, 2016).

4.4.5 Strengthen Chinese Language Training for International School Students The management staff of international students in international schools can focus on organizing foreign students with poor Chinese proficiency to conduct language training. Language training can use the form of lectures, can also organize local students and international students to connect, one-on-one language exchange of learning, can also help to introduce students to the local house, execute “infiltrating type” of language learning, can also be carried out in students concentrated community fellowship activities, encourage students and locals in Chinese. In a word, foreign students should be exposed to the environment of using Chinese in different ways, so that they can improve their Chinese level as soon as possible. Only in this way, they can have the willingness and motivation to continuously understand Chinese society and culture and understand China comprehensively and objectively. One of the key points of international students’ education is to promote Chinese culture. We should seize every possible opportunity to promote Chinese culture among international students and improve their ability to understand Chinese culture. For example, special lectures closely related to study and life are held from time to time to explain, analyze and publicize Chinese culture, so as to help overseas students understand and adapt to Chinese culture as soon as possible, and better integrate into school study and life. In an international school, first of all, students can be helped to establish the school’s international education concept and broaden their horizons. For some students with high sensitivity, international schools can gradually reduce the pressure of students through the input of teaching ideas and the change of the external environment, so that they can feel the care from teachers and classmates, and let students grow up in a more relaxed education environment. For example, when organizing activities in international schools, the roles of each person should be reasonably

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arranged based on the characteristics of students. For students with strong organizational ability, they can serve as group leaders. Each group can arrange students of different genders, different nationalities, and different learning levels. This not only ensures the average distribution, but also helps some students with high sensitivity to smoothly integrate into the activities. In activities organized by international schools, teachers are required to monitor the whole process and timely adjust problems. In addition, in the moral education class of international schools, the concept of tolerance of cultural differences, respect for others, and being a world citizen can also be introduced into activities to help students establish good interpersonal relationships, create a good class atmosphere, and broaden students’ international vision.

4.5 Summary For the problems encountered in the development of international schools, such as rules and regulations, the Chinese government is still very lenient toward international schools. There are unreasonable phenomena in curriculum setting and supervision; part of the international school in the management of students is not yet fully understand the Chinese and foreign cultural differences, insufficient management innovation problems very in aspects, and so on, which requires perfect international school management structure, improve the ability of international school management, is to promote school management specialization, diversification and efficiency needed, also conforms to the current pattern of modernization of education management, The practical needs of further optimizing national governance capacity. The development trend of modern education management is characterized by democratization, relative centralization, and scientization. The trend of democratization of education management shows the trend of democratic participation in the internal education management of schools. The tendency of relative centralization is to emphasize the role of centralization in national management of education and to limit the right of local management of education, so as to realize the effective management of national education. The trend of scientific education management in international schools is particularly obvious. One is to pay attention to the application of modern scientific theories, and the other is to pay attention to the application of modern technology in modern education management. Operation management is different from education and teaching. Schools adopt unified standards in management and have different management methods at different stages. The premise of a systematic management mode lies in the establishment of unified standards. For each job post, the content and standards of the process should be more visual, specific, and refined, and there will be new leaps in operation management. Only when the standards, systems, and processes are suitable for the school itself and promote the development of teachers and students can they play a role of service and support. The operation and management of an international school is very important, especially in the early stage of the establishment of the school. The pattern should be large, and the development law of the school should be understood and controlled, so as to provide long-term

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development support to the school through sorting out (Huang, 2016; Li, 2010; Liu, 2018a, 2018b; Tang & Tan, 2018; Wang, 2019; Xiao, 2016; Ying, 2016; Zhao, 2016).

References Huang, Y. (2016). Analysis of the motivation of the development of international schools. Business Information, 20(44), 203–205. Li, X. (2010). High school education: Characteristics and enlightenment of international schools—A case study of Beijing international school. Comparative Education Research, 32(11), 68–73. Liu, J. (2018a). International schools (private) comprehensive budget management analysis. Accounting Learning, 20(34), 38–39. Liu, Y. (2018b). Review of research on internationalization of higher education—Statistical analysis based on WOS database. Higher Education Exploration, 20(02), 119–128. Tang, Q., & Tan, Y. (2018). Problems and countermeasures of talent cultivation internationalization in private universities in the New Era—Taking Guangxi foreign studies university as an example. Journal of Party School of Shanxi Provincial Organs, 20(05), 40–43. Wang, X. (2019). How does the off-duty director perform his duties under the background of shift system?—Based on the investigation of teacher collaboration mechanism in some international schools in Beijing. Management of Primary and Secondary Schools, 20(07), 33–35. Xiao, H. (2016). The trend and enlightenment of international higher education institution reform. Journal of Shenzhen University (humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 20(1), 156–160. Ying, G. (2016). The enlightenment of individualized teaching in international schools: A review of how to individualize teaching: Enlightenment from international schools. Chinese Education Journal, 20(06), 129. Zhao, N. (2016). Overview of the current situation of international schools. Cultural and Educational Data, 20(32), 105–107.

Chapter 5

International School Curriculum in China

This chapter concentrates on international school curriculum in China. Economic globalization brings prosperity and development opportunities to the world economy, but also brings the globalization of education. Educational globalization is a common feature of educational reform and development in all countries in the world, and the emergence of international schools is one of the concrete manifestations of educational globalization. Curriculum is the soul and basis for the existence of international schools, as well as the concrete embodiment of the global value orientation of international schools advocating international understanding, mutual respect, mutual learning, mutual learning, and common progress. Information, economic globalization, and increasingly close connections between countries in the world are increasingly demanding that education in each country produce global citizens with an international perspective and a global awareness. Western developed countries on the issue of global citizenship education has accumulated rich experience, theory and practice; and global citizen education in China starts late, and both theory and practice experience are very weak; global civil education of primary and secondary school curriculum construction in China also has many problems, which seriously affects the quality of the global citizen education in our country, the construction of good potential in international education course will do. At present, there are relatively few studies on the curriculum of international schools in China. This chapter studies the curriculum of international schools in China, so that we can have a further understanding of the curriculum of international schools in China.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 J. Li, International School Policy Development, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8817-2_5

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5.1 Introduction 5.1.1 The Contextual Development of International Schools In recent years, studying abroad is becoming more and more popular, and studying abroad at a younger age is also in the process of gradual growth. At present, the number of young students studying abroad accounts for the proportion of the total number of students studying abroad, and it is the fastest growing part of the population. When choosing an international school, many parents are confused and do not know where to start. Currently, it is necessary to look at the original intention and reason of your family to choose an international school. Because different international schools have different curriculum systems, and the corresponding countries and universities to study in are also different, special attention should be paid to the curriculum of the school when choosing an international school. With the gradual development of science and technology and the continuous improvement of economic level in China, more and more elites begin to pay attention to “international education”. According to the statistics of new theory, since 2012, K-12 international schools have shown a trend of rapid growth, with more than 40 new international schools added every year, and the increment reached 11.04% in 2017. As of April 2018, there are more than 1000 international schools (including schools for children of foreign nationals, international departments/classes of public schools, and private international schools) in mainland China. At present, the development of international courses in China is faced with many challenges. There are two main ways to open international courses in China: wholly introducing foreign education system or partially introducing international courses. At the same time, the gradual introduction of various international courses makes the atmosphere of international education in China more and more rich. The development of international curriculum in China also gradually presents the characteristics of diversification. At present, the three major international courses are IB, A-level and AP. Domestic teachers and foreign teachers in teaching ideas, teaching methods are quite different, and in the international school, students are from different countries and regions, totally different from traditional Chinese course of IB and AP courses, the original English teaching materials, etc., all of these to the international domestic teachers in the process of school curriculum implementation have brought the huge challenge. In addition, there are also some problems, such as course design. Recently, many international teachers have been unable to come to China due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused some problems in the curriculum of some schools. At present, many schools are doing well and overcoming difficulties. We are also seeing a slow recovery. However, it is still unclear how the education system will change after the end of COVID-19, and we are also watching the development of the market. Overall, there are still great opportunities for international education in the post-COVID-19 world. We believe that the role of international education will become more important than ever before, and we will also need students with international education and high-quality training. We will see more and more international students generate global mobility after the

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recovery of the pandemic. For a long time, many scholars have carried out systematic research on global citizenship education and international school curriculum, and some achievements have been achieved in relevant research. It is an important prerequisite for establishing follow-up research direction and carrying out research work effectively to sort out existing research systematically and comprehensively and find out problems to be solved on the basis of existing research results. In combination with the research questions, this study focuses on the implementation status of international school curriculum construction and the analysis of the causes of the problems and tries to make an in-depth analysis of the research status of this topic, so as to provide reference and inspiration for this study. Category I international schools are established by foreign institutions, foreign-funded enterprises, foreign offices of international organizations in China and foreigners residing in China legally such as Shanghai American School and Guangzhou American School. The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China has formulated the interim administrative measures on the establishment of schools for children of foreign nationals (also known as “Article 20”). Article 8 stipulates that the students of the university shall be the children of foreigners holding residence certificates in China. Schools may not enroll children of Chinese citizens within the territory of China. The second category of international schools is approved by the Ministry of Education to establish international schools that both accept the qualifications of foreign students and provide foreign education mode for Chinese students. It is the product of the change and adjustment of the nature of international schools driven by the demand of overseas study market. This kind of school has its own independent campus, and its curriculum system, educational philosophy, hardware facilities, and student composition are international standards. The imported international courses mainly include IB courses of International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), AP courses of the USA and A-level courses of the UK, such as Beijing Zhongguancun International School, Guangdong Country Garden School, and so on. At the initial stage of development, these international schools were only set up in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and other international metropolises. With the warming of China’s economy and the rapid growth of the popularity of international education, many such international schools have also been set up in Chengdu, Qingdao, Dalian, Tianjin, and other cities (Lan, 2020; Liu & Cheng, 2011; Tang, 2011; Wang, 2003; Zhou et al., 2015).

5.1.2 Development Status of International Schools There are 5969 international schools teaching English in the world, and 2,929,340 students in international schools. Among them, there are 276 Chinese international schools with 144,436 students. The number of international schools using the British curriculum is 112, the number of international schools using the American curriculum is 74, and the number of international schools using the international curriculum is 90. The second type of international high school is the international high school in which

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the Ministry of Education has approved the establishment of international schools that both accept the qualification of foreign students and provide foreign education mode for Chinese students. The third category of international high schools refers to the schools authorized by international educational institutions such as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), Cambridge Examinations Management Board, Eades, College Board, and The Canadian Ministry of Education to set up preparatory international courses in China. From the above international high school curriculum system segmentation, there are mainly in China; with the trend of studying abroad at a younger age, more and more students choose to study international courses at home in high school. In 2012, The State Council delegated the right of examination and approval of schools for children of foreign nationals from the Ministry of Education to provincial education administrative departments, further liberalizing the examination and approval and supervision of international schools. On January 7, 2015, the State Council executive meeting on “education law”, “higher education act”, “private education promotion law” to modify the draft amendment of package, cleared the way for the development of private education, further requirements to eliminate private education and public education between disparate treatment, create a better environment for the development of private education and more space. At the same time, the draft added new regulations to clarify the categorization of private schools, allowing the establishment of for-profit private schools, and clearly stated that “private schools can choose to register as non-profit or profit-making legal entities”. At present, the international classes of public schools established in the way of cooperative education are no longer approved, and some international classes are facing transformation. In the future, private international schools will attract development opportunities. With the development of national economy and the improvement of residents’ living standards, parents of students in China pay more attention to their children’s education from diploma to ability, from knowledge accumulation to comprehensive quality, from school majors to international vision. Specifically, international schools have significant advantages over traditional K12 education in education philosophy, curriculum, teacher resources, school operation, and other aspects.

5.1.3 The Increase of the Audience Brings Incremental Demand The rapid development of China’s economy, the increase of opening-up, and the improvement of China’s international image make it a new trend for international immigrants to come to work or live in China. The increase of foreign nationals, especially diplomats and businessmen, has laid the foundation for the development of international schools. As the number of students studying abroad continues to increase and the trend of studying abroad at a younger age appears, more parents

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will choose to let their children receive international education before going abroad, and the popularity of studying in international schools will continue to ferment. Language ability is the most predictable condition. It can be said that any overseas school that accepts overseas students has requirements for applicants’ language ability. The reason for this requirement is also very simple: Without a good language foundation, it is difficult for students to live a normal life in the local area, or even attend classes on campus. International institutions of higher learning do not have the requirement to measure the language ability only by the test results as in China. The oral conversation ability and the flexibility of grammar application of international students are assessed within the scope. For example, schools in the USA, Britain, and other countries require students to write self-recommendation letters in English, so that the school can have a comprehensive understanding of their English ability. At present, English teaching in China is mostly limited to book content, lacking oral English and other daily communication exercises. If students want to lay a good foundation before studying abroad, they should try to separate themselves from textbooks and comprehensively develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. In addition to English ability, math scores also have a significant impact on the evaluation of overseas study application. As the foundation of science learning, mathematics can cultivate students’ good thinking ability and creativity, and lay a good foundation for students’ further development in other subjects in the future. In particular, in recent years, Chinese students have repeatedly won awards in various international mathematics competitions, which have aroused the attention of foreign universities and colleges, and they pay more attention to the mathematical ability of Chinese students. Keeping a good score in mathematics is very beneficial to the school application, but at the same time, we should not be too partial to the subject, to maintain the development of liberal arts and science. Different from the popular exam-oriented education in China, the education of international schools pays more attention to a student’s comprehensive ability. Therefore, no matter how good students’ scores are, if their comprehensive quality is not up to the standard, they will not be favored by overseas universities. In this regard, the selection criteria listed by foreign universities are broader than those in China, and they pay more attention to the students’ ability and potential in other aspects. When insufficient academic performance becomes the decisive standard, it is necessary for international students to tap their potential as far as possible. Curriculum reform in our country the policy orientation of “progressive” and “common” and “necessary tension”, if you want to change the course of power distribution in our country is not reasonable conditions and presenting the state of the distribution of power at various levels and of course, need to satisfy some basic principles, the basic principle is embodied in three dimensions: first, the “progressive” orientation. This orientation emphasizes the gradual decentralization of power in the curriculum. At present, the emphasis of curriculum policy in China is decentralization, that is, to reduce the administrative power of the central educational administrative department and strengthen the role of local and school in curriculum management. But does this mean that central curriculum authorities are no longer important? To what extent can curriculum decisions be fully devolved to schools? It should be said that no matter from the current basis of curriculum reform in our

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country, or from the existing level of education and the quality of teachers, are not consistent. This will only make the problem worse. Therefore, the decentralization of curriculum power should be a gradual process, or the principle of gradual should be adopted in curriculum policy making. The “gradual” here refers to the course policy activities in which new curriculum policy decisions are gradually adjusted according to past curriculum policy experience through the interaction of organizations at all levels and all kinds of personnel, so as to obtain consensus. The centralization and decentralization of curriculum power in a country will change with the needs of the country’s educational development and the needs of The Times, and in most cases, the change is gradual rather than a complete change. The purpose of curriculum power distribution under the concept of curriculum Commons is to implement many continuous changes, each of which is quite moderate. After a period of time, the accumulated effects will bring about considerable changes, and gradually tend to the ideal state. Second is “shared” orientation. This approach calls for common and shared coordination. Here, “common” means that the parties have some values, norms, and goals in common: while “common” is based on the premise of heterogeneous people. Although there are differences in values, norms, and goals, it is because of these differences that the relationship between the parties is formed. Therefore, the resistance of “common” or “community” formed by the weak (as opposed to the central and local schools, which are single schools, as opposed to the local and school, which are teachers, students, parents, and other individuals or groups) is indispensable in the realization of the co-ownership of curriculum power. Otherwise, the concept of “common ownership” is likely to become an ideology of hidden repression or domination of relations. Therefore, the coordination between “common” and “common” is very necessary for the rational distribution of curriculum power. Thirdly is the “necessary tension” orientation, that is, to maintain the “necessary tension” of curriculum centralization and decentralization. It is necessary to maintain the necessary tension in the opposite theory of curriculum power distribution, so as to link the two ideas of centralization and decentralization rather than separate them. In general, the advantage of the separation of powers is that: (1) to promote the relevant personnel to participate in class affairs, thus clearly expressed his own preferences: (2) is beneficial to giving full play to the advantages of local government officials of information, in order to meet the preferences of local service: (3) to help the local government attaches great importance to the relevant people’s voice and respect their preferences: (4) Conducive to institutional innovation, so that it can better meet the requirements of the public; (5) give people more choices. The benefits of centralization lie in: (1) facilitating the provision of nationally shared goods and services; (2) facilitating the internalization of trans-regional externalities; (3) it is beneficial to obtain scale curriculum effect; (4) it is conducive to realizing the stability of macro curriculum level; (5) it is conducive to the redistribution of curriculum power. Since 2020, the epidemic has affected the teaching time, teaching methods, and student evaluation methods of international schools, and some international schools have been involved in disputes over fee refund. On the surface, the epidemic has had a great impact on international schools. From the demand side, parents’ demand for international education is not reduced, and international schools still have a large

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market. On the supply side, due to changes in international relations and domestic education policies, the market space of international schools will be squeezed to some extent, which is bound to be reflected in the fees of international schools. Curriculum serves the goal, and the implementation of international curriculum is also to achieve the goal of national education reform and development. In order to meet the requirements of national economic and social development, we need to cultivate a large number of international talents with an international perspective, who are familiar with international rules and can participate in international affairs and competition. The international curriculum construction in the future, therefore, must to train “comprehensive development” as the core, the core of developing students accomplishment, deepening the Chinese characteristic, cultivate global awareness and openness, guides the student to respect cultural diversity and differences, pay attention to the global challenges facing the human, understand the connotation and the value of the community of human destiny. It has long been a consensus among Chinese educational circles to improve the soft power of education by opening up to the outside world at a high level. Zhao Jian believes that a team of teachers with high traditional Chinese cultural literacy, international advanced education, and teaching theories and methods, and strong bilingual teaching and cross-cultural understanding abilities is very important. Zhao Jian pointed out that facing the strategic goal of high-level education opening to the outside world, colleges and universities, especially normal universities, should carry out a systematic layout and speed up the training of international professional bilingual teachers (Lan, 2020; Liu & Cheng, 2011; Tang, 2011; Wang, 2003; Zhou et al., 2015). International schools should uphold the concept of “local internationalization” and highlight the characteristics of international education. “Students with cross-cultural communication ability and international competitiveness as the goal, receive international education, to form an international talent training system”. Internationalization is the foundation, characteristic source, and development road of UIBE. International schools, whether public, private, or foreign, should provide and create a safe and stimulating learning environment for students; recognize the uniqueness of each student; assist each student to do their best in the challenge; aspire to whole-person education; attach importance to students’ sense of responsibility and benefit from teamwork; to foster respect for themselves and others; committed to developing students’ ability to cope with the unknown world; adhere to make students moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and other aspects of the comprehensive development and combined with personality and specialty, for students to create a loose and harmonious humanistic environment (Lan, 2020; Liu & Cheng, 2011; Tang, 2011; Wang, 2003; Zhou et al., 2015).

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5.2 Challenges and Problems 5.2.1 Challenges Brought to Teachers by the Course Implementation Process Domestic teachers and foreign teachers in teaching ideas, teaching methods are quite different, and in the international school, students are from different countries and regions, totally different from traditional Chinese course of IB and AP courses, the original English teaching materials, etc., all of these to the international domestic teachers in the process of school curriculum implementation has brought the huge challenge. The curriculum of international schools mainly highlights western educational ideas, and the curriculum content is greatly different from that of China, which causes the difference in subject teaching ideas between Chinese and foreign teachers. Because Chinese teachers mostly adopt traditional teaching methods, they obviously cannot adopt domestic teaching methods for foreign students. At the same time, curriculum implementation of international schools also requires teachers to be able to compare and study Chinese and Western educational ideas, curriculum content and subject teaching ideas, and deepen their understanding in practice. Teachers are required to understand the educational characteristics of different countries. Therefore, it is not easy for a teacher to be competent in teaching IB and AP courses. Not only should he be able to study the contents and teaching methods of original foreign textbooks, but also grasp the cultural background and learning habits of students from different countries and regions on this basis to ensure teaching efficiency. Higher requirements are put forward for teachers’ professional knowledge, English use, and international vision. The implementation target of international school curriculum is mostly English speaking students, which requires teachers to have a high level of English listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They should not only have profound professional knowledge and be familiar with the knowledge structure system of foreign textbooks, but also have the ability to skillfully use English to impart subject knowledge. This is a huge test for domestic teachers.

5.2.2 Higher Requirements Are Put Forward for Teachers’ Teaching Ability Students in international schools have more and more complex learning contents, and it is difficult for teachers to help students with their own knowledge. Therefore, teachers need to keep learning, improve their knowledge literacy, and strive to better educate students. All of these put forward higher requirements for domestic teachers in international schools. For international schools that only enroll foreign students, curriculum, teaching materials and school management are completely westernized, believing that anything foreign is good and completely ignoring international

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exchanges and cooperation. In the selection of teaching language and the opening of language courses, there is an obvious tendency to emphasize “western” rather than “Chinese”. Almost all international schools use English as the language of instruction. Although bilingual teaching in Both Chinese and English has been promoted in recent years, Mandarin is only offered as a common course in most international schools because it is not mandatory. Chinese students, like students of other ethnic groups, take English and Western culture as the main content of learning and are not exposed to Chinese culture. Let foreign students experience the Chinese culture, obviously, this is not conducive to international exchanges. In general, the curriculum construction of international schools should have the integration between cultures, which is the real value of implementing the curriculum construction of international schools. For some international schools that recruit Students of Chinese nationality, the common problems in education of domestic and international schools are mainly exam-oriented education. From the perspective of talents, the main purpose of international courses is to grasp the construction of courses. Many schools build international courses on the premise that student’s study abroad. Even for the sake of the enrollment rate, the dual-track education system is implemented, with too much emphasis on grades and too little attention to the development of students’ personality. In the process of simultaneous learning of domestic and international courses, too much attention is paid to the education of international courses, and the study of foreign languages will be too much emphasis and exam oriented. As a result, in order to make up for the foreign language learning, some parents require their children to take English classes in their spare time. In this case, students not only need to digest the school curriculum, but also have additional after-school courses. Instead of “reducing the burden”, it increases students’ learning pressure. In the construction of international school curriculum, exam-oriented education results in schools only paying attention to foreign language scores and distorting the educational view of basic academic courses. This is not only detrimental to the overall development of students, but also detrimental to the continuation of the implementation of the curriculum (Lan, 2020; Liu & Cheng, 2011; Tang, 2011; Wang, 2003; Zhou et al., 2015).

5.2.3 International Schools Do not Pay Enough Attention to Some Domestic Teachers Most international schools are students of foreign nationality, so foreign teachers are more important. As a result, some international schools pay more attention to foreign teachers than domestic teachers. For example, foreign teachers are generally paid more than domestic teachers. In the long run, in the face of unequal treatment, it is inevitable that teachers will complain, which will reduce the enthusiasm of some national teachers to some extent. As one of the implementations of international education, some private international schools undoubtedly shoulder the mission of

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broadening students’ international vision and cultivating the basic ability of international talents. However, in the process of running schools, some schools, under the cloak of “foreign teachers” and “international courses”, gradually break away from the idea of teaching and educating people, and turn into preparatory classes for studying abroad. To increase admission rates, they only introduce courses that overseas universities require to submit scores or that Chinese students are best at in exams. Obviously, this “utilitarian” school-running mode of entrance education does not allow students to truly enjoy international education, and some private international schools are simply for-profit exam training schools in essence. Under this model, some courses are meaningless.

5.2.4 Unreasonable Curriculum Setting and Marginalization of Local Curriculum Curriculum is an important carrier to achieve educational goals. In China, privately run international schools belong to the nature of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools. The Regulations on Chinese-foreign Cooperation in running schools promulgated by The State Council clearly stipulates that Chinese-foreign cooperatively run schools should provide local courses on constitution, history, politics, national conditions, and other relevant contents in accordance with China’s requirements for similar educational institutions at the same level. However, in order to ensure the “dominant position” of the international curriculum, those private international schools with the purpose of studying abroad continue to reduce and weaken the local curriculum. For example, a reporter from Ganging Daily conducted a survey on international curriculum in Shanghai high schools and found that in the first grade of high school, local curriculum was more than international curriculum, which was set at 3:2. In the second year of senior high, the number of hours in the local curriculum is greatly reduced, while the number of hours in the international curriculum is constantly increased, about 2:3. Local curriculum has been marginalized in various forms. The problems of foreign teachers’ false background, unqualified qualification, and inconsistent written introduction with competence have always been the shortcomings of teacher construction in private international schools. For example, Shanghai CIA International School was reported for grade fraud, and its partner, The Education Department of Ontario, Canada, required that 80% of its teachers must be certified by The Ontario Teachers Association (OCT), but only three of the ten teachers in Shanghai CIA at that time had OCT certification. In addition, the general instability and high mobility of foreign teachers are also the main manifestations of the teacher problems of some private international schools. According to a survey by China International Education Network, data from 49 private international schools and foreign children’s international schools in Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and other regions show that nearly 70% of foreign teachers have an annual turnover rate of 5–15%. The loss of foreign teachers will weaken the teaching

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force, which is not conducive to the running of the school. An obvious feature of the international curriculum is its high selectivity and modernity. Its high selectivity is reflected in course series selection, level selection, subject selection, language selection, and module selection. Its modernity is embodied in the modernization of subject understanding, the modernization of course content expression, the modernization of experimental equipment, the modernization of learning methods and the students can understand the way to pay attention to the forefront of the subject. The characteristics of international curriculum determine that Chinese schools will inevitably encounter a series of problems to be broken through in the implementation process.

5.2.5 The High Selectivity of International Courses and the Complexity of Educational Administration The significant difference between the international curriculum and the domestic curriculum is the high degree of selectivity. The more courses, the stronger the selectivity, the more difficult it is to arrange the curriculum schedule. The curriculum arrangement should first ensure that there is no curriculum conflict in the curriculum schedule of each teacher, but also take into account the diversification of teachers’ teaching tasks and the rationality of school resources allocation, which brings great challenges to the teaching management of educational affairs. The high selectivity of international curriculum impacts the traditional education mode of Chinese schools. After the fixed curriculum arrangement is replaced by the elective system, the traditional administrative class can no longer meet the diversified needs of students, and the class-walking system arises at the historic moment. Class walking system means that teachers are fixed in one classroom while students have no fixed classroom and go to different classrooms according to their chosen subjects. The appearance of the class system has spawned the teaching mode of small class. With the emergence of small class and walking class system, the traditional classroom teaching methods in our country should also be changed. For example, foreign teaching materials of experimental courses focus on scientific inquiry, and the scope of inquiry is extensive and complex, and teachers’ inherent professional knowledge is difficult to guide students, which determines that teachers’ teaching methods must be reformed accordingly in the implementation of international courses.

5.2.6 The High Selectivity of International Courses and the Reform of Teaching Evaluation Methods The current teaching evaluation system of ordinary senior high schools in China focuses on screening and selection, which contradicts the guiding ideology of international curriculum advocating personality development. In order to ensure the

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smooth implementation of international courses, schools need to build a credit evaluation system suitable for international courses. First of all, due to the hierarchical setting of international courses, students who get the same score in different courses represent different levels of learning results. The credit system can comprehensively and comprehensively evaluate students’ learning results. Secondly, elective courses account for a large proportion of international courses, so students have a broad space to choose. The credit system ensures that students can choose their own advantage subjects according to their interests, so as to get rid of the shackles of grades and conform to international standards. Finally, in the implementation of international curriculum, students can set their own learning objectives and choose corresponding courses to complete each stage of learning, which determines that schools cannot implement unified score management, but should adopt a credit system to promote students’ independent learning and personality development. The modernity of international curriculum requires the school’s material and technical resources, which are both an opportunity and a challenge for traditional Chinese high schools. After more than ten years of international curriculum development, the school has accumulated a lot of practical experience, which has a certain enlightenment effect on the implementation of international curriculum in our country. First, the international curriculum requires modern experiments based on digital platforms. Many advanced experimental instruments have already been introduced into the teaching materials. In order to meet this requirement, the school needs to establish a modern laboratory in line with the requirements of the international first-class high school curriculum. After the completion of the laboratory, experienced experimental managers are also required to make the laboratory really play a role. Second, the modern international curriculum puts forward higher requirements for the digital environment of schools. The concept and management mode of international courses are quite different from domestic courses, so it is inevitable to build a digital campus and information management system characterized by digitalization, intelligence, networking, and personalization. Thirdly, the development of international courses requires a variety of selection and real-time updating of teaching materials. Because foreign textbooks have the characteristics of multiple editions and rapid updating, it is required that the schools should have a real-time updating textbook introduction system and a modern information resource sharing and retrieval platform. Students from different countries and regions, original English textbooks different from traditional Chinese curriculum, all of these bring great challenges to teachers’ human resources in the implementation of international curriculum. In the course implementation of middle-school curriculum in the digital age, the ability to use digital technology has become the basic ability of teachers, which is reflected in the development of teaching resources, classroom teaching, after-class guidance and evaluation, and other teaching stages. This poses a challenge to teachers’ professional ability, and the high integration of international curriculum and digital technology puts forward higher requirements on teachers’ ability to use digital technology. First of all, the international curriculum is a transnational curriculum, so teachers must have the ability to collect and organize information through the Internet and integrate it with teaching so as to accurately grasp the connotation and development trend of the curriculum. Second, the modernity of

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international curriculum determines that the curriculum content contains more and more advanced scientific and technological achievements and modern scientific theories and experiments, which also requires teachers to be able to skillfully use digital technology products, such as teaching assistance software, experimental assistance software, etc. Finally, international courses focus on teacher–student communication and cooperative teaching, and the ability to use digital platform to assist teaching has become one of the necessary abilities for teachers. International curriculum requires students to have the basic literacy of inquiry learning and subject research. Therefore, teachers need to improve their ability in this aspect first. Due to the high selectivity and modernity of international curriculum, students choose a wide range of topics, and some topics are closely combined with cutting-edge science. Teachers’ own knowledge has become difficult to help students, which requires teachers to step down from the platform, explore with students, and constantly improve their ability in teaching practice. With the advancement of international schools, their shortcomings are also shown. First of all, Chinese schools, parents, and children are only consumers of such educational products, and they can only passively accept the values contained in their courses. Moreover, the emphasis on the original textbooks in some international courses may also make Chinese children who receive their education lose their umbilicus culturally. Secondly, education is an important means to build a community with a shared future for mankind. As a country with a large population, China is also an important input place of international education. However, it is far from enough for China to make more contributions to promoting the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind by merely staying at the input place and consumer level of international education. Second, China’s basic education after the reform and opening up of more than 40 years of catch-up, the eastern coastal areas of the basic education has begun to enter the international advanced. For example, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai have achieved excellent results in Pisa, and Shanghai’s excellent performance has made its basic education an object for some Western countries to learn from. For example, China and Britain began to have beneficial exchanges in mathematics teaching and teacher training, and Shanghai basic education began to go international. Some famous universities in the world have also begun to recognize China’s gaokao scores, which is also a recognition of the achievements of China’s education reform and opening-up. (Lan, 2020; Liu & Cheng, 2011; Tang, 2011; Wang, 2003; Zhou et al., 2015). In the past, when China’s basic education was relatively weak, we only understood international education as accepting the advanced western education system and letting our families buy advanced foreign education at a high price. And now, our country has also entered the ranks of international education. Taking advantage of this good momentum, China’s basic education should be further opened up, especially to change the current mode of simply “sending out” or “introducing courses”, and gradually to “welcoming in” and “building courses”. “Welcome in” means that on the basis of meeting the needs of the Chinese people for basic education, we should welcome a certain proportion of outstanding young people from abroad who are willing to study, exchange and develop in China to enter our primary and secondary schools. “Curriculum construction” means that on the basis of giving full play to China’s excellent

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culture, we should extensively absorb advanced international educational concepts and practices and form a curriculum system with both Chinese characteristics and international advanced nature. Due to the current situation of regional differences in curriculum, different regions can also develop different courses to participate in international education competition and directly face different choices in the world. This should be a breakthrough point for China’s basic education to face the world and the future. To some extent, the curriculum is like the “chip” of our education field. First of all, it must be independently developed, with China’s own cultural gene and world vision. Secondly, it must have a professional team of teachers and a complete curriculum system, including textbooks, teaching models and evaluation systems. Secondly, it should be recognized and affirmed by international students.

5.3 Countermeasures and Suggestions 5.3.1 To Advocate Distinctive School Running, Integrate Chinese and Western Essence, and Take the Road of Professional Development The core of China’s education internationalization lies in making full use of both domestic and international education markets, optimizing the allocation of domestic educational resources and elements, and cultivating high-quality talents with international competitiveness. Therefore, the purpose of running a privately run international school should not only be to send students abroad and establish the school as a college entrance examination institution, but more importantly, to cultivate students’ correct learning concept, good learning habits and critical thinking ability. At the same time, based on the characteristics and advantages of local education, the school should reasonably introduce excellent educational resources from international education, and devote itself to organically combining Chinese and foreign educational concepts and methods, forming an international school path with Chinese characteristics, and cultivating students to become qualified citizens with both Chinese soul and international vision. Advocating characteristic running school is the process of establishing its own “brand” for international classes in domestic senior high school education. As a university will have its own specialty, such as architecture of Tsinghua University, English major of Shanghai International Studies University, anesthesiology of Xuzhou Medical College, etc. It is easy to introduce international courses, but it is not easy to set up special projects combining the curriculum, teachers, equipment, and resources of your own school. From an international perspective, sino-foreign cooperative education aims to cultivate students’ understanding, tolerance, and absorption of diverse cultures. Internationalization of education is not only the students way of thinking into the western model, but through the introduction of western excellent courses, develop the student’s field of vision, it is important to “scored an article to”

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with local cultural fusion, will become two-way absorption of international communication, and ultimately to adapt to the present situation of domestic for our use. While “bringing”, we also need to “go out”, absorb and sublimate what we have introduced into new educational concepts and achievements; we send a number of outstanding high school students to study abroad, and at the same time attract foreign students to study in China, so that the Sino-foreign cooperative education is truly international (Lan, 2020; Liu & Cheng, 2011; Tang, 2011; Wang, 2003; Zhou et al., 2015).

5.3.2 Strengthen Research and Promote the Deep Integration of International Curriculum and Local Curriculum In the process of promoting the internationalization of education, it is crucial for every nation to maintain the independence of culture and education. As an important carrier of cultural communication, curriculum has a profound impact on the inheritance of local ethnic culture. The attraction of international curriculum should not only ensure the realization of the goal of quality education in China, but also pay attention to the integration of internationalization. Therefore, private international schools should introduce international courses reasonably and appropriately according to the national conditions, take domestic courses as the main line, integrate international courses, and form a comprehensive curriculum system of “foreign for China”. Moreover, we should not let Chinese and western courses exist independently, but should strengthen the study of teaching form, teaching content and so on, and strengthen the deep integration of the two types of courses. At the same time, Chinese and foreign teachers should cooperate with each other in curriculum teaching, carry out in-depth cooperation and communication on the design and optimization of international and local curriculum, and establish a “Sino-Western cooperation” teaching team. The nature of international curriculum in the stage of private basic education is not purely imported, but completely copied the advanced curriculum system of European and American countries. In order to build a comprehensive curriculum system that conforms to China’s social, economic, and cultural development, absorbs foreign advanced educational concepts and teaching models, and takes into account the inheritance of traditional Chinese culture, first of all, we should correctly view the current curriculum system of basic education in China, and treat foreign curriculum rationally. In 2014, the British government introduced 60 mathematics teachers from Shanghai to teach mathematics in the UK, while the UK sent 60 mathematics teachers to China for long-term study to improve the level of mathematics teaching. This shows that China’s education and teaching level in the stage of basic education is not inferior to that of developed countries in some aspects. Therefore, we should take advantage of our strengths to improve, learn advanced foreign courses to make up for our weaknesses, and establish an independent curriculum system that integrates Chinese and Western cultures. Secondly, in the design of curriculum system,

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strengthen the characteristic research of international and local course, combining the course of cultivation orientation and open course, the rigor, broad and profound Chinese education, and widely used exploratory learning and classroom discussion centered education in Europe and America, the combination of construct the compatibility between Chinese and western culture and package (Lan, 2020; Liu & Cheng, 2011; Tang, 2011; Wang, 2003; Zhou et al., 2015).

5.4 Summary Based on the above macro- and microfactors, it can be said that the government, enterprises and students will face adjustment and changes in the next few years or even ten years. Among them, the government’s policy limits and norms have a strong regulation effect on the development speed of international schools. At the same time, it can be predicted that with the economic development and market opening, the number of international school students still has more than double the growth space, but the total number of international school students in the total school-age population may be less than 1% or even 0.5% in the next decade. From the perspective of urban structure, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong are still important growth areas. At the same time, international schools in economically developed provinces, such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, coastal areas, new first-tier cities and some provincial capitals of second—and third-tier cities will also achieve further growth. From the internal structure of international schools, the mainstream source of international students is still Chinese students, and the proportion of foreign children will still be relatively low. International school of pre-school education grows with the increase in the number of school and junior high school the following educational association, the fastest growth is in a third international school start school way will be more and more diversified, attributes in the industry, and in addition to real estate company and education group company, there will be more technology companies to join international schools, such as a cloud valley school. The connotation and form of education are changing. The development of science and technology will have a huge impact on the reform of education. In the future, more Internet technology companies will invest in international schools. Private teaching will be more diversified in form and way of establishment, and the boundary and connotation of international schools will be further expanded. In addition, the influence factors of policy and review will also have a great impact on the expansion and adjustment of international schools. Kindergarten and nine-year compulsory education are most affected, and policy instability brings great risks to the natural growth of international schools along with economic development. In general, the supply of international schools will continue to grow in the future. The most important driving force is the change of employment expectation brought by economic development. The irreplaceability of foreign education and the leading advantage in some fields will continue to exist, which will bring a steady stream of students to the overseas study market. International schools will also grow as the main related parties for studying abroad. In

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terms of running schools, the main force of the expansion of international schools is private schools. Currently, private international schools account for about 60% of all international schools. Due to the limited demand for international schools for foreign children and the policy restrictions of the international department of public schools, the proportion of private international schools has been further increased. At the enterprise level, there will be more collectivized schools in the future, which is not only the inherent requirement to improve the quality of education, but also the natural situation of merger and integration caused by survival of the fittest after the intensified market competition. From the perspective of family students, the middle class and high net worth people will still pursue international schools for a long time in the future, and they will also face more personalized choices. (Lan, 2020; Liu & Cheng, 2011; Tang, 2011; Wang, 2003; Zhou et al., 2015).

References Lan, F. (2020). Discussion on innovative education concept and new teaching mode of international schools. China Economy and Industry, 20(11), 117–118. Liu, X., & Cheng, Y. (2011). International school in the process of the internationalization of education and its enlightenment on bilingual education. Journal of Education and Profession, 20(30), 176–177. Tang, S. (2011). On the bottleneck and breakthrough of the implementation of international school curriculum in China. Modern Basic Education Research, 21(1), 12–17. Wang, X. (2003). Curriculum development: meaning, nature and level. Educational Exploration, 20(5), 21–23. Zhou, X., Wang, X., & Lu, B. (2015). Analysis of the characteristics of extracurricular activities in international schools. Management of Primary and Secondary Schools, 20(09), 47–48.

Chapter 6

Quality Assessment of International Schools in China

This chapter examines the quality assessment of international schools in China. With the revolutionary changes taking place in education in the world today, China’s high net worth families have increasingly strong diverse demands for their children’s education. The concept of learner-centered, focusing on ability cultivation, promoting the all-round development of people, and advocating universal learning, lifelong learning, and personalized learning has become increasingly popular. In addition, as China is increasingly approaching the center of the world stage, it has gradually become the urgent need and expectation of more families for international education for their children to have national confidence and cultural confidence while expanding their international vision. The international school is a kind of school that takes the global perspective of international understanding and thinking as its value orientation, serves the floating people around the world as its main target, and cultivates the language, knowledge, ability, and attitude necessary for students in the process of globalization. This paper first briefly introduces international education and school quality assessment and then makes a research review of international school quality assessment. Secondly, it describes the challenges and problems encountered by China’s international schools in practice, puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for the corresponding challenges and problems, and finally makes a summary. International education quality assessment should run through the whole process of education and teaching, from the establishment of schools and institutions to the graduation of students. To sum up, in the initial stage, the establishment of a school often needs to obtain the certification of some curriculum organizations to ensure the quality of its education. In the process of running a school, teachers’ teaching and students’ learning should be controlled, including the supervision of teachers’ teaching and the evaluation of periodical learning effect. In the end, students’ admission results and ability development are important outcome evaluations for international schools. Quality is the lifeline of education, education is an unrepeatable experiment, and each experiment is related to human development.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 J. Li, International School Policy Development, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8817-2_6

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Therefore, quality supervision and evaluation is an important issue for the future development of international education.

6.1 Introduction 6.1.1 The Development of Governments and International Organizations With the advent of the era of knowledge economy and globalization, governments and international organizations have no longer satisfied the general sense of education equity and education quality from policy legislation to concrete practice. Striving to prevent “mediocrity” and “low efficiency” and pursuing “fairness and excellence” have become the new development trend and pursuit of education in today’s world. Insisting on accountability and focusing on performance are the main strategy of countries in the pursuit of “fairness and excellence”. In the field of education research, school efficiency and school improvement are closely related to education quality and school performance. They can provide scientific and credible basis, effective countermeasures, and starting points for improving school management and promoting equity and excellence in education. They have received great attention and support from governments and some international organizations and have made important progress. The international school advocates the global value orientation spirit of international understanding, mutual respect, mutual learning, mutual learning, and common progress. It takes the education for the global migrants as its own responsibility and aims to cultivate the basic ability to be competent and participate in international affairs, with distinctive international characteristics. In terms of content, it highlights mutual understanding, world culture, and major issues of global significance, as well as language learning, a tool of communication. In terms of methods, we pay attention to active learning, solidarity, cooperation, and mutual help. In the context of globalization, competition among countries is no longer limited to economic, scientific, and technological fields, but is reflected in the contest of comprehensive strength centering on soft power such as culture and education. The internationalization of education is an epitome of globalization as well as a booster of globalization. Under the demand of more diversified subjects such as society and people, international schools emerge as The Times require, and their forms and contents are increasingly diversified. China’s international education is developing rapidly, the talent training model needs to be upgraded, and the international competition is becoming increasingly fierce. This paper mainly adopts the educational research method of literature analysis, that is, through consulting, sorting, and analyzing the relevant papers and works on the quality assessment of international schools in China, it clarifies the research status and direction of the research topic and straightened out the research ideas. This paper analyzes international school quality evaluation in our country, then

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first clears the definition of international education, the school evaluation, then introduces the features of international school quality assessment as well as all aspects of the quality assessment, such as the conditions for offering education evaluation, team construction for evaluation, the evaluation of school management, evaluation of quality education, and school performance evaluation. Then, the historical development of international schools is divided into four periods, and the policy changes of international schools are described. Then, the author writes the viewpoint of international schools in China and puts forward some suggestions on the quality evaluation of international schools based on this viewpoint. Next, it analyzes the problems faced by the quality assessment of international schools in China in practice, including the instability of school running caused by the change of international environment, the poor mobility of teachers, the lack of high-quality Chinese and foreign teachers, and the insufficient quality management of students, and discusses the problems to be solved in the quality assessment of international schools in China. Including the relevant policies, regulations and financial support need to be strengthened, some problems in the development and construction of cooperative universities need to be solved, and curriculum consistency, system management, online education, improper management, and other problems that need to be solved. According to the above problems and to solve the problems, put forward some corresponding suggestions and countermeasures, including to seize opportunities, continued to expand the “internationalization” advantage, the new era of international schools to “binary” new pattern of service, strengthen the international school of policy advice, improve the international school of quality supervision system, firmly grasp the “lifeline” of the development of high quality, strengthening the guarantee, to enhance the financial support, further increase the investment in higher education, build an international teaching system, improve the rules and regulations and work standardization process from top to bottom, and ensure the normal operation of teaching equipment and hardware facilities to expand the new education evaluation project and its functions. In terms of the evaluation of school education quality, it is manifested in the following aspects: from focusing on results to focusing on process, from focusing solely on academic achievement to focusing on the impact of education on the external environment and paying attention to the cooperation of stakeholders. It is of great theoretical significance and practical value for China to establish a management system oriented to improve the quality of education and to further promote the construction of the quality evaluation system for primary and secondary schools (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Wu & Song, 2019; Zhang, 2011; Zheng, 2005; Zheng & Wang, 2013; Zhou, 2016; Zhu, 2019).

6.1.2 The School Quality Assessment There is no clear definition of how to define school quality assessment until now. In China, school quality assessment is a process of evaluating how a school is organized

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to support students’ learning and teachers’ teaching, including formative assessment and summative assessment. The USA started earlier and constructed the multidimensional conceptual framework of school quality evaluation index system from different perspectives of economics, sociology, and psychology. However, the assessment of educational quality should be forward-looking. With the progress of new technology and the development of The Times, it is very important to think about the assessment of educational quality with advanced vision. The quality assessment of international schools is based on seeking truth from facts. In foreign countries, the subject of education evaluation is not only government officials and education management cadres. For example, the US evaluation team includes not only school teachers and staff, but also parents, taxpayers, media, and outside organizations such as the University Accreditation Association. In China, not only teachers and students, but also parents and educational administrators participate in the evaluation of international schools. More people are now involved in the evaluation of international school quality, making the results more authoritative and authentic. Integrality means that the international school quality assessment should comprehensively evaluate the quality of all aspects of the school and combine the key evaluation with the overall evaluation. The evaluation of school quality is not only the evaluation of the school, but also relates to the quality of students’ learning and teachers’ teaching. The final result of international school evaluation is closely related to the quality of all aspects of schoolwork. For example, the quality of students’ learning is related to the teaching level of teachers, the management level of schools, the equipment for teaching, the quantity and quality of books in the library, and other factors to varying degrees. Traceability refers to the continuous evaluation of the school’s performance and the tracking and evaluation of student development. In order to urge the development of schools, evaluators need to constantly set higher standards to evaluate the quality of schools. Continue to evaluate the quality of the school over time, even after the evaluation has reached a conclusion. The decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Reform of the Education System clearly points out that “the fundamental standard to measure any school is not the amount of economic income, but the quantity and quality of talents cultivated”. Therefore, school quality assessment can track the development of students after graduation; only in this way the value of the school can be truly reflected. This needs to require the evaluator to collect the opinions of graduates, upper schools, and employers extensively and seriously, make a detailed analysis, and judge the connection between the school’s teaching quality and student development, so as to carry out substantive evaluation of the school.

6.1.3 Evaluation of School-Running Conditions It is stipulated in the document “Red” and “yellow” brand Colleges and Universities Operating conditions Standards that any school with one basic operating conditions index lower than the requirements of the regulations on restricted enrollment will

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be given a warning of restricted enrollment (yellow card), and its enrollment scale shall not exceed the number of graduates in that year. Any school that has two or more basic school-running condition indicators lower than the requirements of the regulations on restricted enrollment or has been confirmed as a yellow card for three consecutive years, is a suspended enrollment (red card) school, and shall not arrange the enrollment plan of ordinary higher education in that year. In this way, the state can strengthen the macro-management and guidance of school teaching work, so that schools can effectively improve the conditions of running schools, improve the quality of teaching and talent training, and establish a scientific evaluation system. In school management, international schools in our country can only improve management efficiency by changing the disorderly state of management ideas and effective ways, to promote the standardization and institutionalization of school management. And therefore, the complete set of rules and regulations, for example, the establishment of “education is a service” management mechanism; highlight the “people-oriented” modern management concept; adhere to comprehensive, full staff, whole process management; standardizing the management of the system itself; the management responsibility is clear, the process is clear, the specification is specific, and the guidance and the operability are strong; give full play to the function of correction and prevention; strengthen the supervision mechanism, so as to perfect the school management quality index evaluation system. To carry out quality education assessment in international schools in China, we should respect the basic laws of higher education teaching, take the value orientation of quality education as the basic starting point, fully consider the characteristics of students in higher education in cognitive ability, mode of thinking, and knowledge structure, advocate the harmonious development of human body and mind, and emphasize the equality and harmony of teacher-student relationship. The principles of directivity, scientific, and comprehensiveness should be grasped when the evaluation standards are formulated, so that the evaluation carried out under the guidance of ideology can really promote quality education. Each school should establish a scientific and reasonable quality education evaluation system in line with the school and find out the gaps in time through evaluation, so as to continuously optimize, accumulate, innovate, and summarize to make it more perfect (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Wu & Song, 2019; Zhang, 2011; Zheng, 2005; Zheng & Wang, 2013; Zhou, 2016; Zhu, 2019).

6.1.4 Evaluation of School-Running Performance The value orientation of the performance of international running of higher education is the basic value judgment, value confirmation, and interest selection of the ultimate goal of international running of higher education as a social behavior organization. It is the embodiment of the fundamental purpose of how to carry out international running and what kind of running goal to achieve. It constitutes the deep structure of the performance evaluation system and performance evaluation behavior of higher

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education internationalization and profoundly influences the setting of performance goals, the construction of evaluation indicators, the implementation of performance evaluation, and the application of results of higher education internationalization.

6.2 Policy Changes 6.2.1 Modern International School Was Officially Born On September 1, China promulgated the Interim Provisions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and the National Education Commission of the People’s Republic of China on the Establishment of Schools for the Children of Foreign Embassies in China. The promulgation of this law marked the official birth of modern international schools in China. In the early days, these international schools were mainly for the children of those diplomats and the children of our Taiwan compatriots. In April, the Interim Administrative Measures on the Establishment of Schools for Children of Foreign Nationals were promulgated, stipulating that foreign institutions, foreign-funded enterprises, resident offices of international organizations in China, and foreigners legally residing in China may apply for the establishment of schools for children of foreign nationals. Foreign institutions in China and legally resident foreigners can apply to open schools for children of foreign nationals.

6.2.2 Application for Establishment of Taiwan Compatriots’ Children’s School In December, the Rules for the Implementation of the Investment Protection Law for Taiwan Compatriots were promulgated. Investors in Taiwan or associations of investment enterprises in Taiwan may, in accordance with relevant state regulations, apply for the establishment of schools for children of Taiwan compatriots in areas where investment from Taiwan compatriots is concentrated. The development of international classes in public high schools in China first benefits from the Regulations on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools issued by The State Council in 2003, which makes it clear that Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools is a public welfare undertaking and an integral part of China’s education cause. The regulations mainly apply to the activities of educational institutions (hereinafter referred to as Chinese-foreign cooperatively run schools) jointly set up in China by foreign educational institutions and Chinese educational institutions that mainly recruit Chinese citizens. The Ministry of Education agreed to entrust Guangdong province to examine and approve the establishment of schools for the children of Hong Kong and Macao people in Guangdong. In February 2009, Guangdong

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province delegated the right of examination and approval to Shenzhen for the establishment of schools for the children of Hong Kong and Macao people. In April 2010, The Administrative Measures of Guangdong Province for the Establishment of Schools for the children of Hong Kong and Macao people were prepared for implementation.

6.2.3 Tighten Policy on Public International Classes In 2010, the CPC Central Committee and The State Council issued the Outline of the National Medium—and Long-term Program for Education Reform and Development (2010–2020), emphasizing the opening up of education. We will encourage schools at all levels and of all types to engage in various forms of international exchanges and cooperation and successfully run a number of model China-foreign cooperative schools and a number of Chinese-foreign cooperative school programs which also accelerated the growth of international departments in public schools. However, its rapid development also exposed a lot of problems, such as: charging standard is not unified, occupying public resources, aggravating the inequality of education. As a result, the state began to tighten its policy on international classes in public high schools from 2013. Zhejiang, Anhui, Heilongjiang, and Jilin provinces transferred the right of examination and approval of public high schools’ international classes to the provincial level. Therefore, it is a general trend for public high schools to withdraw from the international class market. Since then, the main battlefield of international classes will be more from public high schools to private schools, which is also ushered in a new development opportunity for private international schools. In December, the Ministry of Education issued the Opinions on Doing a Good job in Schools for Children of Foreign Nationals. Schools for children of foreign Nationals will be strictly examined and approved, established on demand and managed in accordance with the law, and shall not be titled “China”, “China”, “national”, “world”, or “global”. In November, the new Law on the Promotion of Privately run Education was passed, which implements classified management of privately run schools and allows for-profit privately run schools to benefit from running schools. After implementation of classified management, set up a new international school primary and middle school, directly registered as a non-profit, reflect on the course and the main difference, in accordance with the legal requirements, elementary school and junior high school courses in China, high school courses in abroad, promote method after revised by the people, and less affected by those who have been school courses in China. The fundamental difference between for-profit and non-profit is whether profits can be distributed to shareholders, investors, or school sponsors. In April, the Regulations on the Implementation of the People’s Promotion Law (Revised Draft) (Draft for Public Comments) were published, which allowed some international education groups to acquiesce in the VIE form of compliance-related party transactions. International schools with private education as the main body may usher in a new wave of development opportunities. In February, the CPC Central

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Committee and The State Council issued China’s Education Modernization 2035, which focuses on prominent problems and weak links in education development, bases itself on the current situation and takes a long-term view, and lays out ten strategic tasks for education modernization, including creating a new pattern of education opening up. In March, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued a Notice on Enrollment of Regular Primary and Secondary Schools in 2019. Compulsory education schools are not allowed to recruit students under the names of “international departments”, “international courses”, or “overseas classes”, the circular said. The CPC Central Committee and The State Council issued the Opinions on Deepening Education and Teaching Reform to Comprehensively Improve the Quality of Compulsory Education. Compulsory education schools are not allowed to introduce foreign courses or use foreign textbooks, according to the guideline. Enrollment of privately run compulsory education schools shall be subject to unified management of examination and approval places and be enrolled at the same time as public schools. The number of applicants is over. At the same time, to combat COVID-19, education authorities at all levels and relevant government departments have standardized and issued a series of subsidies and support policies for private and public schools, including international schools, in terms of student enrollment, examination arrangements, school operation, and management. In recent years, with the continuous development of social economy, the parents of students view are gradually widened; on the one hand, going abroad to study undergraduate and graduate students is still the first choice for a large number of Chinese families, parents choose early planning on the other hand, and a stage from young students into international school began to accept all kinds of international course and lays the foundation for studying abroad. As the international school market heats up in China, international schools have been set up in cities across the country. By 2021, the number of certified international schools has reached 932, and there are many international schools under construction or have been put into use. Coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, parents are turning to international schools that offer AP, A-level, IB, and other international courses. The physical buffer also gives children an international perspective, which can be used to kill two birds with one stone. In April 2022, several Major Ivy League universities in the USA will announce their admission to American universities, which has taken nearly half a year. In addition to those enrolled in foreign high schools, the admission statistics of first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are still impressive. There is no difference from previous years, in which the proportion of international schools admitted by top universities is still higher. This also proves to some extent that international schools cultivate students’ abilities and the importance of international courses for students to make a complete foundation for studying abroad. International education quality assessment should run through the whole process of education and teaching, from the establishment of schools and institutions to the graduation of students. To sum up, in the initial stage, the establishment of a school often needs to obtain the certification of some curriculum organizations to ensure the quality of its education. In the process of running a school, teachers’ teaching and students’ learning should be controlled, including the supervision of teachers’ teaching and the evaluation of

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periodical learning effect. In the end, students’ admission results and ability development are important outcome evaluations for international schools. Quality is the lifeline of education, education is an unrepeatable experiment, and each experiment is related to human development. Therefore, quality supervision and evaluation is an important issue for the future development of international education (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Zheng, 2005). The self-supervision and evaluation of school quality mainly refers to the evaluation of teachers’ teaching and students’ learning, including formative evaluation and result evaluation. Based on this standard, the following suggestions are put forward for international schools. First of all, the development of international education in China should unswervingly expand its opening to the outside world, take “retaining” and “introducing” international high-quality education resources as the action line, and strive to build a new pattern of international education development with Chinese characteristics. First, speed up the opening up of international education. Second, adhere to the combination of “retention” and “introduction”. The so-called retention refers to the retention of foreign high-quality educational resources introduced in the past 40 years of reform and opening up, the acceleration of the integration with China’s traditional high-quality educational resources, and the establishment of educational resources with Chinese characteristics system and standards. In the past, Sino-foreign cooperation and exchange mainly focused on the introduction of experts, courses, and educational equipment, but now, exchanges between students are becoming more frequent. To strengthen the educational exchanges between China and foreign countries, we should be good at retaining the past international highquality resources, excavate their connotation, and make them play a greater role in the integration of local traditional high-quality resources. For example, in terms of curriculum integration, both public schools and international schools should not be satisfied with the original curriculum or the introduction of overseas curriculum, but should explore the integration of Chinese curriculum and international curriculum, establish their own benchmark and standards, and establish a curriculum system with Chinese characteristics. The so-called introduction means continuing to introduce excellent foreign educational resources, advanced educational concepts, and overseas experts. The core of national comprehensive competitiveness lies in the quantity and quality of talents. At present, China’s talent quantity and quality when compared with western countries, there is still a certain gap. China’s service trade has developed rapidly in recent years. Although we are a big country in education, we are not really a strong country in education. Therefore, we should introduce more talents through online and offline channels, relying on the two-way interaction between internal circulation and external circulation, so that China can remain invincible on the world stage. Third, we need to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in education, science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges. Despite frequent setbacks in visa and sensitive majors during the Trump administration, Chinese students should remain confident that the difficulties are temporary. In the future, the number of overseas students will continue to expand, the cooperation between China and the USA in science and technology will be strengthened, and the trend of high integration of Chinese and western cultures will become increasingly

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obvious. According to the current forecast, Biden’s election may ease or improve the current Sino-US education relations and slowly relax the tightening policy, because the Democratic Party, which advocates the development of science and technology and education, pays more attention to social construction and the introduction of high-end talents and may relax the immigration policy accordingly. In the future, we can try to speed up the online going out of Chinese culture. For example, we can spread and promote Chinese culture through online Confucius Institutes to avoid the high cost of building offline colleges. In addition, the emphasis of cultural communication should be placed on Chinese history and excellent traditional culture. The flow of students is the most important for countries to meet. After World War II, the outbreak of the Vietnam War and the Korean War, the lack of communication between young people may have been an important factor in strategic miscalculation. So, student communication has a lot of deep political meaning in it. Although students’ exchanges have been hindered due to the epidemic, as mentioned above, the majority of students who had planned to study abroad have not changed their choice of international education. Fourth, accelerate the internationalization, lawbased, and convenient process of China’s international education. While speeding up the opening to the outside world and promoting the development of international education, China must maintain a high sense of national security and treat and handle the relationship between national security and education development dialectically. First, we need to pursue internationalization. Internationalization mainly refers to the internationalization of standards, drawing lessons from foreign standards is mainly to establish our own standards, and our standards should be higher than foreign standards. Second, promote the rule of law. The rule of law is mainly reflected in our management technology, which should be managed by legal means. It is better to make a negative list in international education, telling foreign educational cooperation institutions which aspects are untouchable when conducting educational cooperation and exchange in China. Third, we need to make services more convenient. We need to further improve the relevant services, including the evaluation process of our cooperative education and the work visa for foreigners in China. Internationalization, rule of law, and convenience should be an important measure for the future development of international education.

6.3 Challenges in Practice 6.3.1 Uncertainty in Running a School Due to Changes in the International Environment Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools is the product of economic globalization and education internationalization. In recent years, with the change and adjustment China-US relations with COVID-19 outbreak spread around the world, many countries have offered to reshape the relatively independent economic system, an

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“inverse” globalization wave swept across the world, face a tough protectionism, the challenge of resources flow barriers, and internationalization of education suffered a severe test. In the coming period, the content, path, and method of education internationalization will change and reshape, and the willingness and mode of international cooperation in running schools will change under the influence of international political and economic relations. In addition, in the context of the global epidemic, the cross-border flow of teachers and students from Chinese-foreign cooperative universities is faced with the dilemma of “neither in nor out”. Up to now, many foreign teachers of Sino-foreign cooperative universities are still staying overseas and cannot return to China on time for offline teaching. In terms of cross-border student mobility, a high proportion of international students in each school cannot return to school and most of them cannot “enter”, which makes the characteristics of international education not fully reflected. Chinese-foreign university widespread HanShuQi outside the classroom or other overseas joint training mode, because of the outbreak and make the Chinese students to exchange or complete outside credits appear to block foreign colleges, which triggered the parents and students of this kind of school-running pattern Chinese-foreign university concerns and questions, lead to the parties involved in power decline trend of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools. In 2020 and 2021, most Chinese-foreign cooperative universities are facing unprecedented difficulties in recruiting students. The internationalization of higher education is the worldwide trend of the development of contemporary higher education. Accelerating the internationalization process of China’s higher education, improving the international competitiveness of China’s higher education, and cultivating talents with international awareness, international communication ability, and international competitiveness have become the most important subjects of higher education in this century. With the development of The Times, the number of international schools (including international courses) in China is increasing, and with the introduction of a variety of international courses, the supply of foreign teachers in many subjects is in short supply. In 2019, the mobility of teachers in international schools in China showed that 53.9% of teachers had considered international schools, but they were still observing them. About 17.2% of teachers have considered international schools and are preparing for them; 25% of teachers in international schools are not considered at all; those who have left and are looking for a new job accounted for 3.1%; others account for 0.8%. These data show that the proportion of teachers in international schools is not very high, and there is great mobility. The human resources department of the school should specify the terms of recruitment duties and have a detailed understanding of the teachers. The school should carry out strict background investigation for all domestic and foreign teachers to have a comprehensive understanding of them and ensure that there are no problems in their integrity, academic ability, and professional ethics. Teachers are an indispensable part of a school, and the school quality evaluation cannot be without teachers. Therefore, international schools must consider various aspects in recruitment to ensure the stability or expansion of the number of teachers, so that students can have teachers to teach (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Wu & Song, 2019; Zhang, 2011; Zheng, 2005; Zheng & Wang, 2013; Zhou, 2016; Zhu, 2019).

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6.3.2 Lack of High-Quality Chinese and Foreign Teachers With the development of international schools, many international schools are offering English courses for students whose native language is not English, but simply offering English courses is not enough. The process of students’ cognitive development is closely related to the development of language ability. Therefore, it is better for international schools to advocate bilingual teaching, which inevitably brings up the problem of teachers. In today’s society, parents pay more attention to the level and ability of teachers. Therefore, for Chinese and foreign teachers, they should be trained before work. Through scientific and professional training, teachers’ teaching ability and class management ability can be improved. For a long time, school authorities and parents of international schools regard the number of foreign teachers as an important indicator to measure the level of internationalization of a school, and foreign teachers are in short supply for a long time. In recent years, the unbalanced status of Chinese and foreign teachers has been improved to some extent. Quality assessment at school, in addition to the number of teachers, is part of the evaluation, teachers’ teaching level is also part of the assessment, because of the international school teachers and foreign teachers in China, so the school will through some methods to improve teachers’ teaching ability, ensure the quality of school teaching, and make the international school of quality assessment results let parents at ease.

6.3.3 Inadequate Quality Management of Students, the Enrollment Rate, and Acceptance Rate Are Inconsistent One of the challenges facing all new international schools is attracting the best students. The history of domestic and international schools is relatively young, so the quality of students will inevitably be uneven, so the admission rate is an effective comparison. In addition, the enrollment rate is also an indicator to evaluate the quality of international schools. The so-called enrollment rate refers to the percentage of all students admitted in that year who choose to attend that school. The higher the ratio, that school is recognized by parents, the international school of quality evaluation are higher, but for many relatively good international schools, because some admissions threshold as transparent, foreign nationality identity verification is lax that they may also be less than the outstanding students, thus enrollment and acceptance rates are not high and influence the school quality evaluation. In 2018, the Implementation Regulation (Revised Draft) (Submitted for review) of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education of the People’s Republic of China is issued by the Ministry of Justice. Compared with private schools that provide inclusive private education, international schools with higher requirements on school hardware facilities, curriculum content, and teachers have a greater demand for capital. But policy

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and market uncertainty for capital is a worry, with a series of more specific, improved, and in some respects almost draconian regulations. International school needs very much money, and return cycle is long, so some investors do not understand education often worry this back, so too will participate in the school daily management and lead to real education practitioners that have no real power, is bad for the long-term development of the school, and also affects to assess the quality of international schools in China. In addition, the third-party evaluation of international schools is actually a quality supervision method advocated in the separation of management and evaluation. At present, there are two categories: One is the evaluation and certification of international certification bodies and alliances, and the other is the evaluation of the educational achievements of international schools by way of ranking. To sum up, it can be seen that the government’s management level is weak in the international school quality assessment, and the national quality assessment of international schools cannot be based on certain assessment schemes, which is a big challenge to the national school quality assessment of China (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Wu & Song, 2019; Zhang, 2011; Zheng, 2005; Zheng & Wang, 2013; Zhou, 2016; Zhu, 2019).

6.4 Countermeasures and Suggestions for Challenges and Problems 6.4.1 The Support of Relevant Policies, Regulations, and Funds Needs to Be Strengthened Sino-foreign cooperative university is a special type of higher education institution for freshmen. In 2003, the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on ChineseForeign Cooperation in Running Schools were issued, but the practical problems encountered by universities in practice are difficult to find legal provisions in the regulations, even some provisions are not applicable to the current situation.

6.4.2 The Structure of Students Needs to Be Further Optimized and Improved Talent is the top priority for the development of the university. At present, the overall size of the teaching staff of Sino-foreign cooperative universities is small, the reserve of outstanding young talents is insufficient, and the ability to undertake domestic research projects and serve the needs of society urgently needs to be improved. How to attract high-level talents from all over the world to cooperate with the university is a key problem that must be solved in the development process of the university under the current situation of talent policy, academic environment, and complex

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international environment. It is another important problem to optimize the structure and improve the quality of student resources of Sino-foreign cooperative universities. At present, the social influence and reputation of some Sino-foreign cooperative universities have not reached expectations, and the widespread understanding and recognition of the society are not enough. The COVID-19 epidemic and the current international environment have also brought many adverse effects to the recruitment publicity of the universities. Therefore, they face great competitive pressure and challenges in attracting high-quality students. In addition, at present, we can only rely on the parent universities of foreign countries to recruit graduate students, the number and scale of graduate students is not enough, which affects the university’s scientific research development and faculty stability, but also restricts the pace of building a world-class research university. Chinese and foreign teachers are a major advantage for international schools to attract parents and students. However, according to the comparison of Chinese and foreign teachers’ salaries, although the welfare benefits are basically the same, foreign teachers enjoy a higher proportion of health insurance, housing subsidies, transportation subsidies, and other benefits. The income level of teachers in international schools is closely related to their teaching experience, but the income gap between Chinese and foreign teachers increases with the increase in their experience. The survey shows that Chinese teachers with more than five years of work experience generally earn more than 100,000 yuan a year. Among them, the annual salary of 200,000 to 300,000 accounted for 47% and 100,000 to 200,000 accounted for 39%. The annual salary of foreign teachers with more than five years of working experience is generally above 200,000 yuan. Among them, the annual salary of 300,000 to 400,000 accounts for 45%, 400,000 to 500,000 accounts for 22%. In addition, 30% of foreign teachers with three to five years of working experience received an annual salary of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan. For the future development of international schools, we should not only establish a formal supervision system and introduce high-quality foreign teachers, but also vigorously cultivate Bilingual Chinese teachers who are familiar with international courses, so as to cultivate international talents rooted in China and facing the world for the future development. As a young Sino-foreign cooperative university, while drawing lessons from and introducing advanced international school-running modes and scientific research innovations, the scientific research management system and mechanism in line with its own characteristics have not been fully established, which results in low enthusiasm and ineffective participation of foreign teachers in scientific research. Most foreign teachers have a certain degree of “accusers” in the integration of China’s scientific research system, especially in project application, scientific research, funding, performance evaluation, achievement transformation, and other aspects of the cognitive and habit differences. All these directly lead to the gap between the existing research personnel and the university’s research development plans and goals, the shortage of discipline leaders and research teams in the fields of national and regional major strategic needs, and lack of agglomeration effect. There are few landmark scientific research achievements, and the output of high-level innovation achievements needs to be strengthened; the ability of scientific research to meet major social development needs and serve local economic and

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social development needs to be improved. There are three kinds of schools offering international courses in China: first, schools for children of foreign nationals. In order to solve the legal residence of the children of foreign personnel to go to school, the target of enrollment is foreign personnel accompanying children, and there are individual cases of skirting the ball. The courses offered are mostly the same as those offered in the country of origin for the convenience of linking up with domestic education. Second, private schools. The school offers international courses, and its name is “International School” and “Bilingual School”. The enrollment target is mainly Chinese students, and the primary school, junior high school, and senior high school are complete. The courses offered are usually international A-level, IB, and AP courses. Most students prepare for study in Europe and the USA. Third, international classes are offered by key public schools. The enrollment target, curriculum, and export of students are similar to those of private “international schools”, with better student resources and qualified teachers. The admission results are generally better than those of private “international schools”, especially the international classes of famous overseas schools, with good application results. However, currently it is greatly affected by policies and will gradually decouple from public schools. These three courses in international schools in the face of different student groups, in terms of evaluating the quality of the school also, will be different, and the government cannot, according to the evaluation way for the international school of institutions of higher learning quality evaluation, thus increase the difficulty of judging whether international school standards, quality evaluation, and the effect of international schools will be different (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Wu & Song, 2019; Zheng, 2005; Zheng & Wang, 2013). There are more and more international schools in China, and these international schools have their own characteristics, so there will be differences in system management. International schools need to make innovations in system management to attract students. A series of system and management measures made by the management are very important for the quality assessment of international schools. Because international schools will have a small number of foreign children, and Chinese and western culture and philosophy are different. There are various cultural and ideological differences between different languages and ethnic groups, which are reflected in the process of educational management, bringing certain difficulties and puzzles to educational management and will remain for a long time. Domestic teachers have not done enough to understand foreign students, and their teaching methods are different from foreign students’ learning style, culture, and learning motivation, so are foreign teachers to Chinese students. Based on these situations, the management of international schools needs to take different measures to solve these problems and develop an education system management mode that can satisfy both students and teachers. Only when all these are satisfied, students and teachers can comply with and implement the school spirit and discipline, which is also a plus for quality evaluation. In recent years, with the outbreak and persistence of the epidemic, both ordinary schools and international schools have to carry out online teaching, and all kinds of emergencies of online teaching will affect the quality assessment of international schools. Since schools did not store and manage teaching resources in a centralized manner before

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the outbreak of the epidemic, online teaching after the outbreak of the epidemic was confronted with a variety of technical problems: Foreign teachers could not arrive at their posts on time, so they had to conduct online teaching abroad; problems such as internet connection and time difference tend to make it difficult for foreign teachers to prepare lessons and assign homework efficiently. Online education has weakened the international environment of international schools, and parents are dissatisfied. With the development of online teaching, parents find that many foreign teachers are less responsible for the classroom and students than Chinese teachers, and foreign teachers are not as good at communicating with parents and using software. The school’s management of foreign teachers is also lax, leading to the school’s inability to allocate foreign teachers to teach in special periods and frequent home-school conflicts. These situations are not favorable for the quality assessment of international schools, which also indicates that international schools need to be improved in some aspects. The number of international schools is growing, and the management of teaching is increasingly chaotic, making quality difficult to control. In the past few years, China has seen a great leap forward in “international schools”, with more and more international schools appearing. As many schools are in a hurry and some schools are not equipped with qualified teachers, some students find that there are too many differences in publicity after enrollment, resulting in a high turnover rate of teachers and students (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Wu & Song, 2019; Zhang, 2011; Zheng, 2005; Zheng & Wang, 2013; Zhou, 2016; Zhu, 2019).

6.4.3 Seize the Opportunity and Continue to Expand the Advantage of “Internationalization in the Local” China is firmly committed to deepening reform and expanding opening up. The opinions of the Ministry of Education and other eight departments on Accelerating and Expanding the Opening up of Education in the New Era were issued, which is a great benefit to Sino-foreign cooperative universities. In the autumn of 2022, Chinese students who had planned to study abroad were faced with difficulties in pursuing education. The Ministry of Education temporarily allowed some cooperative schools and programs to increase their enrollment quota, to provide domestic education opportunities for students who had planned to study abroad but were prevented from going abroad due to the epidemic. Among them, the expansion of excellent “prospective students” in Sino-foreign cooperative universities is an effective attempt to “internationalize locally” and improve the quality of students. In addition, hybrid education is booming, and Sino-foreign cooperative universities are stepping up efforts to improve online teaching system construction, using increasingly perfect modern education technology to continue to ensure the smooth implementation of teaching plans in emergencies such as major epidemics, while providing opportunities and guarantees for flexible utilization of high-quality overseas teachers. The international environment is becoming increasingly complex and unstable and

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uncertain. We will modernize China’s governance system and governance capacity, achieve steady economic growth and achieve social stability and harmony, and make a good start in building a modern socialist country in all respects. According to this development plan, the development orientation of China’s international schools in the future is bound to focus on domestic circulation, realize the mutual promotion of domestic and international circulation, and meet people’s demand for high-quality education. “To take the domestic cycle as the main body”, the first is to meet the growing needs of domestic parents for high-quality education. In recent years, the source structure of international schools is changing quietly. Parents’ understanding of international education is becoming more and more rational and profound. Therefore, an accurate understanding of the basic characteristics of international school students and the expectations of society and parents for school education is the basis for defining the development orientation of international schools. Of course, the domestic cycle is also related to a pain point in the development of international schools, that is the “dual track system”. There are many specific issues involved in ensuring that students in basic education can move substantively between traditional public schools and international schools, and that they can choose either domestic universities or study abroad in the future. Only with the joint efforts of scholars, front-line educators, educational researchers, and educational decision-makers of the domestic circulation can be truly realized. It also aims to spread its educational achievements accumulated over the years to the international community, build an international curriculum system with Chinese characteristics, and promote the pilot construction of overseas Chinese international schools. It will help implement the “Belt and Road” education initiative and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

6.4.4 Strengthen the Construction of Policies and Regulations of International Schools and Improve the Quality Supervision System of International Schools “High-quality” education first respects students, develops their core literacy, and promotes their future life quality and life value. In fact, most international schools believe in this concept and are actively working toward it. What we should do at present is to implement the development of students’ core literacy into all aspects of school education and teaching. This put forward higher requirements for school management, teaching, and other work. Objectively speaking, international schools directly introduce international advanced research results, which have a good foundation in curriculum and teaching methods and have made a lot of beneficial exploration. But there is still room for improvement in the future. International schools are the most good at foreign language teaching as an example; the school should not only help children master several language skills, understand the culture behind the language, more importantly, to let the student through language learning really

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master the ability of information acquisition, analysis, and critically, can on the basis of critically based on its own position to form their own independent thinking, and communicate and cooperate with others, especially people from different cultures, in a decent manner. The same is true for other subjects. The “high-quality” education is the education that highly meets the individual needs of students, which is exactly the advantage of international schools. To develop, modernize, and internationalize education, it is difficult to achieve without investment in education or increasing investment in education. And because education is a leading, overall, and fundamental knowledge industry and a key infrastructure in socialist modernization, it requires us to increase investment in education so as to lay a material foundation for promoting the rapid and healthy development of higher education. In the process of internationalization of China’s higher education, we should adjust and enrich the current professional structure and teaching content and must have a scientific and reasonable curriculum system and teaching content in line with international standards. For example, in public basic courses and cultural quality education courses, selective courses are offered for environmental issues, peace issues, multicultural issues, and other issues of global significance: increase the enrollment scale of foreign accounting, finance, trade, law, computer information, foreign languages, and other majors, and reform the teaching content. Introduce the basic knowledge of international politics, world and national economy, culture, history, and geography into teaching materials and classrooms. In order to meet the needs of developing economic exchanges between China and the rest of the world, colleges and universities should offer a variety of foreign languages if conditions permit. Teachers should pay attention to the introduction of the most advanced foreign scientific and cultural knowledge and scientific and technological achievements in the teaching content of this major and discipline. The most advanced textbooks in the world should be selected and attract foreign experts and scholars to give lectures. Chinese universities, especially key ones, should pay attention to cultivating students’ global vision and international competitiveness (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Zheng, 2005).

6.4.5 Improve Rules and Regulations and Work Standardization Process from Top to Bottom First of all, from the international education services—line managers to teachers and counselors, in view of the student response management personnel supervision does not reach the designated position, the counselor work efficiency is not high, there should be corresponding rules and regulations, perfect the job responsibility, refining the work standardization process, strengthen the execution of performance appraisal system. Department heads are required to visit dormitories at least once a week and attend lectures randomly. The instructors and staff on duty are required to check the dormitory and class status every day. Daily update on international student administration in the International Student Administration group. The management

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personnel randomly checks the student’s conversation and understands the front-line work operation situation. Staff who do not perform their work properly will be given warning education and corresponding performance punishment. Secondly, in the management of international students, instructors should “strictly manage and serve international students with enthusiasm”. Although consideration should be given to international students experienced more than domestic students psychological problems and practical difficulties, such as psychological cross-cultural communication obstacles and personal issues, including the homesick, language barriers, learning difficulties, financial difficulties, relationship problems, etc., but in caring for students at the same time, in order to ensure international students can safely and smoothly through the study in China times, international students must be managed and required in strict accordance with relevant foreign affairs laws and regulations. On matters of principle, stand firm and do not yield. Specific reform measures suggest students affairs for monitoring the students act in violation of the rules behavior, combined full-time teachers, dormitory students, the teacher on duty every day, and for students of late, cause catastrophic and consecutive times late absenteeism classroom discipline behavior, and loud phenomenon on governance in the dormitory. Each instructor organizes and holds thematic class meetings every month and at important time points to emphasize school discipline and inform students of the consequences of disciplinary violations. The instructors will strengthen communication with the teachers, dormitory administrators, teachers on duty, and foreign students. Once the students’ disciplinary violations are reported, they will talk with the students and take corresponding punishments immediately after verification, so that the students can realize the seriousness of their mistakes and take care of the relevant rules and regulations for the students who repeatedly commit and persist in teaching. Ensuring teaching quality is the foundation of international education service. The premise of guaranteeing teaching quality is to have good teacher quality and sufficient teacher resources. Based on ensuring the number of teachers, we should also ensure the quality of teachers. The teachers hired should be teachers specializing in Chinese as a foreign language, so that professional people can do professional things. It is better to have overseas study or teaching experience, so as to have a deeper understanding of the real needs of international students, and teaching can be more targeted. With sufficient teachers, teachers have more time and energy to improve teaching quality, research projects, develop school-based textbooks, and guide students to participate in all kinds of competitions at all levels. In addition, there are professional teachers for international students in each major, preferably with a certain English foundation. It is difficult for international students to learn specialized courses, especially professional terms. Therefore, teachers of specialized courses may sometimes need to explain in English (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Wu & Song, 2019; Zhang, 2011; Zheng, 2005; Zheng & Wang, 2013; Zhou, 2016; Zhu, 2019).

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6.4.6 Scientific Orientation International Education Assessment In order to orientate international education assessment scientifically, we must first reflect on the purpose and significance of assessment and not dissimilate it into assessment. Evaluation of the purpose is to improve the education resources allocation efficiency and the use efficiency, including urged government departments to improve international education resource configuration efficiency and urged international school raise and improve the efficient use of education resources and lead the other social organizations and individuals in education resources into high education level and teaching efficiency of international school, and so on. Second, promote the capacity building of international schools. International education assessment will shift from a simple division of so-called internal and external assessment to an emphasis on assessing the “ability” of the assessed to improve the efficiency and quality of education. Improving the incentive mechanism of evaluation, establishing a new competitive-oriented university evaluation system, promoting capacity building, and providing advice for the evaluation object to formulate development strategy and expand development space have become the main models. Assessment agencies and projects should be clearly defined. (1) Scientific differentiation of assessment types. Classify educational assessments according to different benchmarks and establish the purpose, basic requirements, working procedures, and qualifications of the assessment agency for each type of assessment. In practice, different types of assessment should be reasonably selected according to the purpose of assessment. (2) Assessment of different tasks by different agencies. For different types of assessment, different assessment frameworks are adopted, and assessment is carried out by different assessment agencies according to different procedures. Each evaluation institution should have its core quality evaluation project, which should expand the evaluation project as much as possible while maintaining its characteristics and improving the utilization rate of resources and evaluation benefits. (3) Assessment should not be a savior or a verdict, but a recommendation for reform and development. The evaluation only provides a reference system for educational reform and development and plays a more advisory and advisory role, with the decision-making power in the hands of international schools and government departments. The correct attitude of the evaluation object is the premise of the evaluation project to achieve the expected goal. Now, the more prominent problem is to treat the evaluation as an image project and pay attention to the quantitative goals, such as the conclusion is excellent or good, the number of study sites and key disciplines approved, so as to disrupt the normal teaching order. The so-called evaluation to promote construction and evaluation to promote reform often become the need to increase investment through evaluation, which affects the long-term investment and the orderly implementation of school development plan. In terms of the current university rankings that caused many disputes, the processing of international school will have a correct attitude; on the one hand, the university cannot follow “rank” to turn, keep aloof attitude and independence, “because of the social status and academic reputation of a university, is formed in history and reality,

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not top row out”; on the other hand, universities should also take rankings as a mirror to analyze their own problems and deficiencies in the efficiency of running schools and the quality of education. Universities should learn to analyze the value of various kinds of university rankings, grasp their positive aspects, and eliminate their negative effects.

6.5 Summary This chapter makes a clear definition of the connotation of international education and school quality assessment, discusses the characteristics of international school quality assessment, which includes the assessment of school-running conditions, the assessment of team building, the assessment of school management, and the assessment of quality education and school-running performance. Quality evaluation then analyzes the international school that faced the problem in practice, including the change of international environment which leads to instability of teaching and teachers’ poor liquidity, lack of high-quality foreign teachers, students quality management is not enough, the reading rate and the acceptance rates do not tally with the actual, capital into the uncertainty, the problem such as the government management is weak, and it also discusses the problems to be solved in the quality assessment of international schools in China, including the support of relevant policies, regulations, and funds to be strengthened and several problems to be solved in the development and construction of cooperative universities, curriculum consistency, system management, online education, and improper management. Low teaching quality affects school quality assessment, inconsistent ideas between investors and management team that lead to unstable management team, different types of international schools that have significant differences in fees and resource allocation, and other problems that need to be solved. Finally according to the above problems and to solve the problems, put forward some suggestions and countermeasures, including to seize opportunities, continued to expand the “internationalization” advantage, the new era of international schools to “binary” new pattern of service, strengthen the international school of policy advice, improve the international school of quality supervision system, firmly grasp the “lifeline” of the development of high quality, strengthening the guarantee the system, further improve the financial support of the investment of higher education, internationalization of building teaching system, top-down, perfect rules and regulations and standardization of work processes, ensure teaching equipment and hardware configuration of the normal operation, ensure sufficient international student teachers, scientific positioning international education assessment, to the international education evaluation system framework, to foster international education assessment, and change and expand new educational evaluation items and their functions. Since the 1990s, the world has set off a wave of globalization of higher education. In order to guarantee the quality of higher education and improve the international influence, comprehensive and efficient quality assessment is one of the important measures. The state guarantees the quality assessment of higher education

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through legislation and strengthens the management and monitoring of higher education institutions. Secondary school students are key stakeholders in quality assessment within European higher education. It is natural to participate in the internal quality assessment of higher education. So far, European countries have carried out student participation assessment of the internal quality of higher education. Form a relatively complete student participation mechanism. In contrast, the participation of middle school students in the internal education quality evaluation process of colleges and universities in China is low, and most of the participants are basically teachers and evaluation experts. Through studying the participation mechanism of middle school students in the internal quality evaluation of European higher education, it can provide some reference for promoting the development of higher education in China. The participation mechanism of students in internal quality assessment in European higher education is characterized by the following three aspects. First, attach importance to multi-subject participation; second, to improve the evaluation system; third, we should give full play to the role of student organizations. In view of the current situation and problems of student participation in China, the following suggestions are put forward based on the European internal quality assessment of student participation for the government to improve the legal system to ensure that students participate; for schools, to ensure the participation of multiple subjects, the establishment of quality culture; for students, enhance their awareness of participation and enhance their ability. In recent years, the quality of higher education has attracted more and more attention from all walks of life. In order to improve the quality of higher education, China has formed a set of quality assurance system after years of practice and exploration, in which the effective implementation of higher education quality assessment is an important link. However, for many years, China’s higher education has encountered many obstacles and problems in the evaluation work, which is difficult to meet the social requirements for the development of higher education quality. For example, the administrative force intervenes too much, the index system is not scientific enough, and the evaluators are not professional enough. In order to strengthen the evaluation of higher education quality, the evaluation subject combining government and society should be determined. Strengthen the professionalism of higher education evaluation institutions, and determine the scientific education evaluation index system. Setting up correct quality view of higher education and carrying out scientific and effective quality assessment are important measures to improve the quality of higher education. The rapid development of information technology and internet has promoted the globalization and modernization of higher education. The quality assessment of higher education has become an important quality assurance system of higher education. The realization of digitization, networking, and informatization of higher education quality assessment is the basis of scientific and modernized higher education quality assessment and also the basic condition of making higher education quality assessment move toward justice, transparency, and pluralism. The development and popularization of information technology in China are relatively late, and the informatization foundation of higher education quality assessment is weak. Therefore, systematic and shared higher education quality assessment information database, assessment and service platform,

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and sustainable information collection and sharing mechanism should be established. Realizing the openness, scientific, and normality of higher education quality evaluation in China is an important work to construct the quality assurance of higher education in China. Higher education quality assurance and evaluation of information platform construction are to realize the higher education quality assurance, evaluate the basis of scientific, modernization, and achieve higher education quality evaluation, fair and transparent implementation evaluation pattern innovation, changing the function of the government management, and realization of higher education quality evaluation to colleges and universities, and social service is the basic way of transition. The construction of higher education quality evaluation information platform is based on the factors and process information of higher education talent cultivation, scientific research, and social service and establishes scientific, open, and dynamic quality evaluation methods and models, aiming at serving the quality assurance of higher education. Through modern information technology, network and database technology realizes the scientific and modernized quality management and service of higher education. In the past many years, the quality assurance and evaluation of higher education in China have not formed a systematic and usable system (Cen, 2021; Wang, 2022; Wu & Song, 2019; Zhang, 2011; Zheng, 2005; Zheng & Wang, 2013; Zhou, 2016; Zhu, 2019).

References Cen, J. (2021). Trends and future development of international education policies under the impact of COVID-19. University of Education Science Education Science, 20(2), 11–18. Wang, M. (2022). Challenges and reflections of sino-foreign cooperative universities in the new development stage. Shenzhou Economist, 11(1), 13–17. Wu, C., & Song, Y. (2019). Value orientation and performance evaluation system construction of international higher education under the background of double first-class construction. China’s Higher Education Research, 20(05), 6–12. Zhang, Y. (2011). The market demand of China international schools will continue to grow. China Foreign Trade, 20(04), 78–80. Zheng, F. (2005). Opportunities and challenges brought by bilingual teaching to university library. Library Science Research, 20(06), 84–86. Zheng, J., & Wang, Y. (2013). On the construction of quality education evaluation system in colleges and universities. Science and Technology Information, 20(18), 184–185. Zhou, L. (2016). Summary of definition of international education and international school and discussion on the dialectical relationship between them. Chinese Journal of after-School Education, 201(Z1), 517–519. Zhu, Z. (2019). Review and enlightenment of school quality assessment in the stage of basic education—Taking New York City as an example. Modern Basic Education Research, 34(2), 98–105.