Schools across England still have a huge appetite for recruiting overseas trained teachers amid COVID-19 chaos!

Schools across England still have a huge appetite for recruiting overseas trained teachers amid COVID-19 chaos!

Don’t lose sight of your Sept 2020 recruitment goals with all the current distractions.

Schools and teachers are a little bit in the dark about what the future holds with school closures and travel bans in the coming months.

This is not deterring schools from keeping up with the Sept 2020 and Jan 2021 recruitment pace. Point to Point Education contributes to teacher supply in England every term with high calibre overseas trained teachers seeking employment across the country.

Schools are utilising and recognising the teacher workforce is highly mobile and a global network. While many organisations are shifting to online communications and lessons Point to Point is already equipped and ready to support schools and international teachers to keep the dream alive and continue to move forward with the assumption that the travel bans will eventually lift.

In the event that travel bans are lifted prior to September 2020 the international teachers will all be on the move and be ready to commence contracts in the new academic year. Overseas Trained teachers make up 11% of the Secondary Schools workforce. They are a valuable asset and remain committed to their plans and will be adaptable and flexible as required! That’s the nature of an overseas teacher anyway!

The worst-case scenario is that Schools will appoint and secure teachers and start dates may need to be re-negotiated/deferred. At least teachers will be reassured they have a position to relocate to and the school will know they have incoming teachers when the timing is all aligned with the authorities.

Due to the COVID-19 developments, we are unable to do large scale interview events or fly UK Principals to Australia and New Zealand as planned in April and May. We will be conducting all teaching interviews for Sept 2020 Jobs via Skype and they will go ahead as planned. Thank goodness for technology!

Schools worried about recruiting shortage occupation teachers in Maths, Science/s, Computer Science and MFL should send an expression of interest immediately to Point to Point Education. This way your school or Trust can still benefit from the DfE International Teacher Recruitment Programme.

The best person to contact is Carly Liddell-Lum on carly@pointtopointeducation.com or review the information here.

Over the last two days, we have seen Australia, Canada and New Zealand governments calling people home! Some of those that decide to return to their home countries will be teachers. It’s not a time to panic just yet as there is a strong contingency of teachers preparing themselves, their documentation and travel plans for relocation later in the year. We are encouraging teachers to continue with plans but just hold off on booking flights and applying for visas until the UK borders are clearly open.

It is an uncertain time across the globe. We can press on with our teacher recruitment with caution and understanding. Flexibility is going to be key in the coming months!

Should your school face closure in the coming weeks, remember you can continue to Skype interview from wherever you are situated. Be bold and keep your options open whilst managing a challenging situation in your school community.

Point to Point are here to help.