A Critical Ethnography Of 'Westerners Teaching English In China: Teachers & Teacher Education

Tens of thousands of Western ‘teachers’, many of whom would not be considered teachers elsewhere, are employed to teach English in public and private education in China. Little has previously been known, except anecdotally, about their experiences, about the effect they have on education in the context, or on students’ perceptions of ‘the West’ that result from this contact. This book is an ethnographic study of Westerners’ lived experiences teaching English in Shanghai, China. It is based on three years of groundbreaking research into the pre-service training, classroom practices, personal identities and motives, and local socially constructed roles of a group of ‘backpacker teachers’ from the UK, the USA and Canada. It is a study that goes beyond the classroom, addressing broader questions about the sociology, and politics, of transnational education and China’s evolving relationship with the outside world.

Phiona Stanley is a lecturer at the School of Education, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of New South Wales. She holds Politics and Education Masters degrees and a PhD in Education. She has taught in six countries including China, and has trained teachers on Cambridge CELTA and MEd at various Australian universities including offshore courses in China.