Perks, good salaries and well-mannered pupils are among the reasons some South African teachers are choosing to take up jobs overseas.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), New Zealand, Australia, the UK, South Korea, China, Japan and Qatar are among the countries enticing local teachers. While there are no official figures on the number emigrating, an expert has warned that South Africa is losing some of its best young talent "at alarming rates".
When Amoré Lategan started teaching at an English academy in South Korea in 2018, she was forced to adopt an American accent.
The 30-year-old from Atlantis in Cape Town, whose take-home pay is R38,000 after being a teacher for six years, is also still battling to learn and understand the Korean language. But she does not have any plans to return home any time soon.
Anthony Botha, 27, from Pretoria, who has been teaching in Japan for six months and is earning almost R31,000, also can’t see himself teaching locally “after having experienced such well-mannered pupils in Japan”.
Another South African, Lizelle Faltein, 37, who has been teaching in the UAE for the past seven years, said she had no intention of returning, as "teaching in Abu Dhabi is better because you are valued and appreciated".
It makes little sense for the state to invest in training and graduating thousands of teachers every year and then [to lose] them to other countries
— Prof Jonathan Jansen, Stellenbosch University
Schools in Abu Dhabi recently advertised posts for maths and art and design teachers with a tax-free salary of between R51,000 and R58,000.
A private school in Australia, John Paul College, has advertised posts which close on September 20 for South African teachers to teach English, maths, music, physical education and science. An annual salary of R1m is on offer to teachers with at least two years' teaching experience.
A first-year teacher with a four-year degree teaching at a government school locally earns R317,139 a year, while a teacher with two years’ experience earns R318,648.
The Japanese embassy confirmed that 103 South African teachers were granted working visas to teach at government and private schools in 2021, and 152 in 2022.
While this year’s figures were not available, 51 teachers left for Japan in July as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme.
The Korean embassy granted foreign language instructor and teaching assistant visas to 420 South Africans in 2021, 1,263 last year and 992 so far this year.
Australia’s department of home affairs confirmed that 210 permanent visas were granted to South African teachers between July last year and June compared to 14 in the previous financial year.
New Zealand and the UK are also enticing applicants with relocation grants of R113,000 and R239,000 respectively.
Anna Welanyk, deputy secretary for education workforce in New Zealand’s education department, told the Sunday Times that 187 South African teachers were each paid an overseas relocation grant of almost R113,000 between July last year and June.
“We are very interested in attracting secondary school teachers who specialise in science, technology and maths,” she said.
The UK’s education department said that applications for the international relocation payment only opened on September 4, and that there was no data on the number of teachers who will receive it. Those teaching physics and languages except English who have been employed on a one-year contract at a high school since the beginning of this month are eligible for the benefit.
At least 39 of the 1,095 teachers who resigned from the Western Cape education department between April last year and March cited emigration as the reason for leaving their jobs.
According to a research report published in June by Stellenbosch University researcher Prof Martin Gustafsson, it is difficult to obtain reliable figures on teacher graduates who emigrate annually.
“One set of figures points to around 18,000 South Africans working as teachers abroad, but this statistic only covers rich OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries, and not countries such as China and Vietnam.”
Meanwhile, MD of international teacher recruitment agency Edvectus Diane Jacoutot confirmed that since 2020 they had placed 50% more South African teachers in schools overseas than before the Covid pandemic in August 2019.
She said South Africans specifically enjoyed teaching in the UAE, and that they had placed “a large number” at government schools this year.
“Our highest-need subjects are primary school teaching and English, maths, computers and science in grades 10 to 12.”
Durban-based Ebeneezer Recruitment confirmed that 40 teachers were placed at schools in Thailand and China between January and July this year, compared with 25 over the same period last year.
Lategan, who teaches at Korea Poly School, said safety was the biggest perk of teaching in South Korea, adding: “I can literally fall sleep outside and no-one will touch me.”
She said both pupils and parents were very respectful compared with the level of respect shown to teachers in South Africa, which “is insanely low”.
Botha, who teaches at Shosei Junior High School in Tonami city, Japan, expressed similar sentiments, saying that, though he enjoyed teaching in South Africa, “the discipline in those classrooms can get tough at times, with little to no support from school management and parents”.
“I am not sure if the Japanese pupils’ good manners are because of their moral lessons at school or their upbringing, but South Africa could definitely take some notes.”
He plans to find a higher-paying job at an international school closer to Tokyo and remain a teacher in Japan indefinitely.
Faltein, an academic vice-principal at a girls’ school in Al Ain in Abu Dhabi, said moving there was “the best decision I ever made”.
She said there were six South Africans at her school, and 126 South Africans in Al Ain were members of a WhatsApp group.
She said she was paid “a lot which is tax-free”.
Collbin Nyakane, 33, who has been teaching English to grade 3, 6 and 8 pupils at Kang Chiao International School in Hefei, China, since 2019, said that, while he was better off financially, being away from home was a challenge.
“Home will always be home, and a job as great as this would have been a lot better back at home. I am still studying further. I graduated with a master’s degree back in April, and that’s preparing me for the big return one day,” said Nyakane, who is from Hazyview, Mpumalanga.
Leonard King, 57, who since 2008 has taught in the UK and the UAE, and is now teaching at a private school in Qatar, said he planned to teach there for as long as he can.
He said the starting salary there ranged from almost R76,000 to R101,000.
Cassandra Bush, 22, from Cape Town, who graduated at the end of last year, and is teaching in Japan said: “I am wanting to teach here for a year, and if things go well I’d be happy to stay on for a few more years, especially as I’m still young and I have nothing holding me back at home.”
Jonathan Jansen, distinguished professor of education at Stellenbosch University, said there was no question that South African schools were losing some of their best young talent to the UAE, South Korea, Vietnam, Europe, New Zealand and Australia at alarming rates.
“It makes little sense for the state to invest in training and graduating thousands of teachers every year and then [to lose] them to other countries ahead of the so-called retirement bulge crisis.
“The response is not to beat our chests and complain about the departure of young, qualified teachers. What we need is some honest reflection on why these young people leave in the first place.
“We have some hints about this, including safety and security for those with young families and, of course, much more competitive salaries elsewhere.
“What we can control is to improve the conditions under which most of our teachers teach, and at least make the school and classroom environments more stable and more conducive to teaching.”
The department of basic education did not respond to media queries.
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