Abstract
The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) in the UK has been designed to allow farmers to recruit low-skilled overseas workers to undertake short-term agricultural work. Before 2006, the unique feature of SAWS was that the workers were full-time students pursuing higher education in areas such as agriculture or the English language in their home countries. This indicated that their work experience in the farms in the UK would provide them with significant educational benefits.
SAWS changed the eligibility for applicants in 2006 and now specifies that applicants must be either Bulgarians or Romanians but need not necessarily be students. In the present study, interview surveys were conducted on two SAWS operators and these surveys revealed that the quality of the workers has deteriorated after 2006 because of their age and knowledge.
By comparing the former SAWS with the revised one, this study recommends that, in the future, the Japanese government draw upon the former SAWS while considering the regulations governing foreign workers.
