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Discussion on the Role of “Head Teacher” 

in China’s Basic Education 

Longjun Zhou,
1,2

 Fangmei Li
3
 

1. Jiangsu Second Normal University, Nanjing 211200, Jiangsu, China. 

2. Engineering Research Center of Digital Learning Support Technology, Ministry 

of Education, Changchun 130000, Jilin, China. 

3. China Tao Xingzhi Research Association Wisdom Education Research Institute, 

and Nanjing Dianji Institute of Psychological Education, Nanjing 210000, 

Jiangsu, China 

 

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must 

apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” –Leonardo da Vinci 

ROM the perspective of the development of education, the initial reason 

for the emergence of schools is to enable students to master specific 

knowledge and skills required by society. In this process, it is inevitable to 

undertake the task of cultivating students’ ideology and morality. Before the 

18th century, due to the relatively low level of social development and edu-

cation, the two functions of “teaching” and “educating” were often inter-

twined in the education process. 

After the British bourgeois industrial revolution in the 18th century, ed-

ucation began to pursue the ability to train the talents needed for large-scale 

machine production on a large scale and with high efficiency. All capitalist 

countries have established modern school education systems one after anoth-

er. Scientific knowledge is developing daily, and subject teaching is gradual-

ly taking shape (Silver, 2013). The refinement and scientific requirement of 

modern school teaching content intensified the division and contradiction be-

tween teaching and educating people. Teaching and management have in-

creasingly evolved into two independent and professional activities. By the 

end of the 19th century, influenced by the Herbart School’s ideas and others, 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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F 



 

BECE, Vol.7, No.2, 2021 944 

people “divided the school’s internal educational activities into four func-

tional aspects: teaching, training, conservation and management” (Herbat, 

1806). At this time, there are two functional systems in ordinary schools: one 

was the “work system” divided by disciplines, that is, the teaching system; 

the other was the student management, education, and guidance system, 

which can also be called the management training system The independence 

of the student management and training system has prompted the emergence 

of work arrangements and positions in schools with functions such as man-

agement, guidance, and education as individual goals (Silver, 2013). 

Take China as an example. In 1903, the school set up a “supervisor” re-

sponsible for students’ character education. Later it was renamed “Adminis-

trator” and “Director Teacher.” After 1938, the person responsible for man-

aging a class in the school was renamed “Class Tutor.” After the founding of 

China, under the influence of the former Soviet Union’s head teacher system, 

the original elementary and middle school teachers and mentors were all 

changed to “head teacher” (Chen, 2007). 

At present, elementary and middle schools in various countries have 

particular management positions for students. However, there are differences 

in their specific work objects or scope of work. In the United States, most el-

ementary schools implement the head teacher “package system.” The pack-

age teacher is responsible for the students’ daily management, education, and 

guidance and responsible for the teaching of all subjects in a class. Usually, 

the teacher’s office is the classroom where the students attend classes. All 

students’ teaching activities are carried out in a classroom. Therefore, the 

student management, guidance, and education functions at the elementary 

school stage are basically undertaken by the package teacher. 

In American middle schools, exceptionally comprehensive high schools, 

the schools implement the “selection system” in the curriculum and the 

“credit system” in the school system. Therefore, students do not have a fixed 

class, so the head teacher responsible for student management and guidance 

is not specified, but a counselor
1
, homeroom teacher

2
, dean, and the students 

themselves and social forces. Separate implementation and joint responsibil-

ity (Hammerness, 2011). 

In the French school system, “teaching” and “educating” are two sepa-

rate functions, and the inspector is an exceptional collaborator in ordinary 

French secondary schools. The school inspector’s activities are basically to 

supervise and inspect students’ behavior inside and outside the school and 

maintain school discipline. Due to the increasingly severe educational prob-

lems in schools, French elementary and middle schools have replaced the 

“supervisors” administrators — education consultants. Educational consult-

ants focus on students’ management and guidance and act as an inspiration 

and advocate (Belinda, 2013). 

In China, the elementary and middle school head teacher system is a 

characteristic and essential part of national basic education. After 1949, to 

adapt to the needs of social development and accelerate the training of new 

generations needed for social development, based on learning the experience 



 

BECE, Vol.7, No.2, 2021 945 

of the Soviet Union, elementary and middle schools in China generally im-

plemented the head teacher system. They promulgated the “Interim Middle 

Schools Regulations (Draft)” in 1952. The “Draft” clearly stipulates that 

“each class of the middle school has one head teacher, who the principal se-

lects from among the teachers in each class. Under the leadership of the dean, 

he is responsible for contacting the teachers in the class, referring to the life 

and study of the students...”. Since then, the head teacher system and the 

head teacher’s basic responsibilities have been formally determined in China. 

Later, in 1979, the “Requirements on the Work of Head Teachers” was is-

sued to clarify further the scope of duties of the head teacher’s work and the 

specific requirements for self-construction (Xu, 1989). 

In 2009, in response to head teachers’ responsibilities and tasks, the 

Ministry of Education issued the “Work Regulations for Elementary and 

Middle School Head Teachers” (Ministry of Education of China, 2009). Ac-

cording to the “Regulations,” each elementary and middle school class 

should be equipped with a head teacher. The head teacher is selected and 

hired by the school from the class teachers, and its job responsibilities should 

include the following aspects: 

(i) First, get a comprehensive understanding of every student in the class 

and deeply analyze the students’ thinking, psychology, study, and living 

conditions. Care for all students, treat every student equally and respect 

student personality. Adopt various ways to communicate with students, 

carry out targeted ideological and moral education, and promote the 

comprehensive development of students’ morality, intelligence, and 

physical beauty. 

(ii) Carefully maintain the class’ daily management and the class’ order, 

cultivate students’ sense of rules, sense of responsibility, and sense of 

collective honor, and create a collaborative atmosphere of democracy, 

harmony, solidarity, and mutual assistance a healthy and progressive 

atmosphere. 

(iii) Organize and guide various class activities such as class meetings, team 

meetings (days), cultural and sports entertainment, social practice, 

spring (autumn) tours, etc. Pay attention to mobilizing students’ enthu-

siasm and initiative and do an excellent job in safety protection. 

(iv) Organize students’ comprehensive quality evaluation work, guide stu-

dents to carefully record growth records, realistically evaluate student 

conduct, and make recommendations for rewards and punishments to 

the school. 

(v) Frequently communicate with teachers and other faculty and staff, ac-

tively contact students’ parents and the communities where students live 

and strive to form an educational synergy. 

It can be seen that, compared with European and American schools in 

class, students are scattered among the schools, living in individual forms or 

temporary classroom organizations. Chinese elementary and middle schools 

live in schools as ‘classes.’ Classes are a teaching community and a living 

community and administrative management unit. This allows Chinese classes 



 

BECE, Vol.7, No.2, 2021 946 

to carry a unique educational advantage in educating people, and it also 

makes head teacher positions in China irreplaceable (Xiong & Sun, 2017). 

Compared to one post in other countries, head teachers in China may hold 

multiple posts. It is necessary to reflect teaching and educating people 

through teaching work, reflect management and education through class or-

ganization and management, and reflect service and education in students’ 

development and service. Also, many excellent head teachers carry the vital 

mission of “leading parents to assist education.” They assume Western coun-

tries’ responsibility to guide parent educators’ identity from the national sys-

tem level (Wang, 2019). 

The particularity of head teachers’ duties and labor in China determines 

that teachers engaged in head teacher work should have strong professional 

qualities, such as excellent teaching ability, class management ability, moral 

reflection ability, and spiritual care ability. Among the many professional lit-

eracy requirements, strong teaching ability has become the primary criterion 

for head teacher positions. Especially influenced by the traditional teaching 

ideology of “integration of training and education” and examination-oriented 

education, class teachers are mostly core subject teachers. More schools and 

parents believe that the core subject teacher
3
 has extended contact with stu-

dents and can have more time to understand students effectively and coordi-

nate the education work of teachers and parents of students (Shi, 2021). 

With the advancement of quality education in China, especially in 2019, 

the State Council promulgated the “Opinions of the Central State Council on 

Deepening Education and Teaching Reform and Comprehensively Improv-

ing the Quality of Compulsory Education.” It must comprehensively develop 

quality education, focusing on academic instruction, moral education, physi-

cal education, aesthetic education, and labor education. More and more 

schools have begun to use non-core subject teachers as head teachers. How-

ever, the school’s innovation has not been recognized by all parents, and 

even some parents have distrust and opposition to the entire teaching work 

because the associate teacher is the head teacher. The debate about who is the 

head teacher has intensified in China, but the academic community has not 

given sufficient evidence. 

Using evidence as the basis for selecting and improving programs can 

promote education innovation, evaluation, and gradual improvement (Slavin 

et al., 2021). In this issue of the journal, Bai et al. (2021) discussed whether a 

physical education teacher’s head teacher will adversely affect student per-

formance. They use a combination of rigorous experimental research and 

qualitative research to evaluate the effect of physical education teachers as 

head teachers. In the research method, this article summarizes previous re-

search shortcomings that only experience but not evidence. While responding 

to social concerns provide a scientific basis for optimizing head teacher staff-

ing and improving class management in China. 

 

 

 



 

BECE, Vol.7, No.2, 2021 947 

Notes 

1. In American middle schools, tutors are full-time teachers between teachers and ad-

ministrators. They do not teach classes, but their work is precise and specialized, 

with fixed objects and work scope. 

2. Homeroom teacher: Some high schools in the United States have arranged “home-

room” in the students’ curriculum. The family room gathers the students enrolled in 

the same grade to facilitate some student management activities. 

3. Affected by China’s examination system, in basic education courses, examination 

subjects are called core subjects, and subjects that do not take examinations are 

called non-core subjects. Generally speaking, the core subjects include Chinese, 

mathematics, English, politics, history, physics, biology, geography, and chemistry. 

Non-core subjects include music, art, sports, etc. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Correspondence to:  

Longjun Zhou, Ph.D. 
Jiangsu Second Normal University, China 

Email: 294437034@qq.com 

 
Conflict of Interests: None. 

Doi: 10.15354/bece.21.co005 

 

https://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTotal-YJSY201705014.htm
https://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTotal-YJSY201705014.htm
https://www.cnki.com.cn/Article/CJFDTotal-DJXK198904008.htm

