Around 7,000 EU nationals who work in colleges should be given priority to stay in the UK after Brexit, according to the Association of Colleges (AoC).

EU citizens are estimated to make up 4 per cent of the college workforce, the AoC has estimated. Any new immigration system “needs to be sufficiently sophisticated to recognise the priority that teachers are needed to educate and train the future UK workforce”, says an AoC report on the likely impact of Brexit on the sector.

It puts forward several options, including “a lower salary threshold for teaching roles in publicly-funded education and training, or expanding the shortage occupation list”.

“The immigration system should also include routes from the future youth mobility scheme into skilled occupations,” the report adds.

More than 5,600 people have signed Tes’ #LetThemTeach campaign, which is calling for the entire teaching profession to the “shortage occupation list”.