Recently, the decision of elementary school teachers in Linqing, Shandong to transfer to teach at high schools has sparked heated discussions. Experts believe that this move is a result of a sharp decrease in student population, leading to a surplus of elementary and middle school teachers. In the tight financial situation of the county town, the transfer is seen as a way to maintain the performance of high schools and ensure high exam passing rates.
In mid-August, Linqing County in Shandong Province held a training session for teaching enhancement at the Linyi Industrial School from August 14th to 15th, lasting for 2 days. Nearly 200 newly recruited and transferred teachers received pre-job training, some of whom were previously teaching at elementary or middle schools and will now be teaching at high schools in the upcoming autumn semester.
Liu Min, a math teacher at a middle school in a town in Linyi, received notification that she will be transferred to a high school in the county town. Liu Min told the media, “With the income of a middle school teacher, facing the pressure of teaching at a high school where the specialization doesn’t match, the income is actually decreasing.”
Especially after the cancellation of rural subsidies and after-school service fees, Liu Min’s monthly income decreased by nearly 2,000 yuan. The local education bureau responded that these teachers all hold high school teaching qualification certificates, and the main reason for the transfer is the decrease in student population.
Mrs. Feng from Linyi, Shandong, also told the media that she and several other teachers are being transferred to teach at the high school in the county town. “Teachers who don’t want to transfer wish they could tear up their teaching certificates,” she said. Although she personally does not want to transfer, the school has indicated that they will arrange for teachers to go there over the next few years, and they are the first batch.
She is very worried, as even though she has a high school teaching qualification certificate, she has never taught in a high school before, so she can only wait and see how things go once the school starts.
Public opinion generally believes that this is mainly due to the decrease in age-appropriate primary school students and the low birth rate, leading to a dilemma in Chinese education with a decreasing student population.
A local netizen, “Blue Sky,” mentioned that many teachers with high school teaching qualifications from Mengyin Primary School have gone to high schools this year, which is a situation that cannot be avoided. With fewer new students, the number of second-grade students heading to high school has increased. The high school enrollment rate has also risen, and the county cannot afford to hire more outstanding teachers, so they have no choice.
Another netizen pointed out that in many places in Shandong, high school teachers have lower wages compared to elementary school teachers under the same length of service and title. Therefore, elementary school teachers are unwilling to transfer to high schools. This is because elementary schools receive a delayed subsidy of one or two thousand yuan per month and higher after-school service fees, which leads to more income than high school teachers who do not receive such payments.
This measure is aimed at addressing the imbalance in educational resources brought about by changes in the school-age population and absorbing excess teaching staff from elementary schools. Parents are generally concerned about the quality of education, especially in critical grades like the third year of high school, fearing a decline in student performance.
A netizen, “The Wind Shall Cease,” believes that this measure is clearly experimental, causing inconvenience to those affected. Elementary schools often determine the basic quality of a region’s student population, while high schools determine the final educational outcomes of the region. Faced with the reality of shrinking student population, the only option is to transfer elementary school teachers to teach in middle schools and then directly to high schools, which is undoubtedly a burden on society.
Guo Song, a former elementary school teacher on the Mainland, pointed out in an interview with Dajiyuan that the direct reason for elementary school teachers transferring to high schools is the sharp decrease in student population due to the declining birth rate in China, especially in county towns and rural areas where the number of children has significantly reduced. This has led to a significant decrease in class sizes in rural elementary and middle schools.
“Currently, China is facing a nationwide trend of declining population, resulting in an excess of elementary and middle school teachers. Linqing, Shandong, is just a microcosm of this situation,” she said.
In May this year, education departments in Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui Hefei and other places officially issued enrollment notices, relaxing the age requirement for elementary school enrollment, allowing schools to admit children under the age of 6 based on seat availability. Children must be six years old by December 31, 2025, to enroll if there are vacant seats in the school.
However, Shandong Province still clearly requires children entering school to be six years old by August 31st.
Statistical data from the Shandong Education Department shows the situation for first-grade autumn enrollment in Linyi primary schools: Approximately 286,000 in 2023, around 206,000 in 2024, and about 159,000 in 2025. This year, there were about 60,000 fewer students compared to the previous year and around 130,000 fewer compared to 2023.
A parent in Shandong, Mr. Han, told Dajiyuan that with the decline in student population in county schools, the local budget is strained, and surplus teachers can only be transferred to teach at high schools in the county.
“In the past few years, the diploma requirements for elementary school teachers have also been raised. Some teachers have high school teaching qualification certificates.” However, Mr. Han believes that this is a bit rushed because the structure of knowledge between elementary schools and high schools is different, and the students’ situations are also different. For teachers who have only taught at elementary schools, switching environments is a kind of torment for both teachers and students, which may be misleading. Your elementary school teacher might end up becoming your high school teacher again.
It is observed that now schools are relaxing admission criteria. This year, elementary school enrollment requirements related to property ownership have significantly reduced. Previously, if you didn’t reside in the school district, submitted continuous utility payment receipts, you couldn’t apply. In the past, the school did not accept new admissions from people who relocated their household registration to within the district during the registration period, but this year the school can accept such cases. It is estimated that in the future, elementary schools will have to actively recruit students.
Guo Song analyzed that the transfer of elementary school teachers to high schools is directly due to the decreased student population, necessitating a adjustment of teacher positions.
The deeper purpose is to ensure the quality of teaching for the college entrance examination by transferring teachers from elementary and middle schools to high schools, avoiding the wastage of excess teaching staff.
Since the college entrance examination in China has always been a performance project for the education department at the county level, they are highly sensitive to the exam results. High schools are considered showcase schools directly affecting the ranking of the education department at the county and city levels and the achievements of their leadership. Therefore, they strive to maintain the scale of high school operations. In the tight financial situation of county towns, with limited education funds, they can only shuffle staff by transferring surplus elementary school teachers to reinforce high schools.
So why would teachers oppose this? Guo Song explained that because elementary and middle schools do not have such a high college enrollment rate or as much pressure. Moving to high schools increases their work pressure significantly, and the difficulty of the high school curriculum far exceeds that of middle and elementary schools, increasing the teaching difficulty and psychological burden for both teachers and students.
Guo Song told Dajiyuan that it’s not just in Shandong; high school teachers in Liaoning don’t earn as much as elementary or middle school teachers under the same circumstances. Since China advocates for nine years of compulsory education, schools are dismissed at three o’clock, and children have to go to after-school programs, which the education department allows schools to charge for. Each child must pay over a hundred yuan per month, and this contributes to a significant part of the teachers’ income.
“On the other hand, high school is not compulsory education anymore, and there is no reason to charge additional fees. It’s all about college entrance exam passing rates. Teachers are under a lot of pressure, workloads are heavier, and they earn less money, so naturally, they are unwilling to transfer. Some teachers are not specialized in high school teaching. Even though they have high school teaching qualification certificates, they haven’t dealt with high school course materials before, so they are uncertain about it.”
In conclusion, the transfer of elementary school teachers to high schools due to declining student populations in China is a national trend. This adjustment is leading to various challenges for the education system, teachers, and students alike.