British teachers and staff had been warned at the end of January that they could be made redundant immediately after a hard Brexit. That warning has now been lifted, according to the European Commission.

There are 55 seconded British teachers and staff in the EU, including 8 in Luxembourg.

The Office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools and the UK Department of Education reached a “common understanding” on Friday, a European Commission spokeswoman told Delano on 1 March.

Under the arrangement, Britain, in case of a no-deal Brexit, would continue seconding teachers until 31 August 2020. The UK would also send two national inspectors and “provide experts in relation to the European Baccalaureate” to the European school system through the 2019/2020 school year.

The UK would additionally continue to automatically recognise the European baccalaureate and continue accepting EU baccalaureate holders to UK universities on the same basis as British nationals until August 2020.

A European Commission spokeswoman told Delano on Friday: “The commission welcomes this positive outcome in the interest of teachers, pupils, parents, and the whole European Schools community.”

As of this writing, the UK education department had not returned Delano’s message seeking comment.

If the withdrawal agreement reached between British and European leaders in November is approved, the UK would stay in the European school system until 31 August 2021, Andreas Beckmann, deputy secretary general of the European Schools, in Brussels, told Delano in February.