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England’s teachers lured abroad

27 February 2016

By Lauren E. White

Ofsted has warned that thousands of English teachers are being lured abroad with desirable pay packages and a better quality of life.

Chief Inspector of the school watchdog, Sir Michael Wilshaw, warned that more teachers left the UK to teach than had actually trained, with 18,000 leaving and 17,000 enrolling in teacher-training schemes. Sir Michael said it was no surprise that the demand for teachers trained in the UK is soaring as in an estimated 8,000 international schools, English is the most common language used and the schools subscribe to a British-style curriculum.

While Ministers and the Department for Education have dismissed the figures and claims, they come after the government missed their teacher training recruitment target for four consecutive years. The failure to hit targets has resulted already in a nation-wide shortage of teachers in most subjects, which is predicted to become even more of a crisis.

The Ofsted Chief Inspector has claimed that elite public schools have been opening new schools abroad, resulting in an international boom. Moreover, Sir Michael said that the demand for UK-trained teachers abroad is only likely to increase as the number of international schools is predicted to almost double to over 15,000 by 2025.

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