Paper Presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, University of Ghent

Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, University of Ghent, 19-21 September 2007

Network 7, Social Justice and Intercultural Education, Session 5

20th September 2007

Ada Mau

School of Education

RoehamptonUniversity

Roehampton Lane

London SW15 5PJ

Politics and Pedagogy: Understanding the Population and Practices of Chinese Supplementary Schools in England

Background

‘Supplementary’, ‘mother tongue’ or ‘community language’ schools for ethnic minority children in the UK are believed to have been in existence as early as the nineteenth century. However, the development of the supplementary school ‘movement’ only occurred after the Second World War, when refugees from Eastern Europe and later immigrants from the Commonwealth countries arrived in the UK. These communities felt that British mainstream schooling could not satisfy their children’s educational needs; therefore, they set up their own community schools after hours or at weekends to offer further leaning opportunities, including mother tongue classes, cultural activities, religious studies and mainstream school subjects. Chinese schools, as the British Chinese community call them, are particularly long-established in the UK and some Chinese schools in London have been cited as examples of best practice in terms of both organisation and provision. They are positioned as providing a pivotal role in the transmission of the Chinese language and culture. In recent research conducted by Francis and Archer (2004) on British Chinese pupils’ educational achievement, it was revealed that Chinese schooling was highly valued among parents and pupils in performing a cultural role and for generating social and educational capital. However, these schools’ practices and functions have been little documented by researchers, and an aspect of our current research project intends to address this gap. The article seeks to document and analyse the diverse population and practices at Chinese schools in England. The paper will also explore how the Chinese school community is constantly evolving due to factors such as population makeup, socio-political events and global market changes.

The British Chinese Community in the UK

The British Chinese community is very diverse in socioeconomic backgrounds, origin, linguistic heritage and many other aspects; the population size and make-up have been changing over the last centuries due to events both in the UK and abroad. Chinese seamen and labourers had been coming to the UK since the nineteenth century, and some small Chinese communities were formed in early twentieth century. The community became more established when large waves of Chinese immigration to the UK began in the 1950s and the 1960s. Tens of thousands of Chinese came from British colonies and Commonwealth countries to find opportunities in post-war Britain; most were prompted by changing social and economic conditions at home. The new demand for Chinese cuisine and subsequent changes in immigration laws channelled many Chinese to join the catering industry in the UK. Today, the settled British Chinese community largely represent those who came from Hong Kong and Southeast Asia in the post-war years. Those who came from or are descended from Mainland China constituted a relatively minor proportion of the community until recent years, and their experience differs significantly from the earlier immigrants. According to the 2001 census, the Chinese population in the UK was about 243,000 (National Statistics 2006). In 2001, 29% of the British Chinese population were born in the UK, including 25% who were born in England. The other main countries of birth were Hong Kong (29%), China (19%), Malaysia (8%), Vietnam (4%) and Taiwan (2%). (National Statistics 2004)

The history of Chinese supplementary schools in the UK

Chinese immigrants in the UK have been keen to preserve their traditions and pass on their language and customs to their British born or raised children since the early days of Chinese settlement in Britain. Records show that Chinese classes were held to teach children the Chinese language and culture in the early twentieth century, with the ChungHuaChineseSchool in East London usually regarded as the first Chinese school in the city (Wong 1992). However, the school was closed before the war, and further development of Chinese schools did not happen until the community began to grow. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a number of Chinese classes initially started informally within existing Chinese organisations in the UK and later expanded to become Chinese schools. Two of the schools we visited began in this period with only a few pupils in their early days. By the mid to late 1970s, many children of the post-war immigrants reached school age, and the demand for Chinese education steadily grew; a greater number of Chinese schools were established. Another school in our study also had a humble beginning at a community church in the late 1970s and later expanded in the 1980s. The other 3 schools in our study represent the newer schools that were formed in the 1980s to serve the growing young British Chinese population. According to listings from the UK Federation of Chinese Schools (UKFCS) and the UK Association for the Promotion of Chinese Education (UKAPCE), there are about 140 Chinese schools represented across all major cities and metropolitan areas around England, and about 50 of them are in the Greater London region.

Methodology

The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council[i] and was conducted across six different Chinese schools in England. Three schools in London were selected because the Chinese population in Britain is most concentrated in London and the South East (33 per cent and 14 per cent respectively) (Commission for Racial Equality 2006). Three other schools were also chosen in other metropolitan areas in the country with sizable Chinese populations – Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. Only Cantonese based schools were chosen because Cantonese has long been the unofficial lingua franca of the established British Chinese community and these schools are generally more linked with said population. There are a smaller number of Mandarin schools primarily serving the Mandarin speaking population, and our study has not covered these schools. We chose six larger schools with 150 or more pupils to ensure an adequate number of consenting respondents could be drawn randomly. An average of four official visits were made to each school over a period of six months in late 2006 and early 2007, and a number of telephone interviews, set up and follow-up visits were also conducted. The research team consisted of 3 members and 3 fieldwork assistants, three of whom were bilingual English and Cantonese speakers. Interviews were mainly conducted by Chinese, bilingual interviewers, though a number of the pupils were interviewed by White-British team members. We interviewed 60 pupils, 24 parents and 21 teachers/members of staff. The interviews were semi-structured and audio recorded. The majority of the pupils chose to be interviewed in English, while most of the parents and teachers chose to communicate in Cantonese, though many were bilingual. Interviews were fully transcribed (and translated when applicable), and a sample of the translated interviews with Chinese speaking respondents was sent for third party verification. Ethnographic observations, and occasionally semi-participant observations, were conducted to document normal activities at these schools, including lessons, breaks, assemblies, special celebrations/events, and daily activities and interactions inside the school before and after class. Documents obtained from the schools were also used in the analysis. All of the interviewees and schools have been given appropriate pseudonyms to ensure confidentiality.

Our study originally focused on 11-13 year old pupils because anecdotal evidence suggests that some pupils may drop out of complementary education in later years of schooling. Due to the fact that all the classes were mixed age, a smaller group of 14-16 year old pupils were also interviewed. The 60 pupils were 60% female and 40% male; 40 pupils were aged 11-13, and 20 were aged 14-16. Lesson observations were done in classes that mainly consisted of pupils aged 11 or over. The parents we interviewed had children attending Chinese school in a wider age range; many of whom had more than one child attending or having previously attended Chinese schools. Additionally, the head teachers/coordinators from all six schools as well as a number of teachers were interviewed.

The Chinese Schools

All 6 Chinese schools in our study were relatively large in size and well established. It was evident that all of them were deeply committed to their aims to teach the Chinese language and culture to young British Chinese people, and each school had different approaches in education and strategies to cope with issues they are faced with. However, there are a number of common features among the 6 schools we visited across England.

(i)Voluntary based, with little or no government funding but well run and managed

(ii)Pupils grouped according to ability not age, with varied age and abilities in the same classroom

(iii)Chinese language class was the main component of the schools; all taught their pupils at least up to Cantonese General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level

(iv)All provide some extra-curricular activities related to Chinese culture for pupils and sometimes for parents

(v)The curriculum was mainly delivered in Chinese but English was occasionally used; traditional, didactic teaching methods are used but some interactive methods are employed

(vi)Many members of staff have not been formally trained in the teaching profession either in the UK or abroad

(vii)All had ties with their local Chinese communities and sometimes the greater non-Chinese community, occasionally participating in Chinese or non-Chinese local events/activities

(viii)All felt that future development of their schools was hindered by issues with funding, resources, facilities, staffing and short lesson time

School Organisation and Management

Along with many other supplementary and mother tongue schools in the UK, the majority of the Chinese schools are non-profit and voluntary based. They are usually organised by groups of individuals or as part of an existing Chinese community or some occasionally religious organisations, and most receive limited or no financial support from the British government. Before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, the Hong Kong Government Office in London provided Cantonese textbooks and grants to Chinese schools in the UK, but this support stopped when the office ceased to exist. Although some local governments have special units that deal with supplementary education, not all of them provide financial support to these schools. The situation varies in different parts of the country or even within the same city, and the funding was sometimes seen as a small and unstable source by a number of our interviewees. While RossmoorSchool’s local government agency paid for the hired school site and provided a small grant for the school’s running costs, three other schools in our study did not receive any government funding at all. As the co-ordinator of from KentfieldSchool expressed, ‘They’re just talking about changes in funding, so we were just talking about it! (laughs) So yeah, there are some difficulties…’ A more disillusioned sentiment was articulated by the head teacher of PuiKiuSchool:

The [local] government said, “I’ll give you a school. I’ll give you classrooms. I’ll give you a caretaker. Won’t charge you anything!”… They are now charging everyone, they want money… We almost fell for it!

Our sample schools charged relatively low fees ranging from £15 to £90 a year; they were certainly more affordable than some of their American counterparts that could cost US$250 to US$450 per term. The case of supplementary education for Chinese children is very different in the US due to the development of private educational institutions that target East Asian children of Chinese or Korean descent since late 1980s (Zhou 2006). All the schools in our study relied on fundraising activities and donations to support their running costs, but this funding source was more crucial for the schools that were not receiving any government aid. Raffles, auctions, fetes and dinner banquets were organised by the schools or their affiliated organisations, and some schools approached Chinese businesses, private individuals or members of their organisations for donations. One of the schools reported to be receiving a grant of £500 annually from UK Association for the Promotion of Chinese Education (UKAPCE) (more on Chinese education groups will be discussed later).

Five of our schools did not have their own premises and their lessons were held on either Saturdays or Sundays at hired premises at local mainstream schools. Although community centres or town halls could possibly be used for smaller schools, it has been suggested that having a ‘proper’ school to convey a proper ‘school image’ is important in securing a school’s status and the parents’ confidence in the school.[ii] Nevertheless, paying the huge cost of rent, which varies in different schools and different regions and could range from a few thousand to tens of thousands of pounds, is an immense struggle for many supplementary schools around England. Most of our sample schools paid the teachers a small stipend for their travel costs and time; however, members of staff at KentfieldSchool were all non-paid volunteers from their church.

Despite being part-time and voluntary in nature, all the schools we visited were generally well organised in their administration and management. Five of the schools had about 150-200 pupils; one school ran both morning and afternoon sessions and had about 300 pupils. There were head teachers, deputy head teachers or co-ordinators in charge of the normal operations at all six schools, and five of them had some form of committee to govern and manage. Each school had around 15-20 teachers, and most also recruited a few regular volunteers on site to assist in anything from photocopying to managing the tuck shop, providing first aid, cleaning or making tea for the teachers. All of the schools had a written constitution or aims and objectives, and parents and pupils were given copies of school rules. Each school had their own system of classifying the different levels; five of the schools accepted pupils of about age 5 and above but one school took pupils as young as 3½ years old. All schools also had school calendars that correspond with mainstream education’s longer Christmas, Easter and summer holiday breaks, but individual schools had their own school breaks and special holiday/event breaks. All of the schools had a system of assessment within the school, with periodic testing and one or two exams each school year. A number of the schools used ‘handbooks’ (similar to homework diaries or school planner) to report back to the parents on their children’s homework assignments and progress regularly. Some of them held regular school assemblies or parents’ days, and all had end of the year events. Recognition of pupils’ achievement is marked by the giving of prizes in class and/or by announcing results at special assemblies/ceremonies. None of the schools had formal disciplinary procedures. As many pupils pointed out, unlike their English schools, Chinese school did not have detentions. Teachers or head teachers would contact the parents when any disciplinary issues arose.

It is undeniable that organisations and members of staff at Chinese schools we visited are genuinely devoted and all work diligently to help educate the younger generations. However, as highlighted in a recent report by British Association for Chinese Studies, many schools encounter problems such as shortage of funding and teacher recruitment. Because most schools are in ‘borrowed space’, there are limitations on what they could offer to their pupils. During our observations, in most instances, the schools that were in hired premises were not entitled to use the equipment, such as computers, copiers, interactive white boards and school bells, and the facilities were not always suitable for all the pupils from a wide age range. The schools came up with improvised solutions like bringing their own loud speaker, ringing hand held bells along the corridors and putting up notices and pupils’ work temporarily during school session time. For the one school that had its own premise, Pui Kiu, the classrooms were converted from a previously commercial space and were not well equipped. Although the head teacher, Mr. Wu, explained that enhancements such as redecoration of the hall and improving the heating system had been made recently, a number of the pupils that we spoke to communicated less than satisfactory comments about the facilities. A number of the teachers and head teachers expressed frustration at their inability to implement new plans or make improvements due to either lack of funding or the limitations of their current space. Moreover, the low pay, or no pay in some cases, for staff definitely creates difficulties for schools in recruiting teachers; how the recruitment issue affects the teaching will be explored later.