Transcript Focus on African Region.

Brain drain….or gain?
Teacher attrition and mobility, focus on Africa
NGO-forum:
September 2008,
Ellen Carm
LUI/LINS
Brain Drain:
• Brain drain or human capital flight is the
emigration of trained and skilled individuals
("human capital") to other countries, nations or
jurisdictions.
• In this context, it refers to the emigration of
teachers or education personnel in search of
greener pastures.
• ‘Brain Drain’, is therefore a potentially serious
barrier to economic growth, development and
poverty reduction.
Qualified teachers contribute to
quality teaching and learning.
• The World Education Forum (2000) recognised the crucial role of trained
teachers in the achievement of the EFA targets.
• One of the strategies to achieve the EFA goals, as given in The Dakar
Framework (2000), was to “identify, train and retain good teachers…”
• In their joint publication on teachers, UNESCO and the OECD(2001), argue
that “a better trained teaching force is an important factor in educational
quality… teachers’ subject matter expertise must be complemented by
pedagogical competence”.
• The World Bank acknowledges, in its 2004 Background Paper for the
Evaluation of the Bank’s Support to Primary Education, “Many studies find
that teacher training is important.” The paper correctly observes that
“better trained teachers are more effective in terms of cognitive
achievement”(EI, 2007:16).
Education International, 2007:
Investigate issues that affect the recruitment, supply
and retention of teachers, 6 countries in SSA:
Main Findings:
• The governments were not able to recruit
adequate numbers of qualified teachers in most
of the participating countries
• Either the country did not have enough qualified
teachers, or it had failed to recruit them:
• For example, in Lesotho the survey revealed that
more than 40% of the teachers are unqualified,
while in Kenya and Zambia, there were 40 000
and 15 000 unemployed qualified teachers,
respectively. (EI:2007)
ZNUT General Secretary:
“It is apparent that there is a critical shortage of
teaching staff at various levels of our institutions
of learning in general and critical subject areas in
particular due to unattractive low salaries and
unfavourable working conditions of service and
unpredictable deployment policy dictated to
conditionalities arrived at between the
government of the Republic of Zambia
and…international financiers such as [the] World
Bank and International Monetary Fund.”
(Oslo, NETF, 2005)
Levels and causes of teacher attrition
at primary school level(2004)
(EI, 2007:53)
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There is no single cause of
teacher attrition in the
countries surveyed
Brain drain was reported to
be a problem in Zambia,
particularly at sec. level.
Most of the teachers who
left for greener pastures
went to Botswana, South
Africa, Swaziland, Namibia
and Angola.
A small proportion of those
who resigned joined the
public service, while others
went to teach in private
schools.
Teacher supply and recruitment
• The Gambia, Lesotho, Tanzania and Uganda had a shortage of
qualified teachers. For example, in 2006, 44% of the primary
school teachers and 42% of the secondary school teachers in
Lesotho were unqualified.
• Kenya and Zambia do not have adequate numbers of teachers
in their schools (evidenced by high pupil-teacher ratios) yet
they have so many qualified teachers “roaming the streets”
(EI,2007:13).
• These countries have failed to significantly increase their
teacher stock due to budgetary considerations and
agreements reached with international financial
institutions(EI,2007:13).
Teacher attrition
• The average rate of teacher attrition in the six
countries is 4%, most of it attributed to
retirement, resignations, death and dismissals .
• Many respondents felt that death due to AIDS
related illnesses has contributed to the high rate
of attrition, especially in Lesotho and Zambia.
• Brain drain has also contributed to the high level
of teacher attrition in Zambia, particularly at
secondary level.
• The main cause of brain-drain was cited as low
salaries and poor conditions of service (EI, 2007:13).
Teacher remuneration and motivation
• The survey reveals that teachers’ salaries are generally low
and below the poverty datum line, i.e. defined as a monthly
budget of an average low income family (5-6 members)
• Conditions of service are poor and many schools do not have
accommodation, or adequate accommodation for teachers.
• The situation is worse for unqualified teachers, earning
between 40 and 60% of the salary of the lowest paid qualified
teacher.
• The low salaries and poor conditions of service have
contributed to the high level of brain drain in countries like
Zambia and to a general decline in the status of the teaching
profession.
Teacher absenteeism
• Teacher absenteeism was reported to be a
problem (not a major one, though) in 3
countries: Lesotho, Tanzania and Zambia.
• The main causes were irregular pay days (e.g.
in Tanzania and Zambia) and illness, probably
related to HIV and AIDS.
Monitoring Global Needs for 2015 (UNESCO:2006:2)
Skilled labour and migration:
“Well-educated migrants world wide
are not only a source of revenue but
potential key actors in their
countries’ development. Perhaps it is
time to stop seeing them as a loss of
investment”. (UNESCO, 2006/7)
From Brain drain to Brain gain or Brain Circulation?
Internal Report to NORAD, Littr.review, May2007, E.Carm,
• Concepts and perspectives on this issue has emerged
from Brain drain to Brain gain and Brain Circulation
• Controversial issue in North-South debates: from
formerly, when people left in search of greener
pastures, to a fierce competition among Northern
companies and universities for top researchers,
engineers, medical professionals and managers.
• Globalization has made temporary workflows almost
commonplace,”Brain exchange” allows sending and
receiving countries alike to benefit from the specialized
experience of expatriate professionals, (UNESCO, 2006/7)
Pull factors
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Higher wages.
Job opportunities.
Relatively good working conditions.
Freedom from political instability or oppression.
The use of selective immigration policies
designed to attract high skilled workers, while
deterring others seen as less economically
beneficial to receiving countries. In the case of
academics, these are augmented by access to
research funding and facilities and the potential
to collaborate with other researchers
Push Factors include:
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•
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A lack of life chances.
Low living standards.
Political and social instability or repression.
A lack of opportunities to utilize skills.
Natural disasters and environmental or ecological
deterioration.
• African economies and societies over the last 20 years has
been the
• Imposition of debt-induced structural adjustment including
dramatic cuts in government budgets, a prominent push
factor in relation to the loss of academic labour from
developing countries to other developing countries and
from developing to developed countries.
Positive or negative impacts?
Mark Regets (Institute for the Study of Labour
in Bonn):
“most of the global gains from migration – the
creation and transfer of knowledge, the
emergence of a skilled and educated
workforce and the fostering of commercial ties
– are shared to some extent by countries on
both sides of the equation”. (UNESCO 2006/7)
A more complex picture: external and internal,
urban and rural, elites and poor, (Skeldon, 2005).
• Skilled moving to developed countries come from the
developed world, from large, middle-income developing
countries, several of which actively train people with
skills for the international market.
• The relatively small numbers of skilled from small, poor
economies can cause a substantial loss from the total
pool of the skilled in those economies.
• In both large and small labour markets in the developing
world the skilled are likely to come from urban areas
rather than from the poor rural sector where they may
be most needed.
• Internal brain drain exists in most developing countries
(often not considered) as skilled employees from the
public sector are attracted to private institutions,
international NGOs and the like.
Continue….
• Regular interchange of qualified staff between public and private
sector is healthy for both sectors, if the flows are in both directions.
• The links between skilled migration and less skilled migration and
between international and internal migration are still poorly
understood .
• Internal brain drains and how these are linked, (if at all), with the
transnational flows must be an essential part of any real policyrelevant discussion of the ‘brain drain’.
• How the elite groups are linked to groups further down the urban
hierarchy and reaching into the poorer parts of states remains an
open question.
• The distinction between the freedom of the individual to move and
the collective developmental needs of the state must be
maintained
Commonwealth Survey on teacher
migration in UK: (CS, 2006)
Types of working arrangements for overseas teachers in the UK:
1. Teachers can be granted a work permit for five years with
the right to apply for permanent settlement after four years,
demand-driven, no fixed quotas.
2. Teachers from the Commonwealth who are on extended
holidays to the UK and are under 28 years old, single and
have no dependants can obtain ‘working holiday’ visas.
Since the work has to be ‘incidental’ to the main purpose of
the visit to the UK, all employment has to be temporary in
nature, which in the case of the education sector means
short-term ‘supply’ teaching.
Teacher supply, UK:
• Since the late 1990 it has increased by over 50
per cent and by 2003, the demand for overseas
has teachers fallen significantly
• Teacher vacancy rate of one percent in late 2003:
=>recently recruited overseas teachers are facing
major difficulties in finding work.
• Migration:Teachers accounted for only 7 percent
of the total work permits in 2000. (e.g.health
24%, IT 16% , managers and administration 21%,
and engineering and related occupations 10% ).
UK approved work permits for
teachers, 2001-2003
….se handout
Issues arising for potential/migrant teachers in UK:
• Most primary school teachers do not have the
necessary educational background and professional
teaching qualifications to be eligible for employment in
the UK
• The majority of migrants from the Caribbean and South
Africa are secondary school teachers.
• Teacher migration has been largely circulatory in
nature; i.e. difficult to cope with the schooling culture
and general working environment.
• Most overseas teachers are also employed as
unqualified teachers and have to re-qualify in order to
attain ‘qualified teacher status’.
Conclusive remarks, CL` survey:
• Evidence shows that the overall impact on
teacher supply has been and is likely to remain
minimal for the foreseeable future.
• The large majority of overseas teachers (both
on work permits and working holiday visas)
are from the ‘old’ Commonwealth countries,
in particular Australia and South Africa and, to
a lesser extent, New Zealand and Canada.
Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment
Protocol(2007):
• The protocol is supposed to protect the rights of
all stakeholders in the teacher recruitment
process, especially that of source countries and
recruited teachers.
• The protocol will also serve as an ethical
guideline for the recruitment of teachers at an
international level.
• It will provideda framework for countries such as
SA to develop appropriate legislation on teacher
recruitment.
Other international and regional
migration surveys,
(Bennell, 2004)
• Teacher migration from the Caribbean to Canada and the
United States has been substantial for over two decades,
New York City Board of Education recruited 600 teachers
from Jamaica in 2001
• Small numbers of teachers from India have also found
employment in schools in the US
• European countries have not generally faced serious
teacher shortages and language prevents most teachers
from English speaking countries working in these countries.
• Botswana and South Africa have employed large numbers
of teachers from elsewhere in the continent, especially
from Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana.
Migration of teachers in — Botswana, England,
Jamaica and South Africa, (Appleton, Simon et al, (2006) ).
• A third of trainee teachers in Jamaica intended to migrate.
• A quarter of trainee teachers in South Africa intended to migrate.
• Around a half or more of all teachers in each country were
interested in working abroad.
• Much of the international recruitment was a transitional response
to disequilibria in the market for native teachers.
• Both Jamaica and South Africa were targeted for recruitment
because of official perceptions of surpluses of native teachers—
perceptions that were not long lasting.
• Demand for foreign teachers has been falling in England
• Botswana has decided not to renew the contracts of expatriates in
order to promote employment opportunities for its own nationals
• International teacher mobility is driven primarily by the prospect of
income gains
Impact of international teacher recruitment on the
educational systems in developing countries:
Quantitative/Qualitative: (Appleton, Simon et al, (2006) ).
• In Botswana, they clearly gained from teacher mobility,
by expanding its educational system
• Migrant teachers were replaced without serious
adverse educational impacts schools directly affected
by international migration in Jamaica and South Africa
• Shortages of staff were attributed to administrative
delays rather than a lack of suitable candidates.
• It is possible that there are ‘knock-on’ effects on more
disadvantaged schools, but again we found no
evidence of this
• Teachers lost to international recruitment were of
above average effectiveness
Conclusion : (Appleton, Simon et al, (2006) ).
• International teacher mobility did not seem to
give rise to significant harm and,
• the gains for the migrants themselves are
likely to outweigh the costs.
• there are signs that the international teacher
mobility may have been temporary and
contextual, something of a transitory
movement as the local market for teachers
adjusts.
What about brain circulation and
brain gain?
• Push factors: Teachers’ opportunities for self-fulfilment
and personal gain
• Some migrant teachers who had returned from a
period abroad, did comment about using their
knowledge to develop their SA schools
• a need to encourage the return of teachers to SA to
share the knowledge gained in host schools.
• Teachers who left their families in SA suffered from the
feeling of loneliness
• They suffered from the poor discipline and the
psychological and emotional trauma they experienced
in UK classrooms
Reflections and discussions:
• What can be done to avoid harmful braindrain, nationally and globally?
• Role of donors, NGOs, and ministries.