Hong Kong teachers face a 50 per cent pay cut to teach in England. Photo: EPA-EFENearly 1,900 Hong Kong teachers have applied to work in England under an initiative to source overseas educators. Around 800 have been approved so far.
But one of those chosen said candidates from Hong Kong faced a pay cut of more than 50 per cent.
The British government in December 2022 announced that educators from nine new jurisdictions, including Hong Kong, would be eligible to apply for qualified teacher status from February 2023 to teach in England.
The policy took effect two years after London introduced its British National (Overseas) visa scheme, a bespoke immigration pathway for Hongkongers offered in response to the national security law imposed by Beijing on the city in June 2020. As of June this year, 150,400 people had arrived in the UK under the immigration scheme.
Through a freedom of information request, the SCMP learned the number of Hong Kong teachers who applied and received the UK qualification from the Teaching Regulation Agency, which is sponsored by the country’s Department of Education.
150,400 Hongkongers use BN(O) option to emigrate to Britain
The data showed there were 1,887 applications by Hong Kong teachers between February 2023 and August 2024, with 797 given the qualification.
The number of applications from Hongkongers peaked during the first month of the scheme’s launch, reaching 440. The monthly figure stood at more than 100 in the four months after that.
Successful applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree, have already completed teacher training conducted in English and have at least one year of relevant experience.
They must also have professional teaching status in the country or jurisdiction where they originally qualified.
Hong Kong is grappling with its own shortage of educators after recording its highest turnover rates among primary and secondary teachers in the 2021-22 academic year.
The rate for primary teachers stood at 8.9 per cent at the time, while it hit 9.9 for secondary school educators. The figure was less than 5 per cent for both job types in previous years, before a series of emigration waves.
Edgar Yu* said he had taught in the city for more than 15 years and left in 2020, receiving his UK teaching qualification in October last year after applying in March. He currently works at a secondary school in England.
“For most of the teachers in Hong Kong, they have to pay a high price in terms of the opportunity cost if they choose to leave Hong Kong and emigrate elsewhere as the income of public servants of Hong Kong is among the top of the world,” said the economics teacher, who is in his forties.
Yu said he earned a monthly salary of more than HK$70,000 (US$9,000) in Hong Kong working as a teacher for over 15 years, but now earned less than HK$30,000 before tax in the UK.
Teachers also typically earn less outside the London area, with a starting annual salary of £31,650 (US$41,294) for those in the rest of England in the 2024-25 academic year. More experienced educators can potentially earn up to £49,084.
Yu said that while he had taught economics in Hong Kong in both Chinese and English, he found that using the latter had been a hurdle for him.
“At first, I was so scared and not confident enough to teach in an English school, as my first language is not English,” he said.
But Yu said he eventually overcame the feeling, and now only struggled to understand the jargon or slang used by local students.
Number of Hong Kong students in UK state schools rises by nearly a third
The educator said that before receiving qualified teacher status, he worked as a substitute teacher since the job did not require the local professional qualification.
Yu said the experience helped him to better understand classroom culture at UK schools and gave him the courage to take up a formal teaching role.
“I do not find it quite difficult to teach in a classroom but of course, I have to get in good preparation before lessons. My students understand well what I am teaching, as I also present it well,” he said.
The workflow of being a teacher in the UK, such as leading classes, marking learning materials and meeting parents, was quite similar to his time in Hong Kong, he said.
Yu added that his current colleagues were not surprised to see a teacher from Hong Kong as the UK was a multiracial country and they already had colleagues from various backgrounds.
Most Hong Kong educators with the UK qualification were now teaching mathematics and computer-related courses, as there was a bigger demand for such expertise in the country, he added.
Looking back on his decision, Yu said he would still have chosen to leave despite the pay cut, explaining the move was for his daughter, given the changes in the city’s political environment.
*Name changed at interviewee’s request.