A day in western Hunan — visiting an Innovation Grants project
Sara Lam | Posted on April 3rd, 2008 in RCEF. 
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RCEF is supporting the Miao Support Net, an organization in western Hunan, to organize training for rural teachers. The organization is completely initiated and run by local teachers. Like the local population, the organizers almost all belong to the Miao ethnic group. I recently paid them a visit, and here are some of my thoughts.
Most inspirational…
Local teachers started the Miao Support Net to find financial aid for poor students in the area. The teachers themselves are in difficult financial situations, but put in their own time and money to do this purely out of concern for their students. The local education bureau gives no incentives or recognition for their work. It really fills me with hope for rural education to see a group of regular teachers take the initiative to build up their own organization. Now, they are shifting from only monetary support for poor students to teacher training. It’s very exciting that teachers are taking charge of their own teaching and professional development!
Most fun…
I visited one school where the Miao Support Net works for a day. It was 2 hours from the county seat, way up in the remote mountains. I was surprised to find that everyone in the school loves to play basketball! Teachers, students, boys, girls… Naturally, one of the first things they did when I arrived at the school was organize a basketball match: Married female teachers vs Single female teachers. Apparently the married teachers win every time, and this time was no exception, despite the six points I contributed J The game was very professional and competitive, those women really gave it their all. I was really happy to see that the teachers are showing through example that girls can be as competitive and athletic as boys.
Most challenging…
While I was at the school, I listened to a lot of the concerns of teachers and the principal. The principal mainly talked about how it is impossible for him to improve teaching at the school when the hardware conditions of the school are so bad that teachers are unwilling to stay. The teachers have it set in their minds that if they change their teaching methods, students will rebel and learn even less and they will be chastised by other teachers and school leaders. I really understand the difficult situation they are in, but just tried to identify with them about the space and resources they do have for making changes, however small, and what they can do to improve just a little bit. At one point, the principal said to me, “我以前没想过，不敢想。” In the course of our conversations, the principals and teachers did point out some things that are within their ability to do, but I could tell that they were still very resistant. Seeing these things is still a very long way from actually taking action. This is perhaps the most difficult part of what RCEF wants to do: How do we help rural teachers believe that they can do something?
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Qian Xiao says:
Added on April 3rd, 2008 at %I:%M %pThis is interesting and inspring, Sara. So what are the teachers in Zhu Miao Wang do for their professional training? The teachers and principles you mentioned in your last paragraph didn’t belong to Zhu Miao Wang, right? Did Zhu Miao Teachers try to change their mind?
Diane Geng (blog author) says:
Added on April 3rd, 2008 at %I:%M %pThe principal raises an important issue. Can improving hardware conditions really help retain rural teachers and improve their teaching? Often, we feel that investing in hardware projects is superficial and takes resources and attention away from the deeper problems in teaching methods. But a prerequisite to improving teaching is to have a stable and skilled teaching team. To build that team for the long haul, we should also consider the value of creating a pleasant physical working and living environment for the teachers. Their intrinsic motivation and professional development support are most important, but we shouldn’t underestimate how a nice working environment can actually make teachers happy to stay and advance their work.
At Fuxin Middle School, teachers rarely talked to each other this past winter partly because the staff room was freezing and they all had to rush back to the tiny coal heaters in their rooms after class. What difference might a heater, some comfy couches, and a stipend for electricity in the staff room have made to advance more communication between teachers and start discussions about their daily work?
Last semester at Guan Ai School, 5 female teachers shared bunk beds in a tiny dormitory/office about 3 meters wide and 6 meters long. They each had only their bed space and one drawer in a desk for teaching materials and personal belongings. Sometimes even their children sleep with them and students come in and out all the time. Guan Ai does not have extra room in the existing buildings to give teachers more living or working space so is looking for funding to construct new dorms and staff rooms. The teachers get along well and living together allows them to easily communicate about students and teaching. They don’t complain much and the tidy room is quite homey with drawings and even a computer. But the conditions are obviously much more cramped than in their own rural homes, not to mention in the cities or most other schools. Thus I think as part of our bid to retain and help rural teachers, we should encourage teachers to make improvements with their existing resources but also consider helping them find outside resources to use in creating a better working environment for themselves.
Sara Lam (blog author) says:
Added on April 3rd, 2008 at %I:%M %pI actually wholeheartedly sympathized with the principal when he talked about the need for improving school infrastructure. This might be the first time I’ve heard a principal talk about hardware improvement mainly from the perspective of improving the environment for teachers. More often, principals just want multimedia rooms, new buildings for show, or are pressured to build new structures to meet government regulations. It’s because it was so refreshing to hear a principal so concerned about teacher satisfaction that I found it noteworthy.
Sara Lam (blog author) says:
Added on April 3rd, 2008 at %I:%M %pIn response to Qian’s question, no, the teachers and principal I was referring to are not members of the Miao Support Net. They have just started to shift their focus to teaching and learning, and in the past had only done tuition assistance. So, no, they have not yet tried to change the minds of teachers, but will make their first attempt soon! The first thing they are trying out for professional development is organizing a series of one-day trainings throughout the school year. In the future, they also want to follow up on the trainings with 教研 projects that participants can apply to do.