Employment rules could trigger London school staffing crisis
17 April 2008
An impending government crackdown on the employment of teachers who are not fully qualified could trigger a staffing crisis for London schools, researchers believe.
On Tuesday, the Conservatives highlighted government figures showing that the number of unqualified, trainee and foreign teachers in English state schools had jumped from 2,940 in 1997 to 16,710 last year. Almost 11,000 of these teachers without qualified status have been trained overseas, and many of them are now working in the capital's schools.
However, overseas-trained teachers who have been teaching in English schools for four years but have not obtained qualified status will not be able to be employed as teachers after August 31.
The five-year grace period for trainee teachers who have completed their initial training course, but not passed all their skills tests -- in English, numeracy and ICT – also comes to an end on August 31. From that date, all newly-trained teachers will need to have passed the skills tests and been awarded qualified status before they can be employed as teachers in state schools.
The August 31 deadline, though generally welcomed, could have particularly serious unintended consequences for schools in the capital, say Professor Peter Earley and Sara Bubb, of the Institute of Education, London. No one knows precisely how many teachers in London are not fully qualified. However, the researchers point to the marked discrepancy between the overall size of the London teaching force and the number of qualified teachers registered with the General Teaching Council for England.
"Although there are 69,200 teachers in the capital's state schools, only 57,773 London teachers have registered with the GTCE -- and that total includes independent school teachers," they say. "That is a matter for concern because it looks as if over 11,000 teachers – a sixth of the capital's workforce - aren't registered, presumably because they aren't qualified."
Earley and Bubb also note that London schools already have twice as many teacher vacancies as the national average. "Some schools could therefore find it desperately hard to recruit enough qualified staff for September," they will tell a London Education Research Unit seminar later today.
"It is good that the employment rules are being tightened because London children need fully qualified teachers. However, the short-term consequences are worrying, if pupils are without teachers."
Notes for editors
Further information from David Budge, +44 (0)20 7911 5349, 07881 415362, d.budge@ioe.ac.uk or Helen Green, press officer, +44 (0)20 7612 6459, h.green@ioe.ac.uk.
From September 1, 2008, trainees who have completed their initial teacher training but not passed all the skills tests cannot be employed as teachers. Teachers who have not passed their skills tests by September 1, 2008 cannot subsequently be automatically reclassified as instructors. The 2003 Regulations state that an instructor can only be appointed to give instruction in any art, skill, or subject where special qualifications or experience or both are required and no suitable qualified teacher, or teacher on the employment-based teacher training scheme, is available.
2) The 2003 Regulations allow overseas-trained teachers (OTTs) to work as teachers in maintained schools and non-maintained special schools in England (other than pupil-referral units) for a period of up to four years if they have successfully completed a programme of professional training for teachers in any country outside the UK which is recognised by the competent authority in that country. From September 1, 2008 all OTTs must have qualified teacher status (QTS) in order to continue teaching beyond four years, unless they are employed as instructors. It is unlawful to continue employing OTTs without QTS after four years, including those with the right to remain in the UK.
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