Wednesday briefing: Why the UK is looking abroad to solve its teaching shortage
Good morning.
There is no shortage of horror stories from those who work in British schools. Teachers are grappling with dwindling resources, expanding work loads and meagre pay.
With this in mind, it should be no surprise that schools are struggling to recruit and retain staff. Last year, according to an analysis by the National Education Union (NEU) and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), the government in England missed recruitment targets by 48%. Even subjects like English, historically a discipline with plenty of trainees, are for the first time ever struggling to recruit. The problem is compounded by the fact that more teachers than ever are leaving the profession or retiring. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 40,000 teachers resigned from state schools – almost 9% of the teaching workforce – and a further 4,000 retired.
It seems that no number of inspirational adverts by the Department for Education can reverse this trend. The government’s response to the shortage has been to export the problem by recruiting teachers and trainees from other countries, especially Jamaica, to work in British schools. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, has described the plan as “at best a short-term sticking plaster for a handful of schools”.
For today’s newsletter, I spoke with Guardian education editor Richard Adams about what this new overseas recruitment trend reveals about a crisis in teaching. That’s right after the headlines.
Five big stories
Israel-Gaza war | The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza seems likely to worsen after charities announced they were suspending operations in the territory in the aftermath of an Israeli drone attack which repeatedly targeted a clearly identified convoy of international aid workers, killing seven. Rishi Sunak has called for an urgent investigation into the deaths of the three British aid workers who were among the dead.
Taiwan | A 7.7 magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit Taiwan in 25 years, has killed four and injured at least 50, causing building collapses, power outages and landslides on the island, and sparking initial tsunami warnings in southern Japan and the Philippines.
Water industry | Workers in the water industry say they have been physically assaulted and feel unsafe working alone for fear of attack amid a public backlash over sewage dumping. More than one in three UK water employees have been verbally abused at work, according to a survey of almost 1,300 staff conducted by the GMB union.
Ofsted | Ofsted’s former chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, has refused to concede that her organisation made errors in its handling of the inspection that contributed to the death of the headteacher Ruth Perry.
Levelling up | Councils have called for an independent review of Boris Johnson’s levelling up policy, as local authorities count the cost of years of hype, disappointment, bureaucratic delay and “begging bowl” culture.
In depth: ‘Many teachers leave for lower-paying jobs – it’s not just the money’
The government using migration to plug gaps in the workforce is not unique to teaching. The NHS, social care and agriculture are all sectors that have been actively recruiting foreign workers – the numbers for teaching are comparatively small. Last year, 1,100 work visas were issued to qualified secondary school teachers, twice as many as the previous year and well above the 205 issued in 2021. But, this could just be the start, Richard says.
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The causes behind the crisis
Teaching as a profession has become less attractive for a host of reasons. Though many point to the more general problems that plague the public sector like low wages and poor working conditions, the story is a bit more complex than that.
“Many teachers leave for lower-paying jobs, so that tells you it’s not just the money,” Richard says. The workload has become one of the biggest issues for teachers. At 53 hours a week, teachers work more than the average adult in the UK. One leaked study found that a quarter of teachers were working 12-hour days and another found that two in five teaching staff in the UK worked 26 hours for free each week, or 5.5m hours a year combined. Unions have also flagged the creeping problem of technology, with teachers complaining that apps and emails have created an “unreasonable expectation” that they will always be available.
Another issue that regularly features in teachers surveys is bad behaviour. “I think that’s one of the things that people outside schools have real difficulty understanding or appreciating because it’s so difficult to quantify,” Richard says. And it’s not just poor behaviour from students, it’s also parents and management that is making life increasingly difficult for teachers.
Teaching is also slightly out of step with the modern world of work which tends towards a more flexible working environment. Young teachers are watching their peers, who have graduated into a workforce where working from home and flexibility are the norm, while they remain in rigid working environments.
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The tactics to recruit
So with all these issues, how has the government reacted? Schools in England have been deploying an “aggressive’’ recruitment drive, using advertising, seminars and directly approaching teachers in Jamaica, and even using people there to spread the news. The new addition is that ministers in England are now also offering a £10,000 international relocation payment for qualified teachers and graduates who specialise in physics and foreign languages to come and train here as teachers. “The government is filling spaces in teacher training courses in England with people from overseas which is interesting considering the government’s rhetoric around migration is that it is too high,” Richard says.
And it’s not just the government, one of the country’s leading academy trusts, the Harris Federation, has been recruiting teachers from Jamaica for five years, flying their staff out to recruit specialist teachers directly. Sir Dan Moynihan, the CEO of the trust, has said the recruitment crisis means schools “have to be creative” to find high quality teachers.
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The fallout for Jamaica
Jamaica has long experienced a high flow of emigration, and the outflow of teachers has been a particular problem for the island nation for years. In the past, the US was the primary recruiter and beneficiary of the outflow but the large number of high quality teaching training institutions and the fact that it is an English-speaking country has attracted the attention of the British government and other wealthy nations who have turned to poorer countries to fix their staffing problems.
Predictably, this has led to substantial brain drain: “They’re losing lots of young graduates and are having real troubles filling vacancies. Schools are having to cut top courses because they can’t find qualified teachers, they’re sharing teachers with other schools, they’re livestreaming classes to other schools and the government has recently changed the rules so that retired teachers can come back and work in the classroom and not lose their pensions,” Richard says.
The teacher shortage is not a uniquely British problem, though it is particularly bad here. There is currently an international shortage of teachers – 44 million more teachers are needed globally if education is to be provided to every child, according to new figures from Unesco. The problem will not be solved by shuffling the few teachers around to plug gaps as they appear.
What else we’ve been reading
It’s hard to believe it was only 30 years ago that the last man imprisoned for being gay in the UK was released from military prison, but in a fascinating interview Chris Godfrey discovers that David Bonney (pictured above) is still suffering as a result of his treatment by the RAF. Toby Moses, head of newsletters
Archie has written a cracking analysis of Keir Starmer’s attempts at courting the rightwing press despite its dwindling relevance on the publics voting habits. “The problem is not that Starmer is doing a bad job of putting himself on the right side of the dividing lines drawn by his longstanding antagonists – the problem is that he does not appear that interested in drawing them himself,” he concludes. Nimo
Over the bank holiday weekend a massive cyber-attack was narrowly avoided thanks to pure luck. In the latest TechScape (sign up here!) Alex Hern looks at how it happened and the risks of relying on the free software that underpins much of the internet. Toby
New York is notorious for its cramped real estate so these residents decided that instead of paying the hefty price tag for a bigger home, they would DIY their tiny closet spaces into everything from recording booths to a children’s nursery. The sneak peak into people’s creative workarounds for New York magazine (£) is a pretty depressing insight into how the bad housing crisis continues to be in the big apple. Nimo
What happened to Coronation Street? Tom Ambrose speaks to fans and former cast members about where it’s all gone wrong for the British institution. Toby
Sport
Football | Nottingham Forest’s best opening 45 minutes of the season proved sufficient for the team to climb three points clear of the relegation zone, with a 3-1 win over Fulham. An 88th-minute penalty was enough for Everton to secure a 1-1 draw with Newcastle, while early goals left West Ham and Spurs locked at 1-1 for most of their London stadium match.
Football | Manchester United defender Raphaël Varane has said concussions have damaged his body as he stressed the importance of creating more awareness among players around the dangers of heading. “My seven-year-old son plays football and I advise him not to head the ball,” Varane told L’Equipe. “Even if it doesn’t cause any immediate trauma, we know that in the long term, repeated shocks can have harmful effects. Personally, I don’t know if I’ll live to be 100, but I do know that I’ve damaged my body.”
Rugby union | Sam Whitelock, the most capped player in All Blacks history, will retire from professional rugby at the end of the season, the 35-year-old lock said on Tuesday. Whitelock played 153 test matches since his international debut in 2010 and was part of the All Blacks sides that won the World Cup in 2011 and 2015.
The front pages
The Israeli strike on aid workers in Gaza dominates the front pages on Wednesday. The Guardian leads with “Charities halt Gaza aid after drone attack kills seven staff”. The Times says “Outcry at aid worker deaths” while the Mirror’s front page reads “Killed trying to feed starving kids”.
The Telegraph says “PM demands answers after Israel air strike kills Britons”, while the i takes a similar line with “UK demands answers after Israeli strike kills seven aid workers”. The Mail reports “Three UK forces veterans killed by Israeli strike”. The Sun says “SBS hero killed in Gaza air strike”.
Finally, the Financial Times has “Tesla and BYD’s falling car sales stoke sceptacism over speed of electric shift”.
Today in Focus
Israel divided: Netanyahu’s coalition crisis
A cabinet split over military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and large street protests demanding the release of hostages are threatening the prime minister’s grip on power. Bethan McKernan reports from Jerusalem.
Cartoon of the day | Martin Rowson
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
The Guardian’s environment team have unveiled a new prize – invertebrate of the year – to highlight the underloved but vital creatures we take for granted. With a shortlist of 10 humble animals from the swallowtail butterfly to the barrel jellyfish, the award celebrates “animals of wondrous diversity, unique niches and innovative and interesting ways of making a living on this planet,” writes Patrick Barkham in his introduction to the series.
So which of our 1.3 million species of “spineless hero” will win: the glowworm? The minotaur beetle? Rishi Sunak? Stay tuned to find out.
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
