Research shows that more than a third of students training to teach modern languages in England come from overseas.

The news comes as schools face a modern languages teacher recruitment crisis, which the government is seeking to tackle with an extension of its "golden hello" cash incentive scheme.

Under the scheme, all students starting their postgraduate modern languages training this September will receive �5,000 incentives if they finish their courses and take up jobs in state schools to teach languages.

Students drip-fed cash

The amount of cash which could potentially be given in incentives to foreign students in this way is estimated at more than �2m.

This is based on figures from the Bristol-based University of the West of England (UWE) showing that 34% of students training to be modern languages teachers in England are "foreign native speakers".

Cash incentives are being offered to try to attract more trainee teachers

A more exact figure cannot yet be calculated, as final recruitment figures for PGCE courses are not known.

Each student will receive �1,250 when they start their course, a further �1,250 the following spring, and the final �2,500 when they are employed to teach modern languages in a state school.

The scheme was introduced last year to encourage more graduates to become science and maths teachers.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said this week that since the incentives had been offered an additional 37% maths student teachers had been recruited, 33% more physics teachers, and 27% more in chemistry.

French majority

The modern languages research, funded by the Teacher Training Agency, shows that in 1997-98, providers of initial teacher training in modern languages faced a 19% shortfall in recruitment.

If overseas students had not been recruited, this figure would have risen to 47% - meaning nearly half of the available places would not have been filled.

The research report reveals that more than 80% of the foreign students training to teach languages in England are female, and that French-speakers are the largest group.

The most common way they find out about teacher training courses in England is through friends or other students, as most course providers said they did not carry out much marketing targeted at foreigners.

The report also shows that 87% of them plan to look for teaching posts in the UK after finishing their training.

The researchers from UWE's faculty of education wrote to all 68 leaders of initial teacher training courses operating at the time of their study.

'Trainee salary'

Their final figures are based on data from the 43 who replied - a response rate of 63%.

Joan Whitehead, associate dean of the faculty, who carried out the research with colleague Alison Taylor, said they had been prompted to undertake the study after noticing an increase in the number of foreign native speakers enrolling on modern languages teacher training courses at their own institution.

"UWE markets its courses abroad, so we are untypical in that," she said.

Recruiting foreign native speakers was not just a way of filling a "recruitment gap" - they proved invaluable in the classroom because of their knowledge of their languages and cultures.

She added that many finance, accommodation and travel costs were serious problems for many overseas students.

While the "golden hello" would be an incentive to students from both home and abroad, a trainee salary of about �10,000 should be introduced to support them during the PGCE year, or the final year of the undergraduate teacher training course, she said.