BBC NEWSAmericasAfricaEuropeMiddle EastSouth AsiaAsia PacificArabicSpanishRussianChineseWelsh
BBCiCATEGORIES  TV  RADIO  COMMUNICATE  WHERE I LIVE  INDEX   SEARCH 

BBC NEWS
 You are in:  Education
News image
Front Page 
World 
UK 
UK Politics 
Business 
Sci/Tech 
Health 
Education 
Hot Topics 
UK Systems 
League Tables 
Features 
Entertainment 
Talking Point 
In Depth 
AudioVideo 
News image


Commonwealth Games 2002

BBC Sport

BBC Weather

SERVICES 
Friday, 5 April, 2002, 23:06 GMT 00:06 UK
Council urges teachers to return
class room
Qualified teachers are wanted back in UK classrooms
Posters urging qualified teachers travelling or working abroad to come back to the UK have been put up in holiday hostels in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Hampshire County Council, which has nearly 550 schools to staff, has adopted the strategy to address teacher shortages.

"We'll be doing this for the foreseeable future - I don't believe the teacher shortage problem will be going away for quite a few years now," said councillor Don Allen.


We're looking to get back to England - to Hampshire in particular

Councillor Don Allen
Cllr Allen said Hampshire, like many other local education authorities, was struggling to recruit enough teachers, with around 200 vacancies last month.

It was an expensive area to live, yet teachers there were not given a London allowance, he said.

"It's a high cost area and parts are very exposed, especially in the north where the county borders on Surrey.

"Now we don't have an outer London allowance, but we border on counties which do," he said.

Cllr Allen said the authority had placed advertisements in backpackers' magazines and posters in hostels.

"We're looking to get back to England - to Hampshire in particular, of course - teachers who are from the UK."

Developing countries

Schools and local education authorities which recruit from developing countries, such as Jamaica and South Africa, came under fire by teachers' unions over the Easter conference season.

Delegates accused them of "sucking dry" more needy countries.

Cllr Allen said this was a valid point and said the council had avoided doing this for those very considerations.

"It's absolutely not that - as an authority we have very much concentrated on getting back to the UK and Hampshire those who we'd expect to come back to the country."

See also:

27 Jul 01 | Education
Parents urged to consider teaching
31 Mar 02 | Education
Tests boycott call by teachers
24 Jan 02 | Education
Teacher shortage 'has worsened'
Internet links:


The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Links to more Education stories are at the foot of the page.


E-mail this story to a friend

Links to more Education stories



News imageNews image