Dozens of Jamaican teachers hired to work in British schools
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- 11 Oct 2020
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Among the tourists sheltering in the Courtleigh hotel from the heat in Kingston, Jamaica, this weekend will be Geoff Brown, a former headteacher. But the director of the Hourglass Education recruitment agency is not in the Caribbean for sun and cocktails; he is on a mass recruitment drive. Just as in the 1960s, when Britain turned to Jamaica to find tube and bus drivers, today the demand is for teachers to fill England’s classrooms.
Interviewing in the Courtleigh in June, Brown, along with school staff, recruited 43 Jamaican teachers to start this September at an academy trust in Hayes, west London (87 others were signed up on previous trips for the same start date). This weekend, and on another whistle-stop visit in 10 days’ time, he is looking for another 21 to start in January.
Finding applicants will not be a problem, Brown said. He expects to interview 110 teachers to fill those posts - and those have been whittled down from a much larger number. “Endless schools are advertising and not getting any applicants whatsoever,” said Brown. “There are two options: you go down the age-old route of hiring anyone who is warm and breathing, or – the more savvy – go overseas. Increasingly, schools are doing that. The prize places are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Jamaica. In my experience, those from Australia and New Zealand want to come over for a year, travel around Europe and take a month off for Christmas to go home. You get a Jamaican, he or she is here for life.”
Teachers in Jamaica get paid a fifth of the salary of UK teachers, he added. On top of that, they have 60 children in every classroom. “These teachers speak English, teach in English, their GCSE is based on our GCSEs, and their CAPE qualification is similar to our A-level. Increasingly, heads are turning to us. And we are turning to Jamaica.”
