Abstract:
Overseas trained teachers (OTTs), from traditional Anglo-Celtic countries and non-English-speaking background countries have found their way into the Australian education system in considerable numbers to fill the gaps created as a result of retirement and attrition due to other factors. Over the last two decades, researchers have published numerous articles documenting the experiences of OTTs not only in Australia but also in other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The purpose of this paper is to survey and review the literature on the experiences of OTTs in Australia from 2005 to 2015 and to compare it to what has been published about their counterparts in Canada and the United Kingdom with a view to establishing whether there are common or recurrent themes as well as identifying gaps that would stimulate interest for further research. The method used was to search educational databases using keywords and phrases such as, overseas trained teachers, internationally educated teachers, and immigrant teachers with connectors to experiences, barriers, obstacles, employment, retention and professional integration. The search yielded a large number of articles from which were selected those that explicitly catalogued the experiences of immigrant teachers. The findings revealed that OTTs encountered a myriad of barriers and hurdles as they sought to re-establish their careers in a new country. The common and recurrent themes in all the countries surveyed included: English language proficiency; bureaucratic red tape during initial registration; recognition of qualifications and experience; re-certification, socio-cultural and professional integration; and, discrimination. It also emerged that OTTs from similar English-speaking Anglo-Celtic background countries as the host country integrated more easily and readily into their new cultures and did not experience as much difficulties as their colleagues from non-English speaking background countries. Conspicuously, there was a dearth of information about the roles and views of administrators and policymakers, as well as a paucity of discourse on the theoretical framework underpinning research on the experiences of OTTs, suggesting a shift in the focus of future research on the topic.