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Bad Policy and Poor Pay Levels Fuel Teacher Migration
By Guy Mulvaney.
NEW research indicates that almost all Commonwealth countries are undervaluing education and their educators by underpaying their teachers.
The latest research in teacher migration by the London based think-tank, the Overseas Trained Teachers Working Group (OTTWG has revealed some disturbing trends [193 teachers from 15 countries were surveyed in the UK in December 2006) The majority of the surveyed overseas teachers working in the UK (70%) indicated that poor pay levels in their home countries have forced them to seek work abroad. This is a significant finding because it lends weight to the push dynamic in the migratory formula.
Poor governmental policy in developing countries as well as in Australia and New Zealand is forcing teachers out.
The findings indicate that source countries are also failing to capitalize on the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol which was adopted in September 2004 to protect their teacher workforce from the
"claws" of international teacher recruiters. It is no secret that the universal supply of educators is under serious threat. The reasons for shortages differ between developed and developing countries.
Vociferous condemnation of British teacher recruitment agencies activities in developing countries has been a burning point for governments since the early 90's. It is mind –boggling that there has been no response to the Protocol.
The silence is deafening! The Protocol has been widely hailed by government policy makers and educationists as sound policy as it has empowered source countries for the first time to actively participate in the recruitment process. It supports their monitoring of the marketing and recruitment activities of overseas agencies. Recruiters should provide warnings of impending recruitment campaigns.
The policy strikes a fine balance between the rights of the teacher to migrate against the collective needs of a society. Source countries can control the numbers of teachers by subject and times of departures without infringing on individual rights and liberties.
Of serious concern, however, is that ongoing ethical violations are occurring. Despite the stipulations of the Protocol, 82% of overseas trained teachers are not been informed about the status of their work (they do not automatically receive qualified teacher status in the UK.) Neither have they been informed about teacher unions (82%) or complaints mechanisms regarding the recruitment process (87%).
Despite the fact the majority of these teachers will find themselves in tough inner-city comprehensive schools, the majority did not receive cultural adjustment (72%) or induction programmes 953%).
Dr Paul Miller a leading policy expert and a Director of Strategy and Administration at OTTWG responded by stating: 'Cleary there is a need for greater and more effective monitoring'.
The onus however lies with the governments of source countries as the regulating authorities cannot take action against agencies unless the complaint comes through the right channels.
Equally perplexing is the fact 97 % of overseas teachers have not heard of the Protocol.
Fears by critics that the policy would be impossible to practically implement are proving true. If the International Labour Organisation (ILO), UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat are serious about achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of universal primary education they urgently need to invest in awareness campaigns in order to address the imbalances in the distribution of human resources in education.
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