Impact of Brexit on schools ‘gone under radar’ - ‘good flow’ of foreign teachers now gone
THE IMPACT of Brexit on UK schools and the numbers of teachers allowed to work in the UK since has "gone under the radar" according to a leading education expert.
Brexit’s impact on UK schools ‘gone under the radar’ says expert
Gavin Beart, Divisional Managing Director at REED Education told Express.co.uk that a "perfect storm" of teacher shortages triggered by Brexit work requirements had gone unnoticed because of COVID-19. He claimed the situation had also contributed to the teacher shortage crisis over the spread of the Omicron variant which saw a record shortage of 47,000 school staff off in one day in January.
He said that while there are “some other issues going on” in relation to COVID-19 impacting staffing levels - “Brexit is one of them”.
The teaching expert added how the full impact of Brexit “has gone under the radar because of Covid” as he explained the brain drain out of the UK from teachers who have picked up their bags and left the country.
Mr Beeart explained: “Lots of overseas trained teachers have gone from the marketplace.
“We had a good flow of European teachers, especially in areas such as London.”
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Gavin Beart, Divisional Managing Director at REED Education told Express.co.uk that
He explained how usually Spanish, Italian and French nationals would be used as supply teachers when there were shortages in schools.
But he said that has now ended following the 2016 referendum.
He described the situation as “a perfect storm” as he stressed the long term impacts of Brexit could be felt hard amongst pupils.
Department for Education figures show that almost 5,000 teachers from EU countries qualified to teach in 2016.
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This was up from just over 2,000 in 2010, with the largest numbers from Spain, Greece, Poland and Romania.
However, figures from the end of 2018 revealed a decrease of 25% in EU teachers applying for qualified teacher status (QTS) in England.
Qualified Teacher Status was awarded to just 3,525 qualified teachers from the European Economic Area (EEA) during the last measurement period.
This suggests there has been a decline in European teachers considering a teaching career in the UK since the Brexit referendum.
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The UK voted to leave the European Union on June 23, 2016, with the Leave vote winning a majority of 51.9 percent, while Remain achieved 48.1 percent of the vote.
Turnout for the referendum was just under 72 percent.
The UK left the EU on January 1, 2021 after 47 years of membership.