Sheffield Hallam University

Presented by Ben Willis

Wednesday, 27th March 2019, 12:00-13:00
Room 12.3.18, Charles Street Building, Sheffield Hallam University

Maintaining healthy teacher recruitment and retention levels continues to be a major concern for education systems both domestically (Worth et al, 2018) and globally (Craig, 2017). The literature reveals a host of possible explanations, many of which are inter-connected: rising pupil numbers, deficiencies in the teacher supply model, thriving economies with healthy labour markets (a particular issue for certain subjects such as maths and physics) and workload intensification, to name but a few.

English education policy makers and school leaders have responded with a variety strategies, initiatives and policies. One approach consistently taken up by a number of schools has been the employment of overseas trained teachers (OTTs) (Miller 2018). However, despite this being an ongoing practice, it is interesting to note the absence of reference to international teachers in the government's recently launched 'Teacher recruitment and retention strategy' (DfE, 2019).

Drawing on a review of the international literature (Bense, 2016); this seminar addresses a gap in the empirical evidence by mapping out the key reasons secondary senior leaders gave for their school recruiting internationally or not.The data was sourced from 44 semi-structured telephone interviews undertaken as part of a major national evaluation: 'International Teacher Recruitment: Understanding the attitudes and experiences of school leaders and teachers' (Stiell, 2018); that Sheffield Hallam were commissioned to lead by the Department for Education.