Teachers’ belief systems about the nature andpurposes of a phenomenon such as teaching and learninginfluence strongly how they teach and what students learnand achieve. A sample of 891 Chinese middle schoolteachers from 15 middle schools in a province in Chinaresponded to a 48-item questionnaire which explored theirconceptions of approaches to teaching. Confirmatory factoranalysis was utilised to generate a model of approaches toteaching. This model comprised five factors, namely, BeingAuthorities and Teacher-centred, Focusing on ExaminationPractices, Developing Life-long Learners, Engaging Stu-dents in Learning, Being Responsible for Teaching andHome Connections. Differences in approaches to teachingwere associated with various teacher characteristicsincluding sex, age, teacher certificate and the year levelthey taught. The results strongly indicated a reliance ontraditional Chinese teaching, but also identified somemore student-centred teaching in Chinese middle schools.Implications for teaching improvement and professionaldevelopment are discussed.

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• Teachers’ Conceptions of Approaches to Teaching: A Chinese Perspective