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Export
education has become one of the key industries in New Zealand, the
4th largest service export earner. According to the New Zealand
Immigration Service (NZIS) statistics (1), the number of international
full fee-paying students increased by 24.6% from 79,632 in 2002
to 99,196 in 2003. Over 80% of these international students came
from Asia, especially China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand. There
was a 39.5% increase in the number of Chinese students, from 41,927
in 2002 to 58,467 in 2003. In other words, of the total number of
international students (115,129) in 2003, over 50% were Chinese.
The statistics also shows that in 2003, 23,738 visas were issued
to students coming to study at New Zealand language schools, a 43%
increase in the number of visas issued in 2002 (16,608).
Over 1,200 providers, including 178 English language schools (2)
, participate in the industry. English languages schools, though
a small sector (approximately 15% of the total number of providers),
accounted for 51% (41,725) of the total population of the international
students enrolled with all providers nationwide in 2002 (Ministry
of Education, April 2003).
New Zealand is claimed to be "a leading international centre
for English language-based education" (Groser, 2001). It is
believed that it is internationally recognised educational standards,
safety, security (LaRocque, 2003), education sectors' national identity
and brand (Laurenson, 2003) that have made the New Zealand's booming
industry possible. The survey in nine international markets undertaken
by Lawrence (2003) during May and June 2003 indicates that New Zealand
is ranked ahead of Australia by potential students for education
reputation, academic standards, prestige, and "British-based"
institutions.
The industry, however, is facing serious challenges in maintaining
its reputation as a provider of high quality export education (Mallard,
2002; Sinoski, 2003; Rotherham, 2003; Education NZ, 2003) and the
New Zealand image as quality education provider has plummeted in
some Asian countries, especially in China (Perrott, 2003). Language
schools have been hit the hardest (Rotherham, 2003). The collapse
of the Modern Age Institute of Learning did further damage to the
vulnerable industry (Evans, 2003b).
There had been some complaints about the New Zealand education quality
in language schools well before the closure of the Modern Age Institute
of Learning. McFedries, for example, surveyed 144 Asian fee-paying
secondary students in Canterbury in 2002. She found that these students
were very isolated and she warned parents not to send their children
to New Zealand schools where they would receive no support (Haines,
2002).
In February 2002, the New Zealand Herald reported that the
International Educational Appeal Authority had been dealing with
steadily increasing complaints about the quality of education in
New Zealand. 3 Some international students felt they had been cheated
and that they had become "cash cows" (McLeod, 2003) of
New Zealand's failing educational system. 4 Mao (2002) also gave
warnings in June 2002 that the unchecked growth of the industry
was causing a severe shortage of qualified ESOL teachers and the
consequent poor quality of education. Her report of Chinese students'
complaints about poor quality in some language schools did not attract
much attention.
In November 2002, Chinese officials in the Chinese Embassy lodged
thousands of complaints from Chinese students about the poor standards
of English language teaching and lack of qualified teachers in English
language schools (Quirke, 2002). Chinese students' dissatisfaction
with their education services began to attract media attention.
Having surveyed some Chinese students studying in New Zealand, Chen
(2003) found that some Chinese students studying in New Zealand
language schools had been involved in prostitution, gambling, kidnapping,
extortion, car accidents, and drug taking, the reason being that
the host institutions did not care about these students. Chen coined
liuxue lajie, an expression to describe the Chinese students
being reduced to "dregs of society" in the host country.
Chen's report, which first appeared in the Chinese Youth Online
on 2 January 2003, was published by almost all other major online
Chinese media. Chen claimed that although the number of Chinese
students with such bad experiences was very small, the impact on
Chinese perceptions of New Zealand's quality of education was devastating.
Chen's coinage was adopted and further elaborated on by many Chinese
official online media, particularly the People's Daily and
the Xinhuan News Agency. The People's Daily described
the situations with Chinese students studying in New Zealand as
"shocking and horrible".5 Similarly, the Xinhua News
Agency advised Chinese parents and students to think twice before
they made their final decision to study in New Zealand:
There is a severe shortage of qualified
teachers and necessary infrastructure in New Zealand because of
the influx of international students. Educational quality is severely
watered down. In addition, many Chinese students are clustered in
language schools. In some schools all students are from China. There
is no learning environment conducive to language learning. It is
the same as in China. As a result, the disadvantages outweigh advantages
for young Chinese to study at New Zealand language schools (Huang,
2003, my translation).
From late July to mid-September 2003, the Chinese Ministry of Education
issued six warnings to the Chinese who are interested in overseas
education, two of which were related to New Zealand's educational
quality and student security. 6
The mandatory Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International
Students, including its revised edition and other relevant documents,
has been in place to protect foreign students, but the issues of
quality control should cover more than welfare (Butcher, 2002; Evans,
2003a). One of the key issues for consideration is teaching quality
which involves teacher competence, the course content, curricula,
teaching pedagogies and learning resources.
For most international students, the focus of overseas education
is their academic progress (Barron, 2002). Their needs are centred
around academic quality (Binsardi & Ekwulugo, 2003). Students'
level of satisfaction in language learning is related to students'
perception of the quality and fulfilment of students' expectations
(Walker, 2001). It is acknowledged that perception of quality, especially
academic quality, is the key factor in student choice of study destination
(Hyam, 2003). The way the quality is perceived is largely determined
by each student's learning experience (McCurdy, 2003) and the degree
of their matched expectations (Li, Baker & Marshall, 2002).
If student needs and expectations are not satisfactorily fulfilled,
or if students hold negative perceptions of the services they have
received, then the business or the industry will end up losing students
and in the end the market (Binsardi & Ekwulugo, 2003). Quality
assurance and the quality of outcomes become the benchmark of the
export education industry (Hyam, 2003). The whole industry will
suffer if quality assurance and control suffers (Asia 2000 Foundation,
2003).
Language education in New Zealand seems to have become the weakest
link in the export education industry. The educational quality in
the tertiary sector is better accepted than that of English language
schools (Evans, 2003b). Some language schools are claimed to have
done this country more disservice than service 7. There have been
calls for urgent actions to care for international students and
to safeguard the industry . 8
To the author's knowledge, there is a paucity of systematic and
empirical research that may enable the voices of Asian students,
especially Asian students in language schools, to be heard and heeded.
This pilot research is intended to explore the workings of the interplay
between New Zealand teachers and Asian students by carefully documenting
students' narratives in an attempt to identify student concerns
and to provide some insights into how Asian students have experienced
learning and how they have perceived the educational service provision
in New Zealand schools. These Asian students' views and perceptions,
however subjective, judgmental or insurgent they might be, will
enable New Zealand English language teachers to identify the gap
between their espoused teaching principles and Asian students' perceptions
of their learning experience, to critically reflect upon their teaching
practices, to become aware of the issues that are challenging them
and Asian students, to adopt appropriate teaching methods to meet
the needs of the students, and at the same time to help Asian students
to adapt to the school culture in New Zealand. |
