Teacher training providers are seeking clarification from the government about how international teacher trainees will be impacted by planned immigration reforms.

Earlier this month the government set out changes to its immigration policies to reduce the number of people entering the country.

However, the teaching sector is yet to receive answers on how this will impact those from overseas entering the profession amid a recruitment and retention crisis. 

The plans come after the government cut its target for recruiting postgraduates into initial teacher training for next year due to more hopeful teacher retention forecasts.

Immigration policy and teacher training

Under the proposed immigration changes, set out in a White Paper, immigrants will have to live in the UK for 10 years before applying for the right to stay indefinitely, which is double the current five-year period.

There will be a faster route for those considered to be “high-skilled” and “high-contributing”, but it is not yet known whether this will include teachers.

International graduates will only be able to stay in the UK for 18 months, rather than two years, after their studies finish.

The government has anticipated that these changes will result in 7,000 fewer immigration applications from graduates each year.

The plans are due to come into force over the course of this parliament, but the Home Office has said that there will be a consultation on indefinite leave to remain later this year.

How could this impact ITT?

Tes understands that a number of teacher training providers have been in contact with the Department for Education to express concerns about how international teacher trainees will be affected.

James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), told Tes that providers need answers.

“We need to know what the implications of the White Paper are for the recruitment of student teachers, and the scope student teachers have to remain in this country once qualified,” he said.

According to 2024-25 initial teacher training statistics, 10 per cent of postgraduate entrants were non-UK nationals - a 1 per cent increase from the previous year.

Physics, modern foreign languages and science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) subjects had the largest proportions of these entrants.

“The proposal to reduce the length of graduate visas will make it difficult for such teachers to remain in the country for the full two years of their early career induction,” Mr Noble-Rogers said.

He added that it can be “difficult for people to get sponsorship for work visas as the process is very bureaucratic for schools” and “many posts are not advertised as being open to applications from people requiring visas”. 

While Tes understands that the Home Office will be setting out requirements for workforce strategies for key sectors where there are high levels of recruitment from abroad, the details of which sectors this will apply to are yet to be confirmed.

Trainees ‘could be timed out’

Emma Hollis, CEO of the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT), told Tes that her organisation is working with the DfE to understand the implications for the sector.

However, she identified several potential issues with how ITT could be impacted, which she said the government has yet to clarify.

Ms Hollis said the government has not yet said whether teachers will be considered as part of the “high-skilled, high-contributing” group who can apply for the right to stay indefinitely sooner.

Only being able to stay in the UK for 18 months after graduating would have a direct impact on applicants for both school-based teacher training and university teacher training, she said.

“This change to the time limit may make staying on after an undergraduate degree less attractive to applicants,” Ms Hollis warned.

She added that teacher trainees may find themselves “timed out of a programme of ITT if they do not commence within six months of obtaining the graduate visa”.

The Department for Education declined to comment.

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