The Managed Body and Heart: An Empirical Study on School Management and Teachers’ Emotional Labor in Chinese Counties

Abstract

County school education has a profound impact on social class upgrading in China’s rural areas, where teachers are the core actors in this field yet have not been paid enough attention. This study, through ethnography, focuses on county teachers as subjective actors who are embedded in the background of Chinese educational bureaucratic management mode and educational marketization. Under a pressure of college enrolment rates and students’ quality degrading in county high schools, the teachers are facing the situation of being managed both mentally and physically. Teachers’ mind has been highly influenced by Daily Performance, College Entrance Examination Quality Assessment and Title Evaluation Systems. Meanwhile, they have to obey the systems of Punching-in and Homework Review Registration & Supervision to maintain physical presence. However, without hope, these lead to the loss of professional passion of teachers, and teachers show a state of negative emotional labor.