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Mandy Zheng

“F*** you, Hong Kong separatist dog.”
Teacher Nick Tse Wai-lok, 35, recalls a recent message he received on his WeChat at 3am, and the shock he felt after realising who sent it.
It was from a former student at an international school in Guangzhou, where he taught at four years ago.
“We hadn’t spoken in ages. It was totally unexpected,” says Tse, a Hongkonger who has been teaching chemistry in Guangdong province since 2011.
He had been vocal on Chinese social media about Hong Kong politics, and often shared articles in support of pro-democracy activities in the city. Some mainlanders, including this ex-student, did not like it.
“I think he insulted me because of the political news I shared,” Tse says.

Although Beijing is making it easier for Hong Kong teachers to work in the “Greater Bay Area”, many are deterred by escalating political tension as well as differences in culture, education systems and pay.
The bay area is a scheme by the central government to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong cities into an economic and innovation powerhouse.
Since January, Hong Kong residents have been allowed to sit for teaching certification examinations previously meant only for mainland Chinese, with the request that candidates “support the leadership of the Communist Party and its education policies”, according to the Ministry of Education.




Until now, most Hong Kong teachers working on the mainland have been employed by private international schools. In 2018, there were at least 103 such schools in Guangdong with 45,600 Chinese students, according to the UK-based International School Consultancy.
The international schools pay better, attracting people like Tse, a science graduate with no teaching qualifications.
Teachers and principals need higher pay, education task force says
“I couldn’t get a proper teaching job in Hong Kong, where the competition was really fierce,” Tse recalls. “So I just thought it would be a good start to go north.”
His first few years in Guangzhou were satisfying. He was made a class teacher, got along well with students, counselled those with problems and was even invited to their get-togethers after school.
“It felt like dream come true,” Tse says. “I always wanted to be the kind of teacher who not only teaches, but also inspires students.”

Then the Occupy movement erupted in Hong Kong in 2014. The 79-day civil disobedience campaign was led by pro-democracy activists.
The day after police used tear gas against the protesters, who brought areas of the central business district to a standstill, Tse wore a yellow piece of paper on his wrist when he entered the classroom.
“I wasn’t at the scene, but the anger I felt was real,” he says. “It was impossible for me to stay quiet and do nothing.”
Mainland China holds little attraction for city’s teachers, groups say
His protest gesture was noticed. About 20 students sent him angry messages on WeChat, some colleagues avoided him, and at the school’s graduation ceremony, some students chose not to take photographs with him.
He saw himself more as a defender of truth than a separatist, but says it was impossible to explain his political stand to mainlanders.
The stereotype has come so far that, because I am from Hong Kong, naturally I would be pro-independence
Nick Tse, teacher
“As a teacher, I wanted to provide my students with another source of information, so they could think independently,” he says. “But it was so hard to change how people think. The stereotype has come so far that, because I am from Hong Kong, naturally I would be pro-independence.”
Feeling “terrible and helpless”, Tse quit his job in 2016, and now works as a freelance tutor for an agency in Zhongshan.

“Hong Kong, a dead end for teachers”
Another Hongkonger who moved to Guangdong to teach, Tom Chan (not his real name), says he did so because he had no choice.
“I left Hong Kong because I couldn’t see any prospects in my career,” says the 30-something who spent six years as an assistant teacher in secondary schools and could not land a permanent position.
“New openings were rare, and older teachers were far from retirement,” he recalls. “I felt that Hong Kong was a dead end.”
Given the city’s declining birth rate, primary and secondary school enrolments have shrunk by more than a fifth over a decade to under 700,000 in 2017, according to government statistics. The number of schools has also come down from 1,196 to 1,108 over the same period.
The competition for teaching jobs has intensified, but young Hongkongers are still drawn to teaching as a career, and the number of education majors taking post-secondary programmes more than doubled to over 104,000 between 2006 and 2016.

Chan says he went from worrying about getting a permanent job to feeling resentful. “Every year I worried about whether my contract would get renewed, yet it had nothing to do with my competence or how much work I did,” he recalls.
Still, Chan says it was difficult deciding to leave Hong Kong.
“I felt inferior, as if I was not as good as others,” he adds.
The tightening demand for teachers may well push more Hongkongers to seek opportunities on the mainland, where the education market is booming.
Tony Hickling, principal of ULink College, a Guangzhou-based international secondary school, says teachers from Hong Kong are in demand because of their fluency in English and familiarity with the British curriculum.
“Some really fit our western teaching style, as they are good at encouraging independent thinking in the classroom,” he adds.
What holds Hongkongers back, however, is the lower pay on the mainland.
“To convince them, I often paint this picture where they can enjoy high quality of life in a beautiful campus, plus a relatively low cost of living,” Hickling says.
To convince them, I often paint this picture where they can enjoy high quality of life in a beautiful campus, plus a relatively low cost of living
Tony Hickling, principal, ULink College
The starting pay of secondary schoolteachers in Hong Kong is about HK$30,000 (US$3,800) a month, according to the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union. Contract teachers, who make up nearly a fifth of the city’s 50,000 teachers, earn considerably less – assistant teachers get HK$16,000 to HK$17,000 per month on average, while teaching assistants can earn as little as HK$13,000.
Mainland education workers earned 6,951 yuan (about HK$8,122) a month on average in 2018, according to government statistics. Private international schools pay more, though actual figures are hard to come by.
According to a 2016 survey by Shanghai-based consultancies Innogem Inc. and TopSchools, nearly half of non-mainland teachers at international schools with less than one year’s experience earned between 100,000 to 200,000 yuan per year, or HK$9,700 to HK$19,500 per month.
Tom Chan says moneywise, he does not regret moving to the mainland and the lower cost of living makes a big difference. His accommodation is also more comfortable than in Hong Kong.
“I'm able to save three times more than I did in Hong Kong,” he says.
Opinion: When a student succumbs to stress, it hurts all of Hong Kong
He thinks the increasing job opportunities in the Greater Bay Area can benefit Hongkongers like him who find prospects dim in the city.
Lo Yat-ko, a member of the Progressive Teachers’ Alliance in Hong Kong, agrees that newly qualified teachers who cannot get jobs in the city may be drawn to the bay area.
“There could be more youngsters willing to take this gamble in future, as secondary schools in Hong Kong continue to experience reduction in classes, and primary schools will see the same trend soon,” Lo says.
But what may get in the way of their careers on the mainland, he adds, is that Hongkongers have very different notions of free speech and press freedom from mainlanders.
“As teachers, they will have to follow so-called ‘socialist education policies’, a concept unfamiliar to most Hongkongers,” he says. “How do you encourage critical thinking?”
As teachers, they will have to follow so-called ‘socialist education policies’, a concept unfamiliar to most Hongkongers
Lo Yat-ko, Progressive Teachers’ Alliance
Teacher Lee Hiu-suen, who is in her 20s and who graduated from the Education University of Hong Kong in 2017, thinks moving to the mainland is unlikely because she worries she may have to “teach children things that are not correct or objective”.
The teaching style, curriculum and career path are all different on the mainland, she says.
“If I ever went there, could I still come back? Would my experiences be acknowledged in Hong Kong?” asks Lee, who is teaching in a public primary school in the city. “There are simply too many uncertainties.”
For some Hongkongers who move to the mainland, however, the appeal becomes more personal.
Mathematics teacher Betty Lee (not her real name) went to Zhongshan to teach right after graduating from college, and married another Hongkonger teaching in the same public school.
“When I first got here, I had a hard time adapting to the fact that this city didn't have MTR, but things have been developing fast in recent years. Now they have everything we have in Hong Kong,” she says.
Every Friday, Lee and her husband take a 90-minute ferry back to Hong Kong to spend the weekend with their daughter, who is attending kindergarten. They may have to consider returning to Hong Kong when the girl is ready to start primary school.
For now, Lee, 33, says of living and working in Zhongshan: “My life is peaceful here.”
The second year he was in Guangdong, Tom Chan started dating a mainland Chinese colleague. “If it wasn’t for her, I might have left for somewhere in Southeast Asia,” he says.
Although he has fallen in love with a mainland woman, he insists he will still find it hard to like the mainland or regard it as home, but such is life.
“Sometimes you just never know,” he says.


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News

Hong Kong

Education

Politics

Society

City’s declining birth rates and student enrolments mean competition for teaching spots is fierce
But across the border, very different notions of free speech and critical thinking may pose obstacles for educators


City’s declining birth rates and student enrolments mean competition for teaching spots is fierce. Yet across the border, very different notions of free speech and critical thinking may pose obstacles for educators.


Greater Bay Area

China education

‘Greater Bay Area’ opens up to Hong Kong teachers, but can they accept lower pay and political differences on mainland?

City’s declining birth rates and student enrolments mean competition for teaching spots is fierce But across the border, very different notions of free speech and critical thinking may pose obstacles for educators

City’s declining birth rates and student enrolments mean competition for teaching spots is fierce

But across the border, very different notions of free speech and critical thinking may pose obstacles for educators