UK Offers £10k To Foreign Teachers Amid Staff Shortages
The United Kingdom is offering £10 000 to foreign teachers to work in English schools at a time of chronic staffing shortages, according to a report in The Times.
Hundreds of maths, science, and language teachers will be recruited from countries such as India and Nigeria to address the rise in vacancies.
Last year, the UK government missed its secondary teacher recruitment target by 40%, with less than a fifth of required physics teachers and just a third of required foreign language teachers recruited.
The Department for Education (DfE) has already offered £10 000 “international relocation payments” to overseas physics and language teachers to cover visa and moving expenses. The Department for Education said:
In March we launched a one-year trial offering no more than 400 of the very best teachers from around the world the opportunity to teach in our schools.
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This is one of many options we are exploring to ensure there is an excellent teacher for every child.
The scheme will also change rules to more easily recognise teaching qualifications from Ghana, India, Singapore, Jamaica, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
However, the move has been criticised by some who warn that it could set back the education of children in countries in Africa where education is already facing significant challenges.
Aashti Zaidi Hai, chief executive of the charity Global Schools Forum, told The Times:
The UK decision to actively recruit from several African countries could set back the education of children on a continent where 86 per cent are unable to read a simple text by the age of ten.”
It comes amid growing tension in the Cabinet over immigration, with figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday showing that net migration hit a record of 606,000 last year.
The Department for Education said: “In March we launched a one-year trial offering no more than 400 of the very best teachers from around the world the opportunity to teach in our schools.
This is one of many options we are exploring to ensure there is an excellent teacher for every child.
In December 2022, the British government announced that starting from February 2023, teachers from Zimbabwe would be eligible to apply for qualified teacher status in England. This means that Zimbabwe-trained teachers can apply to work in English schools.
The British government has made changes to its guidance to allow qualified teachers from certain countries to apply for QTS and work in England. To teach in England, teachers will also need the correct visa or status, teaching skills and experience, and pass criminal and professional safeguarding checks organized by their employer.
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