Should teachers stay at home? The impact of international teacher mobility

Abstract This article assesses the impact of international teacher migration on developing countries, based on a project covering Botswana, England, Jamaica and South Africa. It draws upon fieldwork conducted in 2003, including surveys of schools, migrant teachers and trainee teachers. The article estimates the extent of the movements and argues that they are largely transitional. The salary gains from migration are reported, along with estimates of the costs to sending countries in terms of training subsidies. International recruitment is not found to lead to harmful shortages of teachers in Jamaica and South Africa, but may ‘cream off’ the more effective teachers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.