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More UK teachers opt to take their talents abroad

 
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 10:58 pm    Post subject: More UK teachers opt to take their talents abroad Reply with quote

Flee, teachers! Flee! Laughing

British teachers flee abroad
By Matt Salusbury, ELGazette | 2016 May
Source: http://www.elgazette.com/

Data from the International School Consultancy (ISC) shows that in 2014–15 more school teachers left the UK to teach in international schools abroad than qualified as state school teachers via the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) route. As Schools Week magazine put it, there were around 100,000 full-time teachers from the UK in English-medium education in that year, compared to 82,000 UK nationals teaching in international schools the previous year, so 18,000 school teachers must have left the UK to teach in international schools abroad.

This figure of 18,000 is greater than the total number of postgraduates who gained Qualified Teaching Status (QTS), which allows them to teach in UK state schools – there were 17,001 of these in academic year 2013–14, some receiving state bursaries towards the cost of their PGCE.

England’s chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, went so far as to warn of a ‘teacher “brain drain” from this country just when the supply issue is reaching situation critical’. He was quoted by BBC News in February as saying recruiting agents were actively luring British teachers overseas with ‘enticing offers of competitive, usually tax-free salaries, free accommodation and often the prospect of working in warmer, sunnier climes – at what cost to our own state education system?’

Schools Week commented that the phenomenon ‘may be fueling a teacher recruitment crisis’ in the UK state sector, with England’s Department for Education (DfE) recently launching a scheme to attract state school teachers from other EU countries and possibly from Singapore and China.

Why are so many of the UK’s qualified state school teachers going abroad? The meteoric rise of the international schools sector means there are a lot more teaching posts to fill than there used to be. ISC Research data estimates that there are around 8,000 international schools worldwide, the vast majority of them English medium. Some 41 per cent of international schools ‘used a UK-based curriculum’, according to ISC’s media relations officer Anne Keeling.

ISC Research data from April indicated that as of January 2016 there were just over 383,000 international school full-time teaching staff around the world, teaching a total of around 4.2 million international school students globally – up from 2.75 million in 2010.

The popularity of the British-style curriculum at international schools creates a huge demand for teachers familiar with it: ‘It is why British teachers are so popular in international schools,’ according to Keeling.

ISC Research collects data for ‘premium’ international schools – prestigious accredited schools with a strong presence in the market that are members of a recognised association. Less highly regarded international schools not in the sample will have fewer British teachers and more teachers – from south Asia and the Philippines, for example.

The nationality mix among the expatriate international school teacher community varies considerably from country to country. Around 48 per cent of all full-time teaching staff in premium international schools in Qatar are from the UK, with just under a quarter of international school teachers from North America (Canada and the US). About the same proportion of the premium international school teaching body in the United Arab Emirates are UK nationals as in Qatar (47 per cent in the UAE), with just 13 per cent from North America. In Saudi Arabia there are only slightly more British international school teachers than North Americans in the sector (24 per cent from the UK, 23 per cent from the US).

While international schools still mainly cater for the children of expatriates, the recent explosion of the sector is predominantly down to relatively affluent non-native-speaker parents sending their children to the local English-medium international school for the first time. ISC Research predicts that this figure will rise to just under quarter of a million by 2012. Demand is particularly high in the UAE, with ISC Research predicting that the country will need 14,000 more expatriate teachers within the next five years.

What makes teaching in international schools abroad so attractive for British teachers with QTS? There is the ‘constant sunshine’ described by primary school teacher Janet Berg, who was interviewed by ISC Research for a Telegraph article. Says Janet, ‘Because of my salary and lifestyle, I’m able to bring my family over to Doha for the holidays.’ While life, especially for women, is more restricted in many Gulf countries than back in the UK, ‘weekend trips to Dubai and many other countries such as Sri Lanka are within easy reach’, according to Berg.

Opportunities for career development with an eye on an eventual return to the UK can be as important as the money. Ian Robertson, a maths teacher from Scotland working in China, cited the fast career progression in China’s international schools sector – he arrived to teach in Harrow International School, Beijing in 2012 and will shortly take up his post as its head of maths. Supported by experienced and motivated colleagues from around the world, ‘I’ll be a far stronger teacher than when I left.’

Sarah Curran, a primary school headteacher from Wales, said of her current job as head of the early years department at the British International School Ho Chi Minh City: ‘The quality of teaching here inspires me. I’m definitely becoming a better early years teacher by working here.’ Robert and Sarah Graves, working at an international school in Qatar, cited ‘the accelerated progress we’ve had in our careers’. Keeling says that the Graves family now doubt whether they’ll ever return to the UK.

What about the ‘push factors’ putting state school teachers off a career in the UK? Some cite less motivated students and discipline issues in Britain’s ‘bog standard’ comprehensives, rising accommodation costs or the weather. But it was noticeable from comments by teachers posted in response to Schools Week’s story that it wasn’t British kids driving teachers abroad, it was the UK state school sector’s constantly shifting regime of form-filling and bureaucracy – and as one teacher put it, ‘the meetings’.

However, while there’s growing demand for teachers with experience of the national curriculum at international schools, UK teachers with QTS are likely to face stiffer competition for jobs. Sharon Mohan, senior international recruitment consultant at Gabbitas Education said, ‘We had over 400 applicants for a small range of vacancies we were recruiting for recently – for just one school’ in the Gulf. Mohan predicts staff recruitment and retention will be among the biggest challenges for international schools in the years to come.

(End of article)
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slapntickle



Joined: 07 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 1:01 am    Post subject: Re: More UK teachers opt to take their talents abroad Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:
Keeling says that the Graves family now doubt whether they’ll ever return to the UK.


It's not only teachers that feel this way, but doctors and nurses too. In fact, anyone who is educated and has any ambition will hop onto a boat and leave a sinking Britain behind. The crux of the matter is that the money and lifestyles are better overseas, so whether to move or not is a no-brainer. The UK used to pride itself on its educated workforce, but now it seems to celebrate the unskilled migrants that work cheap and bring down wage levels for locals:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11435529/Britains-brightest-leaving-in-brain-drain-and-replaced-with-low-skilled-migrants.html
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 3:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Demand is particularly high in the UAE, with ISC Research predicting that the country will need 14,000 more expatriate teachers within the next five years.

By the way, the tiny UAE holds the distinction of having the most English-medium international schools worldwide --- 511 total, followed by China with 480, Pakistan at 439, and India with 411.
(Source: ArabianBusiness.com)

Quote:
England’s chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, went so far as to warn of a ‘teacher “brain drain” from this country just when the supply issue is reaching situation critical’. He was quoted by BBC News in February as saying recruiting agents were actively luring British teachers overseas with ‘enticing offers of competitive, usually tax-free salaries, free accommodation and often the prospect of working in warmer, sunnier climes – at what cost to our own state education system?’

A similar dilemma occurred years ago when US hospitals aggressively recruited Filipino and Nigerian nurses to alleviate a growing healthcare industry. It caused a major shortage of healthcare workers in both the Philippines and Nigeria, which couldn't compete with the salaries and benefits offered in the US.

In the case of UK teachers who stay put, in theory, there should be more teaching opportunities available to them as a result of the void left by those who headed abroad. Is this a win-win for local job seekers and schools? Or is it somewhat of a win-lose or lose-lose outcome?
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MI6agent



Joined: 16 Apr 2016
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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 8:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:

In the case of UK teachers who stay put, in theory, there should be more teaching opportunities available to them as a result of the void left by those who headed abroad. Is this a win-win for local job seekers and schools? Or is it somewhat of a win-lose or lose-lose outcome?

Well, it is:
win-win for job seekers
win-lose for those who headed abroad
lose-lose for the UK government.

"Hundreds of thousands of jobs are lying unfilled across the UK, as shortages of skilled labour in certain sectors takes hold.
Employers are struggling to fill posts for engineers, nurses, developers, teachers and chefs, vacancy data for April from Adzuna's website reveals.
At the last count, 40 out of 56 cities see more jobs than job-seekers, but the number of posts for manufacturing, retail and logistics and warehouse roles has fallen in recent months.

TEACHERS
As a rough estimate, there were 40,692 teaching posts advertised last month, with an average annual salary of £29,571.

In July last year, the Government, using data from November 2014, said there were 1,030 vacancies for full-time permanent teachers in state-funded schools, a rate of 0.3 per cent. This is 280 vacant posts more than in November 2013 (when the vacancy rate was 0.2 per cent).

According to the National Audit Office, 'teacher shortages are growing', with the Government missing its recruitment forecasts for the last four years.
The Government spends £700million a year on recruiting and training new teachers, the NAO said.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3592534/Britain-s-demand-jobs-revealed-pay.html
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currentaffairs



Joined: 22 Aug 2012
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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Something radical is needed to try to retain more teachers. Some suggestions:

1. NQTs should teach a max of 16 hours per week.

2. Class teachers should teach a max of 18 hours per week.

3. Relax the requirements and stipulations in Key Stage 3 and make it more teacher driven (rather than jumping through Key Stage hoops all the time which can all be done for the GCSE courses in Key Stage 4).

4. Have periods in the day set aside for admin or marking (in France, class teachers have a far more flexible timetable with mornings off and teachers coming in at different times of the day).

5. Revolutionise the IT impact on schooling and have self assessment tests and exercises running online and decrease the amount of marking that teachers need to do (especially as class sizes go up).
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MI6agent



Joined: 16 Apr 2016
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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What about the salary of the school teachers?
Are they ok?
Don't you want an increase in their salary for their hard work?
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currentaffairs



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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2016 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

With the philosophy of austerity they soon won't be providing board markers never mind an increase in salary.
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slapntickle



Joined: 07 Sep 2010
Posts: 270

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

currentaffairs wrote:
With the philosophy of austerity they soon won't be providing board markers never mind an increase in salary.


On some presessionals, markers are useless because there is no whiteboard available to use them on.
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nomad soul



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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MI6agent wrote:
As a rough estimate, there were 40,692 teaching posts advertised last month, with an average annual salary of £29,571.

The average teacher salary in the US is around $53,200 (£36,500). There have been a few British posters inquiring on the North America forum about teaching licensure and opportunities in the US. Perhaps they're drawn to the salaries and easier licensure process.
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MI6agent



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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 1:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:
The average teacher salary in the US is around $53,200 (£36,500). There have been a few British posters inquiring on the North America forum about teaching licensure and opportunities in the US. Perhaps they're drawn to the salaries and easier licensure process.

Is the above US salary before or after tax?
Also, is the health service provided free, or the teacher has to pay for it?
Just curious to compare other factors in the equation of the salary?

I prefer the UK salary with full health coverage from the NHS (yes it is free for me!) , then dying in the streets of New York or Washington without any free health insurance! Laughing
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nomad soul



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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MI6agent wrote:
Is the above US salary before or after tax?
Also, is the health service provided free, or the teacher has to pay for it?
Just curious to compare other factors in the equation of the salary?

I prefer the UK salary with full health coverage from the NHS (yes it is free for me!) , then dying in the streets of New York or Washington without any free health insurance! Laughing

Uh... the US is way more than just NY and Washington DC; the country is made up of 50 states, each with its own administrative jurisdiction, history, cost of living, personality, yada yada. And while US public school teachers generally pay a small monthly premium for their medical insurance, they can choose from several insurance packages.

But this discussion thread is about your fellow countrymen and women heading abroad to British-curriculum international schools in non-Anglophone countries. Apparently, you're satisfied with your UK teaching salary and benefits.
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