In the wake of the infamous case of Neil Robinson, the teacher jailed in the UK last month after being uncovered as a fugitive working at an international school in Beijing, concerns about schools’ vetting processes have never been far from the front pages.

At first glance, a story published Sunday in The Global Times (“To Catch a Predator") seems to simply rehash the issue of teacher background checks that many parents are now well-versed in.

But amidst these concerns lies a very serious allegation from an unnamed source who the paper claims to be a British teacher currently employed at an international school in Beijing:

The teacher said he found it "disgusting and astounding" when he learned some of his colleagues were in relationships with girls aged 16 to 18 at the school.

"I am certain there are teachers … who may be a danger to children. In conversation with other teachers, several relationships between teachers and sixth-form girls were mentioned, but as a new teacher … I didn’t know specifics," he said.

The article only quotes one source on this specific claim (an unnamed one at that), so beijingkids feels that the validity of the accusation should not be taken at face value. However, in an environment where it’s not unusual for teachers and older teen students to turn up in the same Sanlitun watering holes on weekends, it’s not entirely surprising to hear these charges.

Having said that, the article can also be read in the context of the largely anti-foreign agenda that emerged after the Robinson case, despite there being scant evidence that Chinese teachers have to go through the same background checks as foreigners.

Nonetheless, the issue of consensual relationships between teachers and older teens is one that has been widely ignored in the (sometimes scaremongering) debate on abuse in Beijing’s schools.

While The Global Times’ report editorializes that schools are putting “the prestige of foreign faces above students’ safety,” evidence indicates that’s not the case – indeed, criminal background checks have become routine for most foreign hires in China.

Since July 1 2013, all applying for work (Z) visas have had to provide a police clearance certificate from their home country. Having recently been through the visa process myself, I can confirm that this is well enforced.

But then it has not proven to be particularly difficult to teach in China without a work visa, as has been revealed by scandals involving schools employing teachers on tourist visas, for which no check is required.

Furthermore, an Australian report on child sex offenses provides an interesting statistic which, although not specifically related to teachers, gives food for thought – less than a quarter of child sex offenders in its study had previous convictions for sexual assault.

Background checks on teachers is something that beijingkids wholeheartedly supports, but this but one step in the process of keeping children safe. The onus is also on schools to implement close classroom monitoring and parents to remain vigilant participants, rather than distant observers, in their children’s education.

Image courtesy of Lisa Brewster (Flickr)

Neil Robinson, a former international schoolteacher in Beijing who turned himself in last spring after a flurry of media attention stemming from his appearance on the BBC’s "Crimewatch" television program, was sentenced last week to 12 years in prison in his home country for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old and possessing child pornography.

Robinson was convicted of crimes that occurred in 1999 to 2002 in the UK. Surrey Police say he fled the UK in 2002 and for much of that period he was living in Beijing, as a teacher at several area international schools.

To date there is no evidence that Robinson committed any crimes while in Beijng.

In an announcement on the Surrey (UK) Police website, Detective Inspector Becky Molyneux, from the Staines Public Protection Unit, was quoted as saying: “Robinson is a highly dangerous sexual predator who put his vulnerable young victims through what must have been horrendous ordeals and then spent the next ten years doing everything he could to escape punishment for those horrific crimes."

Robinson turned himself in to UK consular officials in Beijing last April after a series of media events. He was first profiled on the BBC’s Crimewatch in the winter of 2012, but it wasn’t until the spring that some of his former students discovered he had been profiled and began sharing the story on social media.

Beijingkids picked up the story shortly afterward, discovering that Robinson had abruptly resigned from his position at a Beijing international school and had told his former employer that he was immediately returning to the UK. The story quickly spread to other local English and Chinese media, and within 48 hours Robinson, who had been hiding in Beijing all along, turned himself in.

The story gained widespread media attention in Beiijing, resuting in calls for stricter screening of foreign teachers.

Robinson, 47, was convicted after pleading guilty to three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, one count of making an indecent video of a child and three counts of indecent assault. He was also charged with multiple counts of posessing indecent images of children.

After his time behind bars, Robinson will remain on the sex offender registry for life.

Images: Surrey Police, Facebook

In the wake of the Neil Robinson scandal and with a host of new rules governing foreigners living and working in Beijing on the way the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs has announced new measures to "better manage foreign experts (i.e. teachers) in Beijing."

According to the China Daily:

"We will … ask foreigners to sign a declaration that they do not have a criminal record, with a promise to strictly obey laws in China, before issuing them the work permit required for a working visa." Xia Bing (director of the administration’s cultural and educational experts department) said the administration will also require educational institutions and intermediary agencies that are qualified to hire foreigners to set up special posts to verify the applicants’ curriculum vitae, making full use of the Internet and information provided by child protection organizations in the applicants’ countries of origin.

A week’s worth of pre-job training for foreign teachers should also be enforced, including an introduction to laws in China, how to respond to emergencies and protect their rights, as well as characteristics of Chinese students, he said. "On top of punishment, if any malpractice or illegal behavior is found, the provincial-level foreign experts affairs administrations should report the case quickly to the public security, education or other related departments," he said.

And further down:

"Of course, criminal records and other certificates have to be checked and traced," he said. But Xia said governments around the world usually do not ask foreigners to provide official statements of unblemished criminal records unless they are applying for green cards. "It does not mean we can only count on their self-statement for a background check," he said. "I know some international schools in Beijing have made these official certificates a mandatory condition of employment. I think this is good."

However, not many schools can make such a determination in an employee’s market, especially the public schools that cannot compete with private or international schools in terms of wages. Hao Youming, principal of the Beijing Chaoyang Foreign Language School, said neither the school nor the education bureau have channels to obtain foreign teachers’ official criminal records. "The best I can do, other than carefully checking their resume, is to ask for teaching permits," she said.

Read more here.