Teachers of Russian and their careers

Fifty-four qualified teachers of Russian replied to an inquiry in July 1984. Fifteen of them have never taught Russian, 35 were not teaching it at that time within the curriculum of a British secondary school, including three who had never entered the profession and nine who had left it permanently or temporarily. (Forty-two were still in teaching in the United Kingdom.) Of those not teaching Russian, ten have lost interest or found other areas in which to employ their talents, but 33 or about 66 per cent of those still in teaching or likely to return to the profession retain a lively interest in the subject and wish to continue teaching Russian, expand their commitment to it, or start to teach it if the opportunity arises. As far as can be estimated from the figures the 54 respondents themselves supplied, they have spent on average over their whole careers only 19 per cent of their teaching time on Russian. In July 1984 they were spending only 15 per cent of it teaching that language. Even allowing for the natural desire of these teachers to devote a substantial amount of their time to other subjects in which they have an interest, the conclusion cannot be avoided that the same workforce could teach three or four times as much Russian as it is doing at present. Whatever is holding back the development of Russian studies in Britain, it is not the lack of qualified schoolteachers.