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‘UK govt. after foreign teachers over school crisis’

Saturday, 05 September 2015 2:12 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 05 September 2015 2:12 PM ]

A teacher crisis in the UK is leaving certain school subjects understaffed. (file photo)

The British government is planning to recruit foreign teachers in an attempt to deal with understaffed school subjects.

Schools are struggling to employ teachers for understaffed subjects such as maths and physics, according to the British daily, the Express.

The news comes in the wake of the government missing its recruitment target for trainee teachers of the subjects and as two London academies hired 66 Jamaican teachers to cope with shortages.

Teaching unions gave cautious welcome to the move to increase staff numbers, but said it was an "overdue" response and acted as "just a sticking plaster."

According to the ATL union boss, Mary Bousted, "Until the Government recognizes that teachers' pay is too low and the impact of constant Government-induced policy changes, and does something to improve working conditions, teachers will continue to hemorrhage from our schools."

The government is set to put £67million into a package to attract 2,500 maths and physics teachers, the report added.

The shortage of teachers translates into fewer subjects in larger classes by less qualified people, as recent figures showed.

The figures revealed a couple of weeks ago suggest there will be a 10% shortfall in trainees starting next month. It will be the third year in a row that the government has failed to hit the targets in its teacher supply model.

Data shows a 57% recruitment shortfall in trainee design and technology teachers and a 37% shortfall in religious education teachers. For music teachers the shortfall is 25%, the same as for geography, while for teachers in the key subjects of English and maths the shortfall is 12% and 11% respectively.

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