Leaving teaching in the UK for pastures new...why the grass really is greener

As one of only 3 staff in my current school with a PGCE, I have been asked to mentor and peer observe my colleagues in order to help develop their confidence and pedagogical knowledge.

The majority of teachers here in both government and international schools hold only a diploma or degree in the field of their subject knowledge and have no formal teacher training qualifications. Many have never set foot in a classroom before taking up their current position.

Interestingly, the same is happening in numerous academies in the UK - where increasingly, schools are employing under-qualified teachers due to frozen budgets, so they can pay an unqualified teacher 15,000 pounds a year instead of a minimum 21,000 a year for a newly qualified teacher.

Despite this similarity in both countries, what is so interesting is the achievement of the students here outperforms students in the UK by miles. In the first school I taught at in the UK, just 37% of students achieved A* - C, compared to 99% A* - C in my current school.

Although I had always wanted to work in a deprived area, the complete lack of support from parents made the job almost impossible. When desperately trying to set up lunchtime or after school interventions to help raise attainment, I would be met with 'why are you picking on my child?Although I had always wanted to work in a deprived area, the complete lack of support from parents made the job almost impossible. When desperately trying to set up lunchtime or after school interventions to help raise attainment, I would be met with 'why are you picking on my child?

Apart from a much greater level of parental support and respect here, another reason I believe attainment is much higher here is because we teachers have time. SO much of it. I teach 18 lessons a week now instead of 27 as I did in the UK, which gives me time to really, really think about each lesson and ensure that each one I teach is top quality, and delivered with bags of energy and enthusiasm. I have gone from being 'requires improvement' to 'good' to 'outstanding' and named one of the most innovative teachers in the school.

Admittedly, lessons in the UK are now mostly run off Powerpoints and there was almost always something that could have been better as there was not enough time to adapt them as I would have liked. The technology is quite limited in my current school, so relying on monotonous Powerpoints is neither an option nor necessary.

If you ask me, the answer to the teaching crisis in the UK can be found if these 4 simple points are addressed:

1. Scrap ridiculous time consuming marking policies with 3 different colours etc - tick and correct works!

2. Reduce teacher timetables so teachers can complete planning and marking AT WORK - not at home.

3. Stop this 'fear of parents' and 'blame culture' and have senior management who support the teacher's professional decisions rather than caving in to what the parent wants - that is NOT helpful to the child involved for their future.

4. Scrap performance related pay scales - to be quite frank, it's insulting, and contributes to unnecessary stress and hinders actual performance in the classroom.

If these 4 relatively simple things happen, many British teachers abroad will likely return, and more will stay in the profession. The answer to the supply crisis is not to make education about money, it is about giving teachers more time so excellent teaching and learning can take place.