Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. About 3 years ago I tried to launch a teachers union in China. I was hoping it would start in Shanghai and Beijing first and then spread. Unfortunately it seems people are just here on a temporary, travel, or money basis. I guess the teachers that are here for long-term work for places like the Singapore or British International School and they have little to complain about since they get an ex-pat teachers salary.

teachers union groups:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chinateachersunion/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/efltu/

It seems because of the short-term status of most teachers (less than 18 months) in one place, there is a serious lack of solidarity and comradery. It seems people just want to get their piece of the money and everyone is for themselves.

Standardization will only come from a government standardization policy like what they did in South Korea. Which makes everything much more difficult but also more legit.

There are also corporate standardizations. I found Wall Street English (Institute) has been quite successful about this. English First attempted it in the past but failed do to having no support from their franchises, but in the areas where EF is corporate and not franchised they seem to be more standardized, although their teacher contracts have quite a low-pay rate in comparison with the 2007 market.