Government relaxes employment restrictions on teachers from abroad

The Education Secretary Michael Gove announced plans to remove the re-training requirements for teachers from Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Canada to make it easier for schools to employ teachers from abroad.

At present, qualified teachers from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand still have to undertake further training and assessment before they are deemed ready to teach in schools in this country. However, the government plans to allow teachers trained in these countries to teach in UK schools automatically, with the same right to be extended to teachers from Commonwealth countries like South Africa, Jamaica and Singapore “in due course”.

Under the plans, which will be the subject of a consultation process later in the year, teachers with recognised qualifications held in these countries will be entitled to work in British schools as if they held Qualified Teacher Status.

The school or local authority sponsoring the teacher will have to continue to check the suitability of the teacher including their qualifications and any necessary background checks. In addition they will still have to meet existing immigration criteria set out by the UK Border Agency (UKBA).

Michael Gove told Parliament: “One of the aims of my department is to make sure that the most talented people possible are teaching our children and it is already the case that teachers from the European Economic Area can teach in our schools. “I want to extend that freedom to teachers from the Commonwealth countries such as Canada and New Zealand and Australia and the US.”

The government said that research looking at international teaching qualifications shows America, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have teacher training systems that are equivalent to those in the UK. Ministers have commissioned further research to see if the same changes could be applied to teachers from other countries in future.

The proposed changes are subject to a statutory consultation and could come into effect from early 2012.