'SA to stem flow of teachers to UK'

17/03/2009
http://www.iol.co.za/

The government could control the exodus of teachers to places such as Britain but would have to implement a protocol that enables them to do so.

This and other findings form part of the latest International Teacher Migration and the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol research paper assessing the effectiveness of the Recruitment Protocol, signed by 53 Commonwealth countries, including South Africa, in 2004.

At least half of the thousands of South African teachers who work in Britain are reluctant to return although many work in the worst schools in London, the paper shows.

The research was recently published in European Education, a quarterly journal which focuses on the latest issues in education.

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The research team surveyed 192 foreign teachers, most of them South Africans working in London.

The protocol was developed to balance the needs of developed nations to fill their chronic teacher shortages and the rights of developing nations to protect their education systems.

The government was vociferous in its attacks on Britain when thousands of teachers left to teach in London at a time when South Africa was facing its own chronic shortage, especially in maths and science teaching.

In 2005, there were 8 144 South African teachers in Britain, compared with 916 Indians and 2 065 Canadians.

Developed countries such as Britain stated in the research that teachers from developing countries were leaving their home countries because of poor pay.

South African-born researcher Guy Mulvaney said the government was not using the protocol to its advantage.

Mulvaney said the study also looked at pay as a "push factor in the migration of teachers to the UK".

On average, 70 percent of the teachers in the study indicated that pay levels at home were unsatisfactory, but 90 percent of South African teachers, compared to 60 percent of Australians, indicated they were dissatisfied with their overseas work conditions.

However, 63 percent of South African teachers in Britain indicated that poor pay had forced them to leave the country, compared to 30 percent of Australians.

"In terms of pay, South African teachers are the most disaffected teachers in the UK. The South African government's accusation that foreign agencies are luring our educators abroad is false. This longitudinal research has proven conclusively that poor pay is a key push factor in the migration of South African teachers to the UK," Mulvaney said.

Recruitment agencies are also not telling teachers of the protocol, which says that teachers cannot be made permanent without first doing a university course in Britain, and that they will be used as stand-in teachers in some of the worst schools in inner-city London.

Under the protocol, the government can limit the number of teachers who leave to work in Britain, they can decide at which point in the year teachers can leave and they can regulate the recruitment agencies, who are often not truthful about the teaching conditions in London.

Mulvaney said teaching in London, where 50 percent of stand-in teachers are South African, is extremely lucrative as teachers are paid between ?120 to ?145 (R1 560 to R2 733) a day.

He added: "There is lots of work for teachers because of shortages in geographical areas, in the tough inner-city schools where English teachers refuse to work."

According to the report, another disturbing trend is repatriation or the brain-gain cycle.

All Australian, New Zealand and Canadian teachers wanted to return home while half of South African teachers indicated a reluctance to return.

Most of the South African teachers were white Afrikaaners and 50 percent of them do not want to return home.


This article was originally published on page 10 of Sunday Argus on March 15, 2009

Australia rolls up migrant welcome mat

17/03/2009

Sydney - It will be harder to resettle in Australia after the immigrant intake was cut to protect the jobs of locals as the economy moves into recession. "We don't want people coming in who are going to compete with Australians for limited jobs," Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Monday.

He announced that the skilled migration programme would be clipped by 14 per cent, or 18,500 jobs, over the next three years. The immigrant intake, which has doubled over the past decade, will be reduced from 133,500 this year to 115,000 next year.

The cut is in response to unemployment, which is expected to move from a 30-year low to 7 per cent by next year.

"The economic circumstances in Australia have changed as a result of the global financial crisis," Evans said. "It's prudent to reduce this year's migration intake accordingly."

Monash University researcher Andrew Markus has estimated that, of the 21 million Australians, a quarter were born abroad - twice the proportion in the United States and three times that in Britain.

Britain and New Zealand are the largest source countries but almost every country is represented.

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