I completely agree with you where you say that it is a workers responsibility to know what the laws (both employment and otherwise) and thus their personal rights are of the country they are in.
Unfortunately however, with all the knowledge in the world of your personal rights, people are often too scared to go against the powers at be so to speak, as they do not want to be chastised by their colleagues (I have seen this happened too many times) or have their lives be made a living hell by SM. Yes, this is not right, and yes, depending on the circumstances and extent, may be against the law, but unfortunately it still happeneds each and every day in schools in the UK, and I have been amazed by how many people I have come in contact with in the past four years who either have no idea (or refuse to acknowledge and turn a 'blind eye') that it is even happening.
An OTT who has just acquired British QTS most definately should not be paid as an NQT, especially since they are not one...but unfortunately the fact of the matter is that it does happened, and even when questioning this with unions etc.. they said that there is nothing one can do about it because an OTT who has just acquired British QTS is very often seen as an NQT for payscale purposes, and that was my point...is that they are being paid as NQT's even though they are not. They are doing a full timetable with subject responsibility and are not on a reduced timetable as an NQT is.
"OTTs DON'T have QTS according to UK law so you can't argue they do"
OTT's do have QTS from their respective countries...it is just not recognised by Britain which is the biggest point. An OTT is not unqualified, and thats what my argument is. By calling the payscale the "Unqualified teacher payscale", it sends the wrong message to people who do not have the proper or correct information.
When I came to teach in England, I was a Canadian teacher with Canadian QTS which Britain does not recognise, but it does not mean I am not a qualified teacher.
So I think in the end, it comes down to the choice of words, whether it is an OTT coming to teach in England, or vice versa...referring to an OTT as "unqualified" goes not only against the education level they have worked hard to achieve, but also against their home countries whole education system.
The sad part is that, this is not just specific to teachers, or to Britain. It happeneds all over the world to all different occupations. Speaking from the North American perspective..there are SO many individuals who are very highly educated with PHD's from their home countries, that come to North America to seek a better life for themselves/their families and they end up in minimum wage jobs because their qualifications are not recognised.
Just out of interest...what did you mean by "validation" where you wrote "Non EEA trained teachers can apply for validation by the GTC through NARIC"? I have had too many bad interactions with NARIC, that I cannot say anything positive about them, as they are so entirely disorganised etc...but I just was not sure what you meant by that sentence?
I think that people such as yourself frakkin truly understand the frustration of constantly dealing with the different countries rules/regulations/laws (as you mentioned your personal circumstance above)...are you a teacher as well?....I have a friend from the States who is in Germany right now with her husband who is stationed there at the moment from the Army, and she too has had to jump through SO many hoops to get her qualifications recognised....and it is just so frustrating, and without letting people know that the concept exists, it will never have a chance to change.