Letter from Dubai: The Teacher Recruitment Crisis: the UK cannot compete in a Global Marketplace

Teacher recruitment is top of the agenda for the senior leadership teams in most schools in the UK.
What hasn't been recognised in the debates in the UK media is that Britain is now competing for teachers in a global marketplace. Britain is not alone in struggling to find suitably qualified school leaders and teachers to stand in front of classes. There is a worldwide teacher recruitment crisis at every level: from classroom teachers through to school Principals. Schools are chasing the top talent; middle and senior leaders are in short supply; and specialist teachers in STEM subjects are at a premium.

Britain's immigration policies and tax regime means that Britain is simply not equipped to compete in this global market place.  Britain makes it difficult for talented teachers around the world to move to the UK; and the levels of taxation and the cost of living mean that teachers' salaries in the UK are unattractive.
Allow me to illustrate,

• Experienced teachers in the England and Wales (ex. London) on the Upper pay range (U3) earn £37,8713; even with a Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR1), they earn £50,641 (Source: NASUWT website)
• Experienced teacher in Inner London on the Upper pay range (U3) earn £46.365; even with a Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR1), they earn £58,635 (Source: NASUWT website)

By comparison:

• An experienced classroom teacher in a top school in Dubai earns £69,000 [AED 370,000] in salary and allowances; and medical care is provided by the employer. That's the equivalent pre-tax salary of over £100,000 in the UK. Granted that living in Dubai is expensive, but no more expensive than living in London.
• The key differences between working in London and working in Dubai

1. that there is limited job security (one-year and two-year renewable contracts are common);
2. there is no state-guaranteed teachers' pension scheme (instead an end of service gratuity equivalent to three weeks' salary for every year worked is paid); 
3. teachers with children may have to pay/contribute to school fees;
4. the sun shines every day!

Working overseas is no longer the hardship posting that it was 20 years ago. The international schools market is much more mature. There have always been outstanding British schools overseas (JESS and Dubai College in Dubai; Tanglin in Singapore etc.), but the marketplace has exploded in the past ten years as commercial school chains (such as Nord Anglia and GEMS) have spread their reach, and as Independent Schools from the UK (and elsewhere) establish franchise schools (Repton Dubai) or establish subsidiary companies (Dulwich International, Harrow International) around the world . These factors have meant that working abroad has never been a more attractive career step for teachers.

There are 21 schools set to open in the UAE in 2016 (National 29/09/2015). They will all be looking to attract top senior and middle managers and to recruit top teachers from around the world. This will mean that there is likely to be a significant short-term recruitment crisis in the UAE, but laws that actively attract immigration and an advantageous tax regime mean that it is unlikely to last long!

There's a brain drain coming - the battle to attract and retain talented educators has begun.

As educators we have long seen it part of our responsibility to prepare our pupils for careers working in the global economy. Like many Headteachers a regular theme of my assemblies is to remind the school that they are going to be competing in a marketplace for top jobs not only against the brightest and best in the UK but against the cream of the crop from around the world.The interesting development is that the same arguments now also apply to the staff room. 

With the explosion of new top quality independent schools in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, there are now unprecedented opportunities for teachers abroad too. In a recent conversation at the ISBA conference, one CEO of a schools group backed by venture capitalists put estimates of the number of additional English-speaking teachers required in the Middle East in the next ten years at 300,000; Dubai alone needs 100,000. Given the relative tax regimes, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that many of these will come from the UK. Ten years ago having overseas schools experience on the C.V. was viewed at worst with suspicion ("Something must have happened for him to have to go abroad") and, at best, as a rather colourful deviation from the best practice we have in the UK. Soon it will be an essential component of any aspirational teacher's career.
Government and School Governors take note: there is going to be an enormous battle ahead to attract and retain our best educational talent. (I acknowledge that it is a generalisation, but) it is most likely that this will impact most on those at the the beginning and end of their careers, for, on the whole, it will be the under 30s, who are yet to start families, and the over 50s, whose families have left home, who are more likely to be free to move abroad.

A global market in NQTs
In a world where young teachers are starting work burdened by student debts and with little prospect of getting together a deposit for a mortgage on a house, how will UK schools in independent sectors continue to recruit the best talent when schools in the Middle and Far East are offering competitive packages with  tax-free salaries teaching highly motivated students? Here at Berkhamsted we have one solution that is making a great difference and that is that we are able to offer subsidised accommodation to recent graduates which enables them to save enough for the first deposit to get them onto the housing ladder. More schools need to look to initiatives like this, if they are to maintain high standards of graduate recruitment.

A global market in Senior Leadership
It is not just teachers who will be heading abroad: Headteachers, Senior Leaders and School Inspectors will get in on the act too. Indeed we have begun to see it already: Vicky Tuck, former head of Cheltenham Ladies and President of GSA, is now Director General of the International School of Geneva; Dr Helen Wright, former Head of St Mary's Calne and GSA President, is now Headmistress of Ascham School in Sydney Australia; Dr Chris Ray, High Master of Manchester Grammar and Chairman of HMC is moving next year to be Principal of The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi, and Frances King, Headmistress of Roedean is moving to be Director of the Collège Alpin Beau Soleil, Switzerland. And it's not just senior school heads, Paul Brewster, Head of the Beacon Prep School and one of the driving forces behind the Prep IB, is moving to become the Chief Education Officer for Repton International. All leading lights in the UK independent sector wooed abroad. The brain drain has begun.

Retaining the very best Senior Leadership talent will be more of a challenge for Independent Schools. Ultimately there is little more Governing bodies can do than to offer very attractive remuneration packages; thus it is highly likely that we will see salary levels for top Senior Leaders rise sharply over the coming decade as a consequence.