The head of the ASCL school leaders’ union feels “queasy” about the Government’s decision to target international teachers to solve the UK recruitment crisis, Tes reports.
Responding to a question from a Tes reporter at ASCL’s annual conference in Liverpool, which starts today, he said that taking teachers from countries that needed them didn’t “morally…feel like the right thing for us to be doing”.
Asked how ASCL feels about a government strategy which has led to a big rise in overseas applicants, Mr Barton said: “We feel queasy about it.
“We feel queasy about it, partly because we should be able to generate our own teachers as much as possible.”
Mr Barton added that while the union wants to see a “diverse workforce”, “we can have [that] with people who have come from the UK”.
The ASCL general secretary, who is set to step down next month, said that “countries which also particularly need their teachers are essentially becoming people who are sending them away”.
“I just think that morally that doesn’t feel like the right thing for us to be doing, so we have to do something to grow our own teachers better,” Mr Barton added.
The Times reported earlier this week that the number of overseas applications for initial teacher training in the UK had “doubled” due to a recruitment drive in countries such as India and Nigeria.
The Government has failed to reach its initial teacher training targets for secondary schools by 50 per cent this year with even the prestigious Teach First scheme for top graduates missing its goal by 20 per cent.
One in 12 of those accepted onto UK teacher training programmes for this autumn are from outside Europe, up from one in 18 last year, with courses increasingly reliant on foreign staff to maintain numbers after a drop in successful applications from Britain.
This weekend’s ASCL conference will see hundreds of head from across the UK gather to discuss pressing leadership issues.
Top speakers include education secretary Gillian Keegan, the new head of Ofsted Sir Martyn Oliver and shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson.