Partial and Virtual Return: the Willingness of Migrant Zimbabwean Teachers in South Africa to Participate in Skills Tran
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Partial and Virtual Return: the Willingness of Migrant Zimbabwean Teachers in South Africa to Participate in Skills Transfer Zenzele Weda 1 & Rian de Villiers 2 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract With an estimated 40,000 migrant Zimbabwean teachers in neighbouring South Africa, the question of tapping into their skills for the development of their country hinges on their willingness to participate. This study sought to understand the disposition of the resident migrant Zimbabwean teachers in South Africa to participate in a skills transfer programme through partial and virtual return. The study established that all the participants would be willing to volunteer to contribute to the development of their patria through partial and virtual return and that some of them were already engaged in some voluntary developmental work in certain communities. However, a lack of time and a stifling political environment were cited as the major challenges to their possible participation. Keywords Development . Human resources . Return migration . Skills transfer . South
Africa . Teacher migration . Virtual and partial return . Zimbabwe
Introduction The total number of international migrants globally reached and estimated 272 million in 2019, an increase of 51 million since 2010. At present, international migrants comprise 3.5% of the global population, compared with 2.8% in the year 2000 (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2019). The increase in worldwide international migration has thus resulted in an increase in worker migration. The International Labour Organisation (ILO 2015) established that about half of the world’s international
* Rian de Villiers [email protected] Zenzele Weda [email protected]
1
Department of Educational Foundations, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
2
Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield 0028, South Africa
Weda Z., de Villiers R.
migrants are economically active. The past 50 years have seen a steady increase in the participation of teachers in this global migration of workers (Morgan et al. 2005; Reid and Collins 2013, 269). The question of how source countries can make the best of outmigration despite the obvious skills drains remains unanswered. This research paper seeks to make a modest contribution to the literature on migrant teacher skills exchange through partial and virtual return. Partial return refers to the short-term (a few weeks up to a year) return of migrants to their homeland in order to transfer skills (Shinn 2008). Virtual return refers to a skills exchange that is achieved through an Internet connection or videoconferencing and through virtual information networks (Agunias and Newland 2012; IOM 2008). The research question posed here is: How willing are the migrant Zimbabwean teachers located in South Africa to voluntarily participate in a skills exchange programme to benefit education in their country through partial and virtual return?
The Out-migration of Skilled Labour Earlier discourses
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