|
The Department for Education and Skills has a website to support teachers from overseas. The site address is www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachinginengland This will be of interest to overseas teachers who want to find out more about teaching in England, those already planning to do so and those who have recently arrived in England to take up a teaching post. |
| It brings together in one place all the information and guidance about living and teaching in England, along with a wide range of support material. The key areas for inclusion are - |
| • |
Living in England |
| • |
Preparing to teach in England |
| • |
Working in England |
| • |
The English education system |
| • |
The National Curriculum and Key Stage Standards |
| • |
Working in schools |
| • |
Key organisations |
| • |
Useful information |
|
| Are you from outside the European Union? |
| If you want to teach here, you will probably need a visa for entry and you will certainly need a work permit for employment. The work permit will have to be based on an offer from a school. However, teachers are in such short supply in the UK that they are seen as special cases for the purpose of work permit applications. |
| Some visas indicate whether you are eligible to work, but a visa and work permit are separate things. Thus you can have a visa to enter, but you still need a work permit if you wish to work. A visitor's visa does not allow you to do any paid work at all. A student visa allows you to work for up to 20 hours a week during term time. |
| There are special exceptions in some cases - for instance people aged 17-30 from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and nearly all Commonwealth countries may do supply work incidental to their holiday stay here (the "working holidaymakers scheme"). There are certain other special cases too based on ancestral links with the UK. It is also possible, after a year in the UK on this basis, to apply for work-permit employment. |
| Certain other visas/work permits are also possibilities - see
http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/content/working_in_the_uk/en/homepage.html and http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/ |
| Graduating students can now formally switch into work permit employment within the UK. UK businesses can obtain a work permit on behalf of an international student graduating from a UK educational institution without the need for the student to first return home. |
| The conditions for in-country switching into work permit employment are that a student has completed a recognised degree course at either a UK publicly funded further or higher education institution or a bona fide private education institution which maintains satisfactory records of enrolment and attendance. |
| Work permits and visas are a complex area and generally require specialist advice. Renaissance will do what it can to assist those needing help in this area, but we cannot help you enter the UK without an offer from a school. |
| What if I am from the EU? |
| People from European Union countries do not need a work permit to work in the UK or a visa to enter. |
| Will my qualifications be recognised? |
| For all teachers with non-UK qualifications, schools and agencies will need to make sure that your qualifications are really equivalent to UK ones. The National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) can advise on this - see http://www.naric.org.uk NARIC will provide a letter free of charge or a certificate on payment of a fee. |
