Training Centres in China

The education training market providing education or education-related services has shown a strong trend of growth in recent years, becoming one of the most vigorous markets in Today’s China.

According to the report from the Ministry of Education, the revenue is expected to reach 500 billion yuan in the next five to ten years. Generally speaking, the training sector in China can be categorized into the following groups in terms of markets: language training,  overseas study preparation training, K12 subject training, IT training, management training, financial & accounting training, and arts training.

What Is a Training Centre?

Training centres, learning centres, or training schools, commonly refer to privately-running institutions where students (usually young-aged children, but sometimes are mature adults) receive training courses on a particular subject, such as English, Maths, Chinese, and so forth. Those schools aim to help students achieve higher academic or professional performance.

Legal Definition of a Training Centre in China

In TopTutorJob, a training centre normally refers to a institution/company who has acquired a more-than-3-years lease on an educational facility, and obtained the "school permit" from local education department, with the legal rights to deliver "non-academic" teaching (i.e. a training centre cannot issue any official diploma  certificate). Check our Glossary for detailed information.

China's After-School Tutoring Market

The growth of training centres in China goes hand in hand with the immense demand of the country's after-school tutoring market, caused by its emphasis on exam performance. If you walk into a shopping mall in any city across China on weekends or at 6-9 pm on a working day, you will be bombarded with all types of learning centres: music, maths, arts, dancing, sports, and most of all, English training centres.

Some big titles of training centres include:

• English First
• New Oriental
• Wall Street English
• Meten English
• TAL (xueersi)

Undoubtedly, language training centres have the largest market demand for foreign teachers. As the mainstream business, it has nearly 300 million customers with over 50,000 training institutions (Hu, 2013). In general, our typical employers in this sector are primarily from national-wide training centres, local learning schools, and franchise chains (schools).

It is interesting to note that, unlike traditional language training, related forms of education such as subject English (teaching English in subjects), Drama English (integrating drama into English education), English online teaching, and other language teaching (Spanish, German, French, etc.) are emerging in the current market.

• However, regardless of the levels of students and forms of teaching, consumers have a strong preference for foreign teachers from both native and non-native language speaking countries with a rate of 59.4% and 7.2%, respectively.

The Gap

The internationalization of education brings a high number of opportunities to educators in the context of globalization. According to China Statistics Press, more specifically, the number of Native-English teachers in China was 13,731 in 2017, while the actual need was 54,722.

What a huge gap!

We believe the above data has shown you a clear picture of what the education training market is like and how urgent foreign teachers are wanted in this sector.

Usually, typical positions in training centres are ESL Teacher, K12 English Teacher, English Teacher for Kids, Drama Teacher, Curriculum Planner, Trainer, and Curriculum Developer.

Now, let’s talk about some practical tips on finding tutor jobs in China.

Requirements for Teaching in Training Centers in China

To get a teaching job in China, you need to meet requirements from both the Chinese government and employers. Here we list several preconditions for job seekers, which are essential for applying a working visa for positions in both language teaching (English and Other languages) and non-language teaching (subjects).

English Teaching Position Requirements

• Native English Speakers (In principle from UK, U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and South Africa) .

• Bachelor degree or above (Degree needs to be authenticated by your local PRC Embassy).
• Two Years’ related working experience. Alternatively, bachelor's degree or above holders in subjects like Education/Teaching major or have valid national or international level language teaching license (such as TESOL, ESL) can be exempt from it.
• Age under 60.
• Non-criminal record.

* Note: If you are not an English native speaker and intend to find English teaching job, you must obtain a degree from higher education institutions from native English speaking countries (In principle, from the UK, U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa ).

Apart from above requirements (If the candidate holds a Bachelor degree or above in Education/Teaching major or has equivalent national or international level language teaching license, the two years working experience requirement can be exempted). However, it may vary according to local governments from time to time.

Check our Career Advice for more information on visa and teaching requirements.

Non-English Teaching Requirements

• Native Speakers of taught languages.
• Bachelor degree or above (Degree needs to be authenticated by your local PRC Embassy).
• Two years’ working experience. Alternatively, bachelor's degree or above holders in subjects like Education/Teaching major or have valid national or international level language teaching license can be exempt from it.
• Age under 60.
• Non-criminal record.

Non-Language Teaching Position Requirements

• Bachelor degree or above in required subjects (Degree needs to be authenticated by your local PRC Embassy).
• Two years’related working experience.
• Age under 60.
• Non-criminal record.

How to Identify Authentic Training Centers?

Along with the rapid development of the training centre and increasing demand for foreign teachers, job applicants might feel confused with so many opportunities and advertisements presented in front of you.

It is a kind reminder from TopTutorJob that when you look into the market, choose formal and authenticated organizations. To relate this issue, we have some tips for our job seekers to verify the employers by yourselves.

P.S. All positions on our website have been verified with the below approaches.

• The institutions engaged in teaching must obtain a permit for running a private school in the PRC.
• Must have an official website, and the site has been verified by Internet Content Provider (ICP).
• If the legal entity is a school (known from ICP), the brand name shall be consistent with the school name.
• If the legal entity is a company, its business license must have permissions for training or education-related services.
• Company information can be found on the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

Note: Generally speaking, an education consulting company is not qualified for teaching.

Feel free to contact our recruiter [email protected] if any question.