Teacher shortages: response to Migration Advisory Committee (MAC)
Evidence report on whether teachers should be included on the UK shortage occupation list.
In June 2016, the UK Government asked the MAC to review whether there was a shortage of teachers in the UK, which it would be sensible to fill through non-European Economic Area (EEA) migration.
The MAC periodically review shortages in order to determine whether occupations should remain/come off the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) or whether more categories should be added. If the MAC find that there is a shortage, occupations are included on the list. Secondary teachers in maths, physics and chemistry are currently included on the SOL.
Local authorities are the employers of teachers in Scotland and therefore the benefit to them of Secondary teachers in these subjects being included on the List is that they can recruit those teachers from outside the EEA and they do not need to satisfy the Resident Labour Market Test (where employers need to prove that no other UK or EEA national could do the job).
This is the Scottish Government and COSLA joint response to the MAC's review in October 2016, with recommendations to maintain maths, physics and chemistry teachers and including computer science, and design technology teachers on the Shortage Occupation List (UK and Scotland only).