Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the effect of teachers leaving the UK to work abroad on the education system.

The quality of teachers trained in the UK means that there is considerable demand for them across the globe. Every year a number of teachers choose to leave the UK to work in schools overseas and many are likely to return.

Office for National Statistics figures, based on International Passenger Survey data, provide an estimate of the long-term migration of ‘teachers and research professionals’ since 2010 and break down the numbers leaving the UK between British and Non-British citizens. The data is available here: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/business-transparency/freedom-of-information/what-can-i-request/published-ad-hoc-data/pop/september-2015/index.html

A 2015 report published by the National Foundation for Educational Research, using data from the Labour Force Surveys, suggests that of those joining the teaching profession 4% had been working outside of the UK compared to 1% leaving to work outside the UK. This suggests that the country is in fact gaining more teachers that we are losing to work overseas.