Britain should relax migration rules to recruit more science, Mandarin and computer science teachers to the UK, report urges
For jobs which are on the list, employees don't have to earn over the £35,000 minimum salary required for permanent residence, and are bumped up the list to get a visa
BRITAIN needs to open the border to more ship in hundreds of IT and science teachers because of shortages and lack of quality amongst UK graduates.
And the Government’s Migration Advisory Council says we also need more Chinese speaking teachers if Britain is to compete on the global stage.
The Whitehall body is adding secondary school computer science, Mandarin and general science teachers to the ‘Shortage Occupation List’ which governs who is allowed into the UK from outside the EU.
Their damning probe of UK schools concluded that while there was no “crisis” in the industry, British kids are suffering while tech companies hoover up computer science grads for lucrative jobs.
And MAC chairman Professor Alan Manning said there were wider concerns about the “quantity and quality” of British computer science graduates as he recommend relaxing rules on non-EU migration to plug the gaps.
The Migration Advisory Committee was asked by the Government to review the labour market for teachers and secondary education last year.
The study centres on a system through which visas are allocated to skilled staff from outside Europe.
Tier 2 visa apply to two categories of workers - those coming to fill jobs advertised under a resident labour market test, and those arriving to take up positions included on the Government’s shortage occupation list.
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Jobs on the SOL do not have to meet a £35,000 minimum salary requirement and they are given priority if an annual quota of 20,700 positions is met.
In its report, the MAC recommended keeping maths and physics teachers on the government’s shortage occupation list and adding secondary school computer science, Mandarin and general science teachers.
Chemistry teachers, which have been on the shortage list for several years, will be removed.
Professor Alan Manning said: “We considered whether there were identified shortages of teachers and, if so, whether it would be sensible to recruit migrants from outside Europe to fill these roles.
“The resulting report shows there is no occupation-wide shortage of teachers, but that there are shortages in some subjects.”
But last night teaching unions hit back saying they were “disappointed that the Migration Advisory Committee has concluded that there is no occupation-wide shortage of teachers.”
The Association of School and College Leaders said: “Its conclusion flies in the face of the evidence which matters most and that is the experience of schools up and down the country which are dealing with a full-blown teacher recruitment crisis.”
Last night the Home Office said: “The Government has accepted the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in full and the necessary changes will be made to the Immigration Rules in April to reflect this.
“We are committed to reducing net migration to sustainable levels, which means the tens of thousands.
“However, we recognise the contribution that migrants can play in the economy and take steps to ensure that enough skilled overseas workers can come to the UK when we need them.”