The teacher shortage is a real and pressing concern. It’s been growing for some time now and, as recent National Foundation for Educational Research data showed, is likely to remain problematic unless urgent action is taken.

One way this may be tackled, beyond increasing pay, is the recently announced move by the Department for Education to offer a standardised route for all teachers internationally to apply for qualified teaching status (QTS) in England, based on their local qualifications.

This opens up the possibility of a huge new swathe of talented teachers being available to England’s schools.

We don’t yet know which nations will be involved in the first wave, except for Ukraine (which is a welcome move), but we won’t have long to wait, with the announcement expected in the autumn and applications open from next year.

International schools already know how talented local teachers are, and hiring local teachers remains a core aspect of their recruitment strategies. As such, for schools in England this is an avenue to find new hires they should welcome with open arms.

Teacher recruitment: iQTS must go further

This follows on from the plans for the new International Qualified Teacher Status (iQTS) qualification that will allow teachers overseas the chance to gain a transferable and equivalent qualification, recognised by the DfE.

As iQTS will lead to the automatic award of QTS, this may be suitable for teachers interested in working in England (subject to appropriate visas).

The pilot for this begins in September, with six providers set to offer access to the qualification - although at present only one of these is offering it as a standalone course, rather than bolted on to an iPGCE or similar qualification. 

After the pilot, it would be great to see an increased range of providers offering more standalone iQTS programmes. Increasing choice and driving global best value is one of the keys to success.

Obviously, cost-prohibitive price points are not only counterintuitive but they will create significant barriers to access to, and the success of, the iQTS.

To add to affordability, the golden thread of unfaltering safer recruitment practices of schools and training providers, plus a commitment to high-quality training, mentoring and quality assurance, remains of paramount importance. 

Nevertheless, this is a welcome step forward - although more needs to be done to clarify how the system will operate and dispel some misunderstanding, such as making it clear that iQTS covers all subjects and not just English, as some have asked, and outlining how iQTS is converted into QTS.

On this point it was pleasing to see the DfE explicitly confirm recently that anyone who receives the iQTS qualification “with an approved provider will be automatically awarded QTS”.

This is a point of confusion and contention that has hovered around iQTS since it was first announced but with this confirmation, it is now incumbent on providers to ensure they make clear to potential trainees how beneficial iQTS could be.

To help with this, COBIS recently hosted a webinar at the behest of the DfE that sought to clarify some of the myths and misconceptions around iQTS that have been cropping up. With over 500 registrations, it’s clear there is demand to know more, so we hope the session proved useful.

For those that missed out, it can be watched again here.

Early career teacher induction issues  

However, there are still areas where more work could be done to improve the situation that the government needs to consider.

For example, how do iQTS teachers access the Early Career Framework post-qualification that enables them to put what they have learned into practice?

At present only international schools that have completed a British Schools Overseas (BSO) inspection can provide early career teacher (ECT) induction - yet this means hundreds of schools that have received many other high levels of accreditation for the quality of their teaching and learning are excluded from doing this.

BSO has only existed for just over 10 years and so by definition cannot have processed the huge numbers of international schools that exist and would be willing to be involved.

This is where the DfE should innovate and be savvy by allowing schools that have completed other rigorous accreditations - such as the COBIS Patron’s Accreditation and Compliance (PAcc) scheme - to deliver ECT induction.

Evidence, much of which has been presented to the DfE, demonstrates the impact and popularity of this well-established quality assurance scheme. In fact, the numbers tell their own story, with over 200 schools in 68 countries having engaged in the COBIS scheme since its launch five years ago.

In contrast to data from the DfE, the COBIS scheme already has a footprint in more countries worldwide than the DfE inspection scheme.

This is why we are urging the government to formally recognise the COBIS accreditation scheme as we believe - as do other organisations such as Council of International Schools - that this can complement the option for schools to access the DfE inspection scheme for British schools overseas.

We know that member schools would back this, too, with almost all schools that have achieved COBIS accreditation and compliance saying they believe this quality assurance route should be formally recognised by the British government and that meeting these rigorous standards should be ample to allow them to offer ECT induction.

A world of talent 

This is something we are putting forward in the latest consultation on the appropriate body reform and induction assessment in the hope the message lands that broadening access to training and post-training opportunities around the world would not only be of benefit to international schools but also the English schools’ market.

We hope others will make a similar argument.

It is clear that positive things are happening around how the international market can support not just international schools but those in England, too, and this is to be applauded.

Teaching is a global profession so it is only right we recognise the benefits, skills and qualifications that others have worldwide that could boost the sector at home and abroad. Yet while doing this we should also recognise the quality within our own profession and use that to our advantage, too.

After all, the teacher recruitment crisis will affect us all, so we should pool our strengths to ensure we have the talent supply line required to give children around the worldwide the best possible start in life.

Colin Bell is the chief executive of the Council of British International Schools (COBIS)