Tes launches campaign to keep non-EU teachers in schools

Tes has launched the #LetThemTeach campaign to stop non-EU international teachers from being turned away from Britain because of visa difficulties.

The campaign, which is supported by England's major teaching unions, follows Tes research which revealed that international teachers are being forced to quit their jobs and leave the country at short notice because they cannot renew their visas.

The campaign is calling for the entire teaching profession to be added to the "shortage occupation list", which gives higher priority for visas each month, as only teachers in four subjects – maths, physics, computer science and Mandarin – are on the list.

To launch the campaign, the editor of Tes, Ann Mroz, has written a letter to the education secretary, Damian Hinds, and the home secretary, Sajid Javid.

It said: “Tes decided to launch the 'Let Them Teach' campaign following an investigation which exposed how non-EU foreign teachers have been unable to obtain visas.

“At a time when schools are grappling with a recruitment crisis, heads are being prevented from hiring talented teachers from abroad – having already found it impossible to fill vacancies via domestic recruitment.

“Worse still, valued teachers in British schools are being forced to leave their jobs – and the country – because they cannot get their visas renewed. Teachers spoke to us movingly about how they had been left ‘heartbroken’ by having to abandon jobs that they loved, and pupils with whom they had formed a special bond.

“Under the current salary-based system, teaching – as a modestly paid public sector occupation – is missing out in monthly visa allocations. To address this situation, we are calling on the government to support adding the whole profession to the shortage occupation list, which gives higher priority for visas.

“We believe that our international teaching colleagues – and our children – depend on it."