Link: Fenley: South African teachers flock to the United Kingdom
to earn pounds and live and work in one of the worlds most exciting cities. But London schools are not all we imagine them to be. Our story this week reveals the challenges of teaching in London
and an education system in crisis.
PRE-TITLE: This is a government school in the centre of London. The teacher is a South African. The footage was filmed during an ordinary poetry lesson on an ordinary day
UPS SPY FOOTAGE: South African teachers quickly adopt the local London accent. They hope thisll gain them greater respect in the classroom. But many quit before long driven out by disruptive behaviour, excessive workloads and a system that may need them, but doesnt always respect them.
TITLE: LESSONS ABROAD
VIS EMPTY STREET, DAWN, MORAG LEAVING HOME: Its late winter (early spring ???) in London. The average temperature in March is about 4 degrees. At 06h30 in the morning, just before the sun comes up, Morag Taylor leaves home. She hopes to have a few hours alone at school before the learners arrive to get through all her paperwork and managerial duties. Morag comes from Johannesburg and did her teacher training at Wits University. Shes been teaching in South London for 5 years.
UPS MORAG: Its absolutely freezing Bye Rory
Morags got used to the dreary London weather. Nevertheless, shes reaching the end of her tether. For the first time, shes even starting to contemplate moving out of the classroom finding some other career in education, which remains her passion.
UPS MORAG: Were 6 months into the school year and Im absolutely exhausted I sometimes dont know how many of the kids I teach I get through to in terms of empowering them to have a better life and to go on to college and to go on to university because most of my kids nah lets get pregnant at 16 and have a baby cause I can go on the dole then They learn from what their parents have done. And their parents a lot of them are unambitious and in dead end jobs. And I find that frustrates me the most as a teacher because I want to bring life to every single child in my class and I want to tell them to go out there and conquer the world
VIS MORAG DISUSS ESSAY TOPICS ONE-TO-ONE: Morag has made a big success of teaching in London. Shes only 28. After starting her career in a foreign city, shes now second in charge of her schools English Department. Her pupils feed off her enthusiasm they pay attention to her they seem stimulated by her passion for the subject. But it wasnt like that when she first walked into the job all those years ago
UPS MORAG: Walking into the classroom and seeing the kids for the first time it was like oh my God I cant actually believe this is what Im going to have to put up with. And I remember sitting in the staffroom with a couple of SEN teachers, the special needs teachers and they looked at this list and they just went, okay well dont put that one next to that one. Okay but he cant go next to that one either. So eventually I got this whole bloody class of kids who were just psychotic really and they couldnt sit next to each other. They were 13 year old thugs and I just thought oh God and that was the first experience of getting there and I did think holy crap what have I got myself into. But it gets better it did get better because I stayed at the school.
VIS/UPS MORAG IN CLASS: Her pupils have seen many teachers come and go. Theyve now come to trust that their Miss Taylor will be at her post every term expecting the best from them encouraging them to reach beyond their deprived backgrounds.
But theyre in for some bad news. The constant grind of dealing with behaviour problems in the school has finally got to Morag not to mention all the admin and the increased demands of the curriculum. Next year the principal, or head teacher as they call them here, will have to find a replacement for Morag and about 14 others...
UPS MORAG: The last time was three years ago when I think it was 22 members of staff who left at one go. Thats huge I know that theres a lot of people unhappy at the moment at the school and theres a lot of us planning on leaving. Were tired. Were weary I think our head teacher tries very hard to recruit British teachers. That is something that she does try and push for. But theres just not enough interest to come and teach in an inner-city London school
VIS LONDON ESTABLISHERS: Londons government-funded schools have a bad reputation. More and more British teachers opt not to work here. The gaps they leave are being filled by foreigners. Of all the overseas teachers in London, the majority are South Africans. More than 5000 migrated to the UK in the last 3 years alone.
The attraction is obvious. Teachers earning meagre salaries in rands can earn 12 times as much here. If they live cheaply, they say they can save or pay off study loans or mortgages back home. Travel around Europe is a stones throw away and the city is alive with history and innovation. Theres a rich Western culture and the opportunity for personal growth
VIS BRUCE PLAYING FLUTE: It was for all these reasons that Bruce Verity wanted to come here. Schools from the county of Surrey came to recruit staff in Johannesburg. Bruce persuaded his partner of 20 years to see if there was a job for him too. Bruce was ready to sell his home, pack up and go
UPS BRUCE: Well I was hoping that the experience would be a first world experience to see how music which is my subject in particular is taught in the UK under better circumstances than we had here.
UPS TERRY: My partner Bruce started to talk of his desire to leave. I found that very threatening because I did not want to go and I had family commitments but I can date when exactly my thinking began to change. It was one specific day at the end of the year when I heard in one day that two different people had been murdered two different friends Two in one day
VIS BRUCE PLAYING FLUTE: Rising crime and changes at work were pushing the couple to leave South Africa. They felt there was a rush to implement Outcomes-Based Education. They worried that affirmative action would affect their careers.
VIS/UPS TERRY IN CLASS THROWING NUMBER BALL: Despite his initial reluctance, Terry had no trouble finding a job. Maths teachers are in demand. And he was trained in Outcomes-Based Education - the system also used in Britain. Hes now been teaching in Surrey, 40 minutes from London, for 6 months. Terry was delighted at the level of attention given to his professional advancement at the school
UPS TERRY: There was an induction day provided by the school before we ever started. I have a designated mentor within the department. Who meets with me once a fortnight on a formal context and also more often informally. To talk about specific difficulties, challenges, unexpected things that I have seen. Its just been an enormous amount of support and time and written materials presented to me by the school and by the county. To help me get settled I never experienced anything touching that scale of support back in SA and I don't think any South African teacher could ever expect that level of support.
VIS BRUCE PLAYING FLUTE: Bruce had the same induction and mentoring and support. Most overseas teachers do. But none of it was enough to make him stay. A month ago he fled back to preserve what was left of his sanity to pick up the pieces of his old life.
UPS BRUCE: I hated the school so much that within the first day I wanted to leave.
VIS SPY FOOTAGE/UPS BRUCE: total disregard and I mean the teacher can stand on his head or her head it makes no difference. Total unwillingness to participate in anything to do with the lesson. they are very good at eating sweets, one of my theories personal theories is that they are so full of sugar they couldn't learn even if they wanted to. The lessons are an hour long which is really very difficult because these children with all respect to them and their parents and their background cant concentrate for an hour. I think 20 minutes would be pushing it.
VIS SPY FOOTAGE: Almost all government schools have a reputation for a lack of discipline. They constantly devise new rules and tools for teachers to try and curb unruliness. Theres ongoing public debate in the UK about what to do about disruptive behaviour.
UPS ABOUT NOTE. As in South Africa, theres no corporal punishment. The rights of the child are supreme. But theres also a culture thats less accepting of authority. Its a combination that some teachers say, leaves them powerless in class.
UPS MORAG: We cannot actually try and touch the children sometimes. You know just a nice arm. A nice hand on the arm just to comfort them if theyre having a moment A hug not really allowed to do that. Heres a huge fight going on outside your classroom. I remember separating this one fight. And Im tiny. Im short. And theres Goliath and the human Yeti standing on either side of me and Im like okay look boys do you want to talk about it because this is not good. Lets sit down and talk about it side of my head and theyre big, big boys with muscles and Im trying to separate this. But you are not supposed to touch the child be cause they could turn the tables on you because they have that kind of power. Theyre allowed to swear at you. Theyre allowed to tell you to f off and call you incredible, horrible names. Theres not really much you can do about it because youll phone home and say oh your child called me an f-ing this today and the parent will go oh Ill have a word with them then. And its completely powerless. The parents dont have much power over these children that we teach I think the discipline in Britain needs incredible work.
VIS LEON & GOOLAM WALK INTO DEPT OFFICE: In the trenches with Morag in the English Department are Leon Claassen and Goolam Rawat. Theyre both well-travelled, seasoned teachers. They decided to give London a chance when they saw jobs advertised in South African newspapers.
UPS LEON: I was a reformatory before we came over here......a special needs school. Boys had been sent there for murder, rape habitual mugging etc after dealing with that ....it was a culture shock but soon got over it and you think you could handle those boys so coming over here should be a doddle but it was a totally different case when I came over here.
UPS GOOLAM: You had to adjust your expectations in terms of the pupils. Youd have to learn what they want in life. The common statement they would make is I dont care.
UPS LEON: I was given I suppose the worst classes in the school. Boys would be been jumping on tables, lying around, been rude to you in the face....things you are not used to in SA almost being physical with you. Obviously at the point of being physical they hold back knowing that thatll be expelled. Its the continuation of that behaviour day and day out the gets to you. There was another person there from CT who left two weeks.
UPS GOOLAM: Coming form SA where education is valued highly it comes as a bit of a shock that people dont see education as the gateway to opening doors.
VIS TEACHERS IN PUB: After the break: Schools out and the teachers get to play what teachers in London talk about after hours
ADBREAK
PART 2
VIS QUEUEING OUTSIDE: This is Manchester, three hours by train, north of London.
Poverty looks different in the UK. South Africans associate it with dusty townships and makeshift tin shacks. Here cramped, bleak council houses represent the face of deprivation.
Its taken Augusta Retief a good year and a half to feel shes beginning to bridge the cultural gap between herself and these kids. Shed taught at government and private schools in South Africa. She thought this would be enough experience to draw on. But between the kids acute educational needs and the vast workload of her post, its been a rough ride.
UPS AUGUSTA: Ek het defnitief meer stress hier as wat ek ooit daar gehad het. Jy kan daar n kans vat en in n klas inloop en nie 100% voorbereid wees nie. Maar hier kan jy dit nie doen nie. Dis hoekom jy n uur of n uur en half voor die tyd skool toe gaan om jou skoolwerk reg te kry, want jy weet nie wat anders kan nog gebeur nie.
TRANSLATE AUGUSTA: I definitely have more stress here than I ever had there. There you could take a chance and walk into a classroom and not be a 100% prepared. Here you cant do that. So you go to school an hour hour and a half early to prepare your work, because you dont know what else can happen.
VIS COMING INSIDE: Primary school kids may be easier to control, but disruptive behaviour can still makes the school day unpredictable. Augusta believes the problem starts at an early age, and stems from difficulties at home. But its made worse because theres little continuity in the kids lives at school
UPS AUGUSTA: Waar ek skoolhou kom die helfte van die kinders van Somalie af, so ek dink hulles dalk meer in gemeen met my as wat hulle met die Engelse onderwysers het, en hulles altyd baie vinnig om vir mense te sê OH MY TEACHER IS FROM AFRICA Maar ek dink dit is n problem, want onderwysers kom en gaan en hierdie kinders is so behoeftig. As n onderwyser nie lank bly nie kan jy nie daai verhouding opbou nie en jy kan nie regtig by die kern van die problem uitkom om die kind te help nie
Die kinders, academies-gewys is n baie groot uitdaging want baie kinders sit met Engels as n tweede taal, baie kinders kom van ander lande af gevlug uit ander lande uit so hulle moet dit eers oorbrug voor hulle kan begin skoolgaan
TRANSLATE AUGUSTA: Where I teach half the kids come from Somalia, so they perhaps have more in common with me than with most English teachers. Theyre say My teacher comes from Africa! but I think its a problem, because teachers come and go and these kids are so needy If a teacher doesnt stay long, you cant build a relationship and you cant really get to the core of a childs problems to help them.
Academically, the kids present a big challenge, because most of them speak English as a second-language many are refugees, so they first have to overcome that before they can start learning.
Academically gifted or wealthy kids are likely to go to private or more exclusive schools . where standards are high and where the best British teachers want to work. Comprehensive government schools are a melting pot for kids from all over the world kids of mixed ability and mixed needs. Its here that classes are difficult to teach. And its here that foreign teachers are most likely to be employed.
Its unlikely that money alone can solve the problem???. Compared to South Africa, UK government schools are already very well-resourced.
UPS AUGUSTA: As ek ooit met my vriendinne praat in Suid-Afrika wat ook skoolhou dan se ek vir hulle ek koop nie n rooipen eers uit my eie sak uit nie as ek na die skoolhoof toe gaan en se hoor hier my kinders sukkel met n sekere aspek, of ek het meer boeke nodig oor een of ander deel oor se maar wiskunde of lees, of enige so iets dan kry ek die boeke. Meeste klasse het n teaching assistant wat heeldag saam met jou in die klas is om of jou fotostaatwerk te doen, of by kinders te sit en hulle te ondersteun. Ons kry alles wat ons nodiget en nog meer.
TRANSLATE AUGUSTA: Whenever I talk to my friends who teach in South Africa, I tell them I dont even buy a pen from my own pocket. If I tell the principal my kids are struggling with something or need more books, I get them. Most classes have a teaching assistant that stay with you all day to help with making copies or supporting the kids. We have everything we need and more.
VIS CURRY MILE: But in another short while, Augusta too will say goodbye to Manchester. Shes here for only three years, while her husband Francois completes his PhD at the University. Then her class, like countless others throughout the UK, will have to adapt to yet another new teacher.
VIS COACH & HORSES PUB: Back in London we meet a group of friends unwinding at the end of the week. They all teach at the same school. In their group is an Australian and a native Brit. We ask Ben why British teachers leave teaching in the cities to foreigners:
16 39 BEN: Its almost like having two jobs, you have your job from 9 until 3.30 when the children are there teaching or in some cases crowd-control, even Alex is talking of crowd control in supply I think even in our job as regular teachers, a lot of it is crowd control 16 56 I think everybody will agree with me there 16 58 youve got crowd control issues anyway even if youre doing a regular class 17 02 because theres a lot of kids youll have problems going mad 17 10 And then youre times spent some people come in early for school, some people do it afterwards, youve got planning, assessment, youve got bits and pieces to fill out theres constant bits of paperwork that just seem to flow my desk is just overflowed with bits of paper that Im supposed to fill out 17 30
VIS CUTAWAYS PUB: Everyone agrees on the workload issue. But for the foreigners their pay makes it worth the effort. And then theres the novelty of being in London.
UPS LORNA: If Phil will agree with me, we do have a better standard of living. We can pay the mortgage back home, we can afford the rent here, we can afford to go home, were a family of 4, once a year, we can afford to bring family over on vacation we can afford still to go and see other places So I would think that the standard of living, coming over here, compared to what we had for the 15 years of teaching back home is way higher than living at home
ALEX: I didnt come here to have a full-time job, I thought when I get to that point, thats what I want to do, Ill go home 30 46 I mean, Im here to travel and to do things differently from the way I did things at home I mean, Australia is so far away that the opportunity to go over for the weekend to Paris or to got to Amsterdam, to go to Prague for the week, is not available to you, so I suppose my ambition here was different some people would come here to settle, I havent 31 08
VIS PUB CUTAWAYS: Like Alex, many foreigners take short-term teaching jobs. These pay better and come with less responsibility. Most South Africans we met in London plan to come home one day when their work permits or visas expire. But for someone like Ben, for better of worse, London is home.
17 41 BEN: Its expensive place to live in London you graduate, you do your teacher training you come and work in London youre supposed to be a professional and you end up living in a house almost like a student, so youre living in a house, youre sharing a house with you know 5 other people maybe when I started I was in a big house with like 5, 6 other people you got a job, but youre still living like a student 18 03
After the break South Africa and Britain count the cost of the brain drain.
ADBREAK
PART 3
VIS LEYTONSTONE EST: Leytonstone, a suburb in Londons East-end. Youll probably hear more Afrikaans walking down the main street for an hour than in Johannesburg in a week.
VIS ILLONA DOING MAKEUP We meet Illona Wattel from Stellenbosch and her friend Chaela Edwards from Zimbabwe. Illona heard about temporary stand-in teaching jobs in London when a recruitment agency came to the University. Just turn up and youll get work, was the message. But they said little about how kids here see these so-called supply teachers
UPS ILLONA: 10 59 I got here I think on the Sunday Wednesday I started working 11 02
UPS ILLONA: theyve got no respect, especially if youre a foreigner with a different accent they dont really respect you 17 36 If you walk into a classroom as a supply teacher for a day, they just see how far they can get 04 17 They dont want to work, they think its a free lesson they dont see you as a teacher 17 46 They ask, did you study? And do you know the subject? 17 50 And then its quite difficult controlling or teaching them 17 53
VIS DOWN THE STAIRS: The girls dont mind relatively cheap accommodation. They rent by the week. About 7 of them share. Illona came here to travel and to pay off a house she bought in South Africa. She now earns many times what she would at home. Even though shes not committed to one school, shes never short of work
UPS ILLONA: 32 16 They take days off very easily the English teachers theres always 32 21 Every day when I go to school on the cover slip theres about 4, 5 teachers absent 32 25 and its English teachers permanent teachers at the school 32 28 and then we come in and cover the lessons 32 32 CHAELA: foreigners are just too happy to earn POUNDS!!! 32 46 ILLONA: They think theyre not earning enough money as well on long-tem jobs 32 50
UPS STEVE SINNOT 42 35 there is a teacher shortage in the UK and its a problem of teaching retention rather that teacher recruitment. So what were able to do is to get young people to make a decision to be a teacher in the UK thats what were able to do but what were less able to do is to keep them in the field of teaching
UPS PATRICK ROACH 19 07 nobody actually wants to teach in London, it seems because of the levels of pay that are available in this city 19 18 And that in itself presents problems for other teachers: Who am I working with today ? becomes the question Can I actually do my work in a reasonably organised and coherent fashion if I dont actually know who it is that Im going to be working with
UPS STEVE SINNOT 47 17 that we dont want to have a situation where on a Friday...on a Sunday evening a teacher gets off the plane in Heathrow coming from Johannesburg and is placed in a school in one of the most challenging schools with poor behaviour where the youngsters may have had a series of teachers and where that teacher is placed immediately into that school and that has happened....
UPS PATRICK ROACH: 19 33 It presents problems for pupils and indeed parents Whos gonna be teaching me today? And if I cant be sure about whos gonna be teaching me today why should I invest any of myself into the school system
VIS COMMITTEE MEETING: More than half of UK residents who become teachers change their minds within five years. The British Government is now taking stock of what its foreign recruitment is doing to the education systems of developing nations.
Recently, Duncan Hindle, spokesman for the South African Department of Education, addressed the International Committee in the House of Commons. For now, he says South African teachers actually benefit:
VIS COMMITTEE MEETING/UPS DUNCAN HINDLE: come back better teachers many come back with respect, saying our schools look better too 17 02 unintended consequences ZIMBABWE good teachers want to come hands off unemployed teachers in our own country understanding of global migration and not just a one-way flow out of developing countries, into developed countries if we can benefit from exchange, that must be a good thing 17 43
UPS PARICK ROACH: If we were actually providing proper rates of pay for all teachers, making the job far more attractive, then we wouldnt actually have to be recruiting actively recruiting, aggressively recruiting from overseas
UPS STEVE SINNOT: If we genuinely committed to getting children in school and all African children into school we will require by 2015, 5 million extra teachers 5 million extra teachers. Currently Africa is a net exporter of teachers. Thats wrong.
UPS PATRICK ROACH: Britains post-industrial history has been founded on poaching looting human resources from across the globe thats how Britains made its way as a post-industrial nation. I mean, thats the reality dont think we can lose sight of that, but I think we have to be critical about it and we have to take some steps to address that problem
Until the UK can solve its teacher shortage, London will present great challenges and great times for South Africans. Those with the stamina to teach here.
VIS ZULUS: Leytonstone Special Assignment is here!!!
PRE-TITLE: This is a government school in the centre of London. The teacher is a South African. The footage was filmed during an ordinary poetry lesson on an ordinary day
UPS SPY FOOTAGE: South African teachers quickly adopt the local London accent. They hope thisll gain them greater respect in the classroom. But many quit before long driven out by disruptive behaviour, excessive workloads and a system that may need them, but doesnt always respect them.
TITLE: LESSONS ABROAD
VIS EMPTY STREET, DAWN, MORAG LEAVING HOME: Its late winter (early spring ???) in London. The average temperature in March is about 4 degrees. At 06h30 in the morning, just before the sun comes up, Morag Taylor leaves home. She hopes to have a few hours alone at school before the learners arrive to get through all her paperwork and managerial duties. Morag comes from Johannesburg and did her teacher training at Wits University. Shes been teaching in South London for 5 years.
UPS MORAG: Its absolutely freezing Bye Rory
Morags got used to the dreary London weather. Nevertheless, shes reaching the end of her tether. For the first time, shes even starting to contemplate moving out of the classroom finding some other career in education, which remains her passion.
UPS MORAG: Were 6 months into the school year and Im absolutely exhausted I sometimes dont know how many of the kids I teach I get through to in terms of empowering them to have a better life and to go on to college and to go on to university because most of my kids nah lets get pregnant at 16 and have a baby cause I can go on the dole then They learn from what their parents have done. And their parents a lot of them are unambitious and in dead end jobs. And I find that frustrates me the most as a teacher because I want to bring life to every single child in my class and I want to tell them to go out there and conquer the world
VIS MORAG DISUSS ESSAY TOPICS ONE-TO-ONE: Morag has made a big success of teaching in London. Shes only 28. After starting her career in a foreign city, shes now second in charge of her schools English Department. Her pupils feed off her enthusiasm they pay attention to her they seem stimulated by her passion for the subject. But it wasnt like that when she first walked into the job all those years ago
UPS MORAG: Walking into the classroom and seeing the kids for the first time it was like oh my God I cant actually believe this is what Im going to have to put up with. And I remember sitting in the staffroom with a couple of SEN teachers, the special needs teachers and they looked at this list and they just went, okay well dont put that one next to that one. Okay but he cant go next to that one either. So eventually I got this whole bloody class of kids who were just psychotic really and they couldnt sit next to each other. They were 13 year old thugs and I just thought oh God and that was the first experience of getting there and I did think holy crap what have I got myself into. But it gets better it did get better because I stayed at the school.
VIS/UPS MORAG IN CLASS: Her pupils have seen many teachers come and go. Theyve now come to trust that their Miss Taylor will be at her post every term expecting the best from them encouraging them to reach beyond their deprived backgrounds.
But theyre in for some bad news. The constant grind of dealing with behaviour problems in the school has finally got to Morag not to mention all the admin and the increased demands of the curriculum. Next year the principal, or head teacher as they call them here, will have to find a replacement for Morag and about 14 others...
UPS MORAG: The last time was three years ago when I think it was 22 members of staff who left at one go. Thats huge I know that theres a lot of people unhappy at the moment at the school and theres a lot of us planning on leaving. Were tired. Were weary I think our head teacher tries very hard to recruit British teachers. That is something that she does try and push for. But theres just not enough interest to come and teach in an inner-city London school
VIS LONDON ESTABLISHERS: Londons government-funded schools have a bad reputation. More and more British teachers opt not to work here. The gaps they leave are being filled by foreigners. Of all the overseas teachers in London, the majority are South Africans. More than 5000 migrated to the UK in the last 3 years alone.
The attraction is obvious. Teachers earning meagre salaries in rands can earn 12 times as much here. If they live cheaply, they say they can save or pay off study loans or mortgages back home. Travel around Europe is a stones throw away and the city is alive with history and innovation. Theres a rich Western culture and the opportunity for personal growth
VIS BRUCE PLAYING FLUTE: It was for all these reasons that Bruce Verity wanted to come here. Schools from the county of Surrey came to recruit staff in Johannesburg. Bruce persuaded his partner of 20 years to see if there was a job for him too. Bruce was ready to sell his home, pack up and go
UPS BRUCE: Well I was hoping that the experience would be a first world experience to see how music which is my subject in particular is taught in the UK under better circumstances than we had here.
UPS TERRY: My partner Bruce started to talk of his desire to leave. I found that very threatening because I did not want to go and I had family commitments but I can date when exactly my thinking began to change. It was one specific day at the end of the year when I heard in one day that two different people had been murdered two different friends Two in one day
VIS BRUCE PLAYING FLUTE: Rising crime and changes at work were pushing the couple to leave South Africa. They felt there was a rush to implement Outcomes-Based Education. They worried that affirmative action would affect their careers.
VIS/UPS TERRY IN CLASS THROWING NUMBER BALL: Despite his initial reluctance, Terry had no trouble finding a job. Maths teachers are in demand. And he was trained in Outcomes-Based Education - the system also used in Britain. Hes now been teaching in Surrey, 40 minutes from London, for 6 months. Terry was delighted at the level of attention given to his professional advancement at the school
UPS TERRY: There was an induction day provided by the school before we ever started. I have a designated mentor within the department. Who meets with me once a fortnight on a formal context and also more often informally. To talk about specific difficulties, challenges, unexpected things that I have seen. Its just been an enormous amount of support and time and written materials presented to me by the school and by the county. To help me get settled I never experienced anything touching that scale of support back in SA and I don't think any South African teacher could ever expect that level of support.
VIS BRUCE PLAYING FLUTE: Bruce had the same induction and mentoring and support. Most overseas teachers do. But none of it was enough to make him stay. A month ago he fled back to preserve what was left of his sanity to pick up the pieces of his old life.
UPS BRUCE: I hated the school so much that within the first day I wanted to leave.
VIS SPY FOOTAGE/UPS BRUCE: total disregard and I mean the teacher can stand on his head or her head it makes no difference. Total unwillingness to participate in anything to do with the lesson. they are very good at eating sweets, one of my theories personal theories is that they are so full of sugar they couldn't learn even if they wanted to. The lessons are an hour long which is really very difficult because these children with all respect to them and their parents and their background cant concentrate for an hour. I think 20 minutes would be pushing it.
VIS SPY FOOTAGE: Almost all government schools have a reputation for a lack of discipline. They constantly devise new rules and tools for teachers to try and curb unruliness. Theres ongoing public debate in the UK about what to do about disruptive behaviour.
UPS ABOUT NOTE. As in South Africa, theres no corporal punishment. The rights of the child are supreme. But theres also a culture thats less accepting of authority. Its a combination that some teachers say, leaves them powerless in class.
UPS MORAG: We cannot actually try and touch the children sometimes. You know just a nice arm. A nice hand on the arm just to comfort them if theyre having a moment A hug not really allowed to do that. Heres a huge fight going on outside your classroom. I remember separating this one fight. And Im tiny. Im short. And theres Goliath and the human Yeti standing on either side of me and Im like okay look boys do you want to talk about it because this is not good. Lets sit down and talk about it side of my head and theyre big, big boys with muscles and Im trying to separate this. But you are not supposed to touch the child be cause they could turn the tables on you because they have that kind of power. Theyre allowed to swear at you. Theyre allowed to tell you to f off and call you incredible, horrible names. Theres not really much you can do about it because youll phone home and say oh your child called me an f-ing this today and the parent will go oh Ill have a word with them then. And its completely powerless. The parents dont have much power over these children that we teach I think the discipline in Britain needs incredible work.
VIS LEON & GOOLAM WALK INTO DEPT OFFICE: In the trenches with Morag in the English Department are Leon Claassen and Goolam Rawat. Theyre both well-travelled, seasoned teachers. They decided to give London a chance when they saw jobs advertised in South African newspapers.
UPS LEON: I was a reformatory before we came over here......a special needs school. Boys had been sent there for murder, rape habitual mugging etc after dealing with that ....it was a culture shock but soon got over it and you think you could handle those boys so coming over here should be a doddle but it was a totally different case when I came over here.
UPS GOOLAM: You had to adjust your expectations in terms of the pupils. Youd have to learn what they want in life. The common statement they would make is I dont care.
UPS LEON: I was given I suppose the worst classes in the school. Boys would be been jumping on tables, lying around, been rude to you in the face....things you are not used to in SA almost being physical with you. Obviously at the point of being physical they hold back knowing that thatll be expelled. Its the continuation of that behaviour day and day out the gets to you. There was another person there from CT who left two weeks.
UPS GOOLAM: Coming form SA where education is valued highly it comes as a bit of a shock that people dont see education as the gateway to opening doors.
VIS TEACHERS IN PUB: After the break: Schools out and the teachers get to play what teachers in London talk about after hours
ADBREAK
PART 2
VIS QUEUEING OUTSIDE: This is Manchester, three hours by train, north of London.
Poverty looks different in the UK. South Africans associate it with dusty townships and makeshift tin shacks. Here cramped, bleak council houses represent the face of deprivation.
Its taken Augusta Retief a good year and a half to feel shes beginning to bridge the cultural gap between herself and these kids. Shed taught at government and private schools in South Africa. She thought this would be enough experience to draw on. But between the kids acute educational needs and the vast workload of her post, its been a rough ride.
UPS AUGUSTA: Ek het defnitief meer stress hier as wat ek ooit daar gehad het. Jy kan daar n kans vat en in n klas inloop en nie 100% voorbereid wees nie. Maar hier kan jy dit nie doen nie. Dis hoekom jy n uur of n uur en half voor die tyd skool toe gaan om jou skoolwerk reg te kry, want jy weet nie wat anders kan nog gebeur nie.
TRANSLATE AUGUSTA: I definitely have more stress here than I ever had there. There you could take a chance and walk into a classroom and not be a 100% prepared. Here you cant do that. So you go to school an hour hour and a half early to prepare your work, because you dont know what else can happen.
VIS COMING INSIDE: Primary school kids may be easier to control, but disruptive behaviour can still makes the school day unpredictable. Augusta believes the problem starts at an early age, and stems from difficulties at home. But its made worse because theres little continuity in the kids lives at school
UPS AUGUSTA: Waar ek skoolhou kom die helfte van die kinders van Somalie af, so ek dink hulles dalk meer in gemeen met my as wat hulle met die Engelse onderwysers het, en hulles altyd baie vinnig om vir mense te sê OH MY TEACHER IS FROM AFRICA Maar ek dink dit is n problem, want onderwysers kom en gaan en hierdie kinders is so behoeftig. As n onderwyser nie lank bly nie kan jy nie daai verhouding opbou nie en jy kan nie regtig by die kern van die problem uitkom om die kind te help nie
Die kinders, academies-gewys is n baie groot uitdaging want baie kinders sit met Engels as n tweede taal, baie kinders kom van ander lande af gevlug uit ander lande uit so hulle moet dit eers oorbrug voor hulle kan begin skoolgaan
TRANSLATE AUGUSTA: Where I teach half the kids come from Somalia, so they perhaps have more in common with me than with most English teachers. Theyre say My teacher comes from Africa! but I think its a problem, because teachers come and go and these kids are so needy If a teacher doesnt stay long, you cant build a relationship and you cant really get to the core of a childs problems to help them.
Academically, the kids present a big challenge, because most of them speak English as a second-language many are refugees, so they first have to overcome that before they can start learning.
Academically gifted or wealthy kids are likely to go to private or more exclusive schools . where standards are high and where the best British teachers want to work. Comprehensive government schools are a melting pot for kids from all over the world kids of mixed ability and mixed needs. Its here that classes are difficult to teach. And its here that foreign teachers are most likely to be employed.
Its unlikely that money alone can solve the problem???. Compared to South Africa, UK government schools are already very well-resourced.
UPS AUGUSTA: As ek ooit met my vriendinne praat in Suid-Afrika wat ook skoolhou dan se ek vir hulle ek koop nie n rooipen eers uit my eie sak uit nie as ek na die skoolhoof toe gaan en se hoor hier my kinders sukkel met n sekere aspek, of ek het meer boeke nodig oor een of ander deel oor se maar wiskunde of lees, of enige so iets dan kry ek die boeke. Meeste klasse het n teaching assistant wat heeldag saam met jou in die klas is om of jou fotostaatwerk te doen, of by kinders te sit en hulle te ondersteun. Ons kry alles wat ons nodiget en nog meer.
TRANSLATE AUGUSTA: Whenever I talk to my friends who teach in South Africa, I tell them I dont even buy a pen from my own pocket. If I tell the principal my kids are struggling with something or need more books, I get them. Most classes have a teaching assistant that stay with you all day to help with making copies or supporting the kids. We have everything we need and more.
VIS CURRY MILE: But in another short while, Augusta too will say goodbye to Manchester. Shes here for only three years, while her husband Francois completes his PhD at the University. Then her class, like countless others throughout the UK, will have to adapt to yet another new teacher.
VIS COACH & HORSES PUB: Back in London we meet a group of friends unwinding at the end of the week. They all teach at the same school. In their group is an Australian and a native Brit. We ask Ben why British teachers leave teaching in the cities to foreigners:
16 39 BEN: Its almost like having two jobs, you have your job from 9 until 3.30 when the children are there teaching or in some cases crowd-control, even Alex is talking of crowd control in supply I think even in our job as regular teachers, a lot of it is crowd control 16 56 I think everybody will agree with me there 16 58 youve got crowd control issues anyway even if youre doing a regular class 17 02 because theres a lot of kids youll have problems going mad 17 10 And then youre times spent some people come in early for school, some people do it afterwards, youve got planning, assessment, youve got bits and pieces to fill out theres constant bits of paperwork that just seem to flow my desk is just overflowed with bits of paper that Im supposed to fill out 17 30
VIS CUTAWAYS PUB: Everyone agrees on the workload issue. But for the foreigners their pay makes it worth the effort. And then theres the novelty of being in London.
UPS LORNA: If Phil will agree with me, we do have a better standard of living. We can pay the mortgage back home, we can afford the rent here, we can afford to go home, were a family of 4, once a year, we can afford to bring family over on vacation we can afford still to go and see other places So I would think that the standard of living, coming over here, compared to what we had for the 15 years of teaching back home is way higher than living at home
ALEX: I didnt come here to have a full-time job, I thought when I get to that point, thats what I want to do, Ill go home 30 46 I mean, Im here to travel and to do things differently from the way I did things at home I mean, Australia is so far away that the opportunity to go over for the weekend to Paris or to got to Amsterdam, to go to Prague for the week, is not available to you, so I suppose my ambition here was different some people would come here to settle, I havent 31 08
VIS PUB CUTAWAYS: Like Alex, many foreigners take short-term teaching jobs. These pay better and come with less responsibility. Most South Africans we met in London plan to come home one day when their work permits or visas expire. But for someone like Ben, for better of worse, London is home.
17 41 BEN: Its expensive place to live in London you graduate, you do your teacher training you come and work in London youre supposed to be a professional and you end up living in a house almost like a student, so youre living in a house, youre sharing a house with you know 5 other people maybe when I started I was in a big house with like 5, 6 other people you got a job, but youre still living like a student 18 03
After the break South Africa and Britain count the cost of the brain drain.
ADBREAK
PART 3
VIS LEYTONSTONE EST: Leytonstone, a suburb in Londons East-end. Youll probably hear more Afrikaans walking down the main street for an hour than in Johannesburg in a week.
VIS ILLONA DOING MAKEUP We meet Illona Wattel from Stellenbosch and her friend Chaela Edwards from Zimbabwe. Illona heard about temporary stand-in teaching jobs in London when a recruitment agency came to the University. Just turn up and youll get work, was the message. But they said little about how kids here see these so-called supply teachers
UPS ILLONA: 10 59 I got here I think on the Sunday Wednesday I started working 11 02
UPS ILLONA: theyve got no respect, especially if youre a foreigner with a different accent they dont really respect you 17 36 If you walk into a classroom as a supply teacher for a day, they just see how far they can get 04 17 They dont want to work, they think its a free lesson they dont see you as a teacher 17 46 They ask, did you study? And do you know the subject? 17 50 And then its quite difficult controlling or teaching them 17 53
VIS DOWN THE STAIRS: The girls dont mind relatively cheap accommodation. They rent by the week. About 7 of them share. Illona came here to travel and to pay off a house she bought in South Africa. She now earns many times what she would at home. Even though shes not committed to one school, shes never short of work
UPS ILLONA: 32 16 They take days off very easily the English teachers theres always 32 21 Every day when I go to school on the cover slip theres about 4, 5 teachers absent 32 25 and its English teachers permanent teachers at the school 32 28 and then we come in and cover the lessons 32 32 CHAELA: foreigners are just too happy to earn POUNDS!!! 32 46 ILLONA: They think theyre not earning enough money as well on long-tem jobs 32 50
UPS STEVE SINNOT 42 35 there is a teacher shortage in the UK and its a problem of teaching retention rather that teacher recruitment. So what were able to do is to get young people to make a decision to be a teacher in the UK thats what were able to do but what were less able to do is to keep them in the field of teaching
UPS PATRICK ROACH 19 07 nobody actually wants to teach in London, it seems because of the levels of pay that are available in this city 19 18 And that in itself presents problems for other teachers: Who am I working with today ? becomes the question Can I actually do my work in a reasonably organised and coherent fashion if I dont actually know who it is that Im going to be working with
UPS STEVE SINNOT 47 17 that we dont want to have a situation where on a Friday...on a Sunday evening a teacher gets off the plane in Heathrow coming from Johannesburg and is placed in a school in one of the most challenging schools with poor behaviour where the youngsters may have had a series of teachers and where that teacher is placed immediately into that school and that has happened....
UPS PATRICK ROACH: 19 33 It presents problems for pupils and indeed parents Whos gonna be teaching me today? And if I cant be sure about whos gonna be teaching me today why should I invest any of myself into the school system
VIS COMMITTEE MEETING: More than half of UK residents who become teachers change their minds within five years. The British Government is now taking stock of what its foreign recruitment is doing to the education systems of developing nations.
Recently, Duncan Hindle, spokesman for the South African Department of Education, addressed the International Committee in the House of Commons. For now, he says South African teachers actually benefit:
VIS COMMITTEE MEETING/UPS DUNCAN HINDLE: come back better teachers many come back with respect, saying our schools look better too 17 02 unintended consequences ZIMBABWE good teachers want to come hands off unemployed teachers in our own country understanding of global migration and not just a one-way flow out of developing countries, into developed countries if we can benefit from exchange, that must be a good thing 17 43
UPS PARICK ROACH: If we were actually providing proper rates of pay for all teachers, making the job far more attractive, then we wouldnt actually have to be recruiting actively recruiting, aggressively recruiting from overseas
UPS STEVE SINNOT: If we genuinely committed to getting children in school and all African children into school we will require by 2015, 5 million extra teachers 5 million extra teachers. Currently Africa is a net exporter of teachers. Thats wrong.
UPS PATRICK ROACH: Britains post-industrial history has been founded on poaching looting human resources from across the globe thats how Britains made its way as a post-industrial nation. I mean, thats the reality dont think we can lose sight of that, but I think we have to be critical about it and we have to take some steps to address that problem
Until the UK can solve its teacher shortage, London will present great challenges and great times for South Africans. Those with the stamina to teach here.
VIS ZULUS: Leytonstone Special Assignment is here!!!