N.Z. teachers in Britain get rise

Press, 21 July 1989, Page 10

N.Z. teachers in Britain get rise

By

TONY VERDON

in London New Zealand teachers working in Britain will be paid more after a British Government move to ease a staffing crisis in schools. The Secretary of State for Education, Mr Kenneth Baker, has slashed from one year to one term the time foreign teachers must spend in British classrooms before becoming fully qualified.

Hundreds of New Zealand and Australian teachers are working in Britain, and have been campaigning for better pay and conditions. Mr Baker has been accused of allowing a shortage of trained teachers to develop to the point where some schools might not be able to reopen after the summer break next month.

The problem is particularly acute in poorer inner-city areas, such as

Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Officials said the move to allow experienced, foreign-trained teachers to qualify for full-time duty after just one term could immediately release 1000 staff already "in the system” but restricted on what they could teach. They said many of those affected by the change were from New Zealand and Australia.

Mr Baker said he hoped the move would be particularly attractive to teachers from "Down Under.”

“They have always complained that they are qualified back home but that they are not when they come here," he said. Mr Baker denied the teacher shortage was of “alarming proportions” but admitted the East End had more teacher vacancies than other parts of the country.