As any NYU Shanghai student strapped for cash knows, English tutoring is a quick way to make a few hundred RMB on the side, funding shopping trips to Nanjing Road or a night out at Yongkang. Tutoring agencies around Shanghai are always eager to hire young native English speakers, and teaching English is seen universally as a “safe” career, a backup plan, or a starting point for a new life in China. But China doesn’t take too kindly to the idea of so many foreigners flooding the education system--especially if they’re unqualified. Many teaching positions don’t require background checks, references, or proof of qualifications like a teaching degree before hiring--and reports of illegal teachers like this South China Morning Post investigation have Chinese officials worried and Beijing handing down new laws. Finding qualified foreign teachers to teach English to China’s up-and-coming is no easy or cheap task:yearly pay for foreign teachers in a few high-end international schools in Beijing ranges from 300,000 RMB (around 45,000 USD) to 500,000 RMB. Qualified foreign teachers don’t come cheap, and the school with the biggest budget will inevitably get the best teachers. Smaller, poorer schools—especially those in small cities, or the countryside—without the money to pay for the same level of English education have no choice but to hire non-native speakers or unqualified teachers.Awareness about illegal and untrained foreign teachers has grown over the past few years. In the summer of 2014, CCTV conducted an undercover investigation in a foreign language school in Harbin, finding that the school was unwilling to show the reporters any documentation for their foreign teachers, though they claimed they had it. Government concerns culminated in new laws and increased crackdowns on foreign teachers and tutors. In September 2015, the government released anew law stating that non-native English speakers are required to hold a degree or prove “expert proficiency” in English before being allowed to teach. A bachelor’s degree is required, but if a candidate did not major in education or have a certificate like Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), then they are required to have two year’s teaching experience as well. The punishment for being found illegally working canbe a 20,000 RMB fine or detention time (standard time is 15 days). In addition, officials have outwardly called for harsh crackdowns on foreign teachers throughout the country, indicating stricter action in the future.Chinese media has also joined in, warning schools and families to be careful of the teachers they hire. One Tencent News article (translated into English here) cites estimates that at least 90% of foreign teachers are not qualified to teach, and warns that some teachers may use the lax guidelines in China to get a good job despite having criminal records back home. Despite the increasingly strict laws and negative publicity, tutoring demand is still high and offers one of the easiest jobs to find for a few months in China. This is because English fluency is highly valued in China, and families that may not be able to afford a top-tier school turn to students or expats instead. Many expats in Shanghai tutor on and off for a few years to supplement any other income they make, responding to the huge demand for English speakers, and it’s not unusual to run into someone on the street who asks you to teach English to their child. The government finds itself in the difficult place of juggling two extremes--on one hand attracting foreign talent to China, on the other hand cracking down on those foreigners living or working without permission. The demand for English teachers in China will stay strong for the foreseeable future, the question now is whether or not the new guidelines will prove effective in satisfying the need for foreign teachers throughout the country.This article was written by Savannah Billman. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Illustration Credit: Konrad Krawczyk