UK set to recruit teachers from Zim in face of sta...

UK set to recruit teachers from Zim in face of staff shortages

Zim Now Writer

The United Kingdom is set to recruit teachers from Zimbabwe, among other foreign countries as staff shortages loom in the European country.

Foreign teachers will be offered £10 000 to work in English schools amid chronic staffing shortages, according to a report.

Ministers have begun an overseas recruitment drive following a rise in vacancies, according to The Times.

Under the new scheme, hundreds of Maths, Science and Language teachers will be recruited from countries, including India and Nigeria to plug staffing shortages.

Teaching qualifications from Ghana, India, Singapore, Jamaica, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe will also be recognised in a major change to the rules.

The Department for Education has already offered £10 000 “international relocation payments” to overseas Physics and Language teachers to cover visa and moving expenses.

Last year, the UK government missed its secondary teacher recruitment target by 40 percent with only less than a fifth (17 percent) of the required Physics teachers and just a third (34 percent) of the required Foreign Languages teachers recruited.

A report by the National Foundation for Educational Research, published in March, found that learners’ grades could be affected by shortages because head-teachers are increasingly having to resort to using non-specialist teachers “to plug gaps”.

Chief executive of the charity Global Schools Forum, Aashti Zaidi Hai, said: “The UK decision to actively recruit from several African countries could set back the education of children on a continent where 86 percent 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 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.”