South African teachers are being lured to England by unscrupulous British recruitment agencies, a post-graduate dissertation for the IMM Graduate School of Marketing suggests.
”The vast majority of British recruitment companies recruiting in South Africa are guilty of gross unethical misconduct,” said the researcher, Guy Mulvaney.
Mulvaney, himself a former teacher in London for five years, told Sapa on Friday this needs to be exposed because things were ”precarious”.
In his dissertation, Mulvaney said the marketing strategies of the British recruitment agencies are highly questionable.
”They are mainly targeting newly qualified foreign teachers with absolutely no teaching experience (49%). The majority are not fluent in the English language.”
Mulvaney said the agencies are not using structured interviews or screening processes when recruiting local teachers.
He said by fast-tracking the teachers, agencies are not acting in the best interests of schools or of the recruited teachers, who can expect to earn up to 12 times the remuneration of their South African colleagues.
”Nearly four out of every 10 South African teachers in London have probably received the easiest passage into lucrative jobs by merely conscripting. It is inconceivable that these guilty agencies in one of Britain’s most lucrative industries are so unstructured, unfocused and unsystematic.”
Mulvaney said South African teachers are not informed about the challenges waiting for them at typical inner-city London schools.
He said recruitment agencies, because they were dealing with children, had the added responsibility not to compromise practice with ”irresponsible, unprofessional or unethical” actions.
Mulvaney said 54% of South African teachers said that agencies do not paint a proper picture of conditions at schools.
Eighty-six percent indicated they were not informed that they would not receive qualified teacher status, and because overseas teacher qualifications are not recognised in Britain, they were unable to get permanent jobs.
”It is unfair, unreasonable and immoral to put a teacher on an aeroplane, to uproot them and send him/her into a foreign environment 10 000 miles away without thoroughly vetting and informing him/her of what is awaiting them.”
Mulvaney said that 50% of South African teachers in London do not receive induction training, despite vast differences in education systems.
However, the overriding consensus is that teaching in London is attractive, with 89% content with living conditions in the city and 98% indicating they had made the right move.
”The major grievance of South African teachers in London is the extremely poor discipline of children, 87% rated it as the number one problem.”
Mulvaney said 57% of South African teachers were impressed with the teaching resources provided by agencies and 67% were satisfied with training courses provided.
Without elaborating, Mulvaney said of ”particular concern” was the performance of black South African teachers in London, with large numbers apparently ”not making the grade” in teaching and now doing care work.
He said there were between 3 000 to 4 000 South African secondary school teachers in London, with Mulvaney describing a large proportion of them as ”economic refugees” because they left as a result of dissatisfaction with teacher packages.
Jane Usher, education and training general manager at IMM Graduate School of Marketing, said the survey methodology consisted of South African teachers but it did not ”interact” with the agencies in question.
”The research raises salient points and may make teachers who are planning to emigrate, become more aware of investigating the circumstances in the United Kingdom. Perhaps further research should be undertaken,” suggested Usher. – Sapa