Teachers and students sit the same exam in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on Monday, January 14, 2008. [Photo: Shenyang Evening News]

More than 8, 000 high school teachers took part in an end-of-term exam in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on Monday, not as supervisors, but as examinees, local newspaper Shenyang Evening News reported.

The teachers, seated amongst the students, completed the same examination paper, in order to test their professional knowledge on the course they teach. If they score less than 80 points on a 100-point scale, they will be disqualified from receiving future rewards.

This was the first time the mechanism has been adopted in the city.