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‘We’ve Done Our Bit’: Post-COVID Experiences of Precarious Privilege Among Western International School Teachers in Shanghai

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Poole

    (The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

  • Daniel Nehring

    (Swansea University, UK)

Abstract

In this article, we consider how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected migration experiences and decisions among transnationally mobile Western international school teachers in China. International school teachers are among the most numerous groups of Western ‘expats’ in the country, arriving from the beginning of China’s ‘Reform period’. Drawing on exploratory interviews with international school teachers, we examine experiences of precarious privilege against the backdrop of COVID-19 lockdowns. We analyse our participants’ decisions about onward migration or permanence in China. In spite of evidence showing erosion of privilege during the pandemic, international school teachers remain largely insulated from its impact due to the privileged nature of their employment. Of greater significance was the impact of the Shanghai lockdown on the participants’ mobility and emotions, which proved the catalyst for two of the three participants to return to the UK.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Poole & Daniel Nehring, 2025. "‘We’ve Done Our Bit’: Post-COVID Experiences of Precarious Privilege Among Western International School Teachers in Shanghai," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 30(3), pages 594-610, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:30:y:2025:i:3:p:594-610
    DOI: 10.1177/13607804241277430
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexandra Ridgway & Kate Lowe, 2022. "Looking Within: A Call for Greater Reflexivity in Expatriate Research," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(4), pages 1077-1093, December.
    2. Lucy Bailey, 2021. "International school teachers: precarity during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Global Mobility, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(1), pages 31-43, February.
    3. Tristan Bunnell, 2017. "Teachers in international schools: a neglected “middling actor” in expatriation," Journal of Global Mobility, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 194-202, June.
    4. Frank Bickenbach & Wan-Hsin Liu, 2022. "Goodbye China: What Do Fewer Foreigners Mean for Multinationals and the Chinese Economy?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 57(5), pages 306-312, September.
    5. Benjamin H. Nam & Alexander S. English, 2022. "Trauma-Informed Care: A Transcendental Phenomenology of the Experiences of International Faculty during the Delta and Omicron Variant Outbreaks in East China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-18, September.
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