The #LetThemTeach campaign is gaining momentum.
In the few weeks since it was launched, the campaign to stop non-EU foreign teachers from being deported has already secured the support of the country’s main teaching unions, the Conservative chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, the Chartered College of Teaching and the Scottish government.
A parliamentary petition calling on the UK government to add the whole teaching profession to the shortage occupation list, which gives higher priority for visas, has been signed by more than a thousand people.
Now Tes is inviting its readers to write to their local MP to ask them to support the campaign.
To make it easy, we’ve produced a pro forma letter. Just click here to open it in Outlook email.
All you’ll need to do is put the name of your MP, their email address and your name at the bottom. You can find the contact details of your local MP here.
Here is the pro forma letter:
Dear
I’m writing to you as my local MP to ask you to support the Tes #LetThemTeach campaign to stop valued international teachers being deported.
Teacher supply in the UK is in crisis. Yet despite this, desperately-needed non-EU foreign teachers are being forced to quit their jobs and leave the UK because they cannot obtain visas.
The present situation has occurred because monthly applications for tier 2 skilled worker visas are severely oversubscribed. This has pushed up the minimum salary threshold required to obtain a visa, thereby excluding the vast majority of teacher applicants.
The rules have prevented schools from awarding jobs to talented teachers living abroad - having already found it impossible to fill a vacancy via domestic recruitment. Worst still, dedicated international teachers already in the UK have had their lives turned upside down and their personal relationships torn apart when their applications for new visas have been rejected.
To solve this crisis, the #LetThemTeach campaign is calling for the whole teaching profession to be added to the ‘shortage occupation list’, which gives higher priority for visas. Currently, only teachers in a handful of subjects appear on the list.
The campaign has support from across the education world and the political spectrum, including most of the UK’s teacher unions, the Scottish government, the Chartered College of Teaching and the Conservative chair of the Commons Education Select Committee. A parliamentary petition has been created (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/223126) and more information about the campaign is available on the Tes website (https://www.tes.com/news/hub/let-them-teach).
As a constituent, I would urge you to add your support to this important campaign - our children depend on it.
Yours sincerely,
You can also email your MP - simply click and add in the relevant details.
