Singaporean teachers can look forward to working in the UK

LONDON - In a bid to raise standards and ease staffing crunch, the British government plans to attract thousands of foreign teachers to England, eventually including those from Singapore.

Under the initiative, announced by Education Secretary Michael Gove on Monday, the foreign teachers will be given the same working rights that currently apply to those from the European Union (EU). Teachers from the EU can work permanently in England despite not being trained in the country, reported The Daily Telegraph.

Speaking in Parliament, Mr Gove said: "One of the aims of my department is to make sure that the most talented people are teaching our children and it is already the case that teachers from the European Economic Area can teach in our schools.

"I want to extend that freedom to teachers from the Commonwealth countries, such as Canada and New Zealand and Australia, and I hope that other Commonwealth countries like South Africa, Jamaica and Singapore can join in due course."

Research shows that teaching qualifications offered in these countries are equivalent to those in England, Mr Gove said.

Currently, foreign teachers can work in England for up to four years before being forced to take extra training. They are required to train for up to a year to achieve qualified teacher status (QTS) - the standards all English state school teachers must meet.

Almost 6,000 foreign teachers have gained QTS over the last five years. Some 22,200 teachers currently work in English schools without QTS.

In the past, teachers from Commonwealth countries have been in demand in parts of England to plug gaps in the teaching workforce.

Source: The Daily Telegraph