At the end of last year, we brought you our take on prospects for summer jobs in Oxford in 2022. Now, with another month gone by and the UK back in ‘Plan A’ measures for controlling COVID, we’ve taken another quick look at how things are shaping up for summer 2022.
At the time of our last update, the UK was nearing the peak of its Omicron wave.
The new variant of COVID-19 had sent another shockwave of uncertainty through the international travel industry, with a knock-on impact to Oxford’s summer schools with their high proportion of international participants.
However, as we highlighted back then, even with more onerous travel restrictions being brought in and cases rising, there were still reasons to be optimistic. And that optimism has only strengthened as the last month or so has passed.
Read on for a few reasons why, and what this means for the general update for summer jobs in Oxford in 2022.
Travel requirements for entering the UK have been relaxed
Even prior to our last update, the UK Government had started the process of relaxing the requirements for entry to England, with the emptying of the ‘Red List’ being announced on 14th December 2021.
Travel restrictions are incredibly divisive as a COVID control mechanism. They stop people from being able to see friends and relatives abroad, make it harder for people to have holidays, and require those who do decide to travel to fork out hundreds of pounds on tests with private companies.
They also have an enormous impact on the UK’s travel and inbound tourism industries – indeed, those industry bodies are regularly arguing that, if the UK Government wants there to be a travel and tourism industry in the UK in the future, they need to stop implementing these knee-jerk changes to stop people entering the country.
However, these restrictions, whenever they are implemented, are always about delay rather than elimination of any new variant – and with the highly infectious Omicron variant, even preventing a small number of cases from arriving in the UK would have helped delay the peak of community transmission long enough for the government to implement protective measures – in this case, rolling out the booster programme.
Once there is significant community transmission of a new variant, these restrictions begin to be pointless, and we have seen them quickly rolled back previously. This proved to be the case once again with Omicron.
It is now even easier to get into England than when we wrote our last update on summer job prospects.
At the time of writing, passengers who are (at least) double vaccinated, along with all children (under 18s), do not have to quarantine on arrival in England. They do not have to take a test before they depart for the England. They must complete a lateral flow test within 48 hours of arrival – but even that requirement will disappear from 11 February. Different rules are in place for non-vaccinated adults.
As we mentioned in our last update, in summer 2021 it was often not the virus itself that was putting off parents from sending their children from overseas to an Oxford Summer School – it was the thought of them having to spend time in quarantine, and the extra hassle and effort required to decipher the latest restrictions.
As the requirements get simpler and less stringent, more and more people will be likely to book their place to fly in for an Oxford summer school – and that of course means good news for the Oxford summer jobs market!
The pent-up demand is starting to be released
Let’s be clear – even with travel to England getting easier, the number of international tourists, and international summer school students, visiting Oxford isn’t likely to reach pre-pandemic levels for another couple of years yet.
There are still some big countries that are traditionally strong markets for UK summer schools – including China, Hong Kong and Australia – that have strict border controls of their own. Hong Kong still mandates a 21-day hotel quarantine for citizens returning from the UK, for example.
However, those aside, the leading Oxford summer schools are seeing strong enrolments so far this year, driven by rebound demand from Europe and the US, as those teenagers who’ve been so limited in their travel options finally take their chance to start exploring the world.
One of the main Oxford summer schools is even reporting, on their social media, that certain courses and dates are almost fully subscribed – though it’s hard to see this anything other than a marketing tactic to try and drive people to commit now, it’s a positive sign nonetheless. Another, on their website, show a live feed of enrolments – and it’s certainly very active!
All of this points to a potentially very busy summer in Oxford, with lots of opportunities for exciting, enriching summer jobs!
England is back in ‘Plan A’ restrictions… and there might be further easing to come
Domestically, England officially returned to the ‘Plan A’ restrictions on 27th January 2022, in a step towards normality slightly at odds with the high case rates in the country.
And there are strong rumours that when the current self-isolation legislation expires at the end of March, they will not be extended.
Although many feel nervous about this, it sends signals to potential tourists in other countries that the UK is ‘open for business’ – and the lure of a summer in Oxford, just like in pre-pandemic times, is difficult for many to resist.
In summary
Considering we are still in winter, and bearing in mind the general context of COVID case rates in the UK, the picture is generally looking positive for Oxford’s leading summer employers.
There have been several pieces of good news since our update last month. The easing of domestic restrictions gives potential customers based overseas the confidence that the UK is heading back towards normality – a slice of which is precisely what people are longing for as the pandemic heads into its third calendar year.
On top of that, the evolution of travel arrival requirements to an altogether less onerous set of restrictions when arriving in England, helps people to believe that they can make plans to start travelling again.
And finally, for any that are wavering about enrolling, the new guarantees that the leading Oxford summer schools are offering are providing a safety net.
Nobody can rule out another game-changing variant that will set us back to square one. However, for now at least, things are looking good.
And this is, of course, good news for Oxford’s summer job market. The possibility that Oxford’s leading summer schools will all run sizeable operations this year is getting stronger, and they will be looking to start recruiting staff soon for their key roles.
The best places to check are of course our pages, which bring everything together for you. Check here for teaching roles, here for pastoral and activity leader roles, and here for administrative roles.
And don’t forget to sign up for our updates below, and follow us on Instagram @oxfordsummerjobs!
Oxford Summer Jobs 
Have experience in teaching ,cardiac clinical and non clinical. Worked as carer for 1 year
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