UK schools suffering as new teachers ‘flock abroad’, warns chief inspector
The Guardian | Sally Weale | Education | 26 February 2016
Lured by competitive salaries and a warmer climate, newly qualified teachers are heading to the Gulf, the far east and beyond, says Sir Michael Wilshaw
The staffing crisis in schools is being exacerbated by an exodus of newly qualified teachers who are “flocking abroad” to work in the rapidly growing international sector, including branches of England’s elite public schools, it has been claimed.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, who is the chief inspector of England’s schools, warns that the country is facing a “teacher brain drain” at a time when schools across the country are already struggling to fill vacancies amid rising pupil numbers.
Lured by enticing offers of competitive, tax-free salaries, free accommodation and a warmer climate, teachers are taking their hard-earned qualifications to the Gulf states, the far east and beyond, where there is growing demand for a “traditional” English education, says Wilshaw.
In turn, schools in England are increasingly having to look overseas to recruit their own staff – from countries as diverse as Jamaica, Canada, South Africa and Australia – in order to get sufficient teachers in front of classes.
In his regular monthly commentary as head of the schools watchdog, Ofsted, Wilshaw writes: “Anyone regularly perusing the job vacancy pages of the education press cannot help but notice just how many of our elite public schools are busy opening up international branches across the globe, especially in the Gulf states and the far east,” he says.
