Recruitment and retention of staff
Recruitment and retention are key issues facing school managers. Individual
schools and governing bodies are responsible for recruiting and retaining their
staff, and hold most of the budgets. It is natural for there to be some
competition between schools to recruit the best staff. However, some teacher
shortages affect a whole area or subject. Where this is the case, recruitment
strategies will be more effective if schools and LAs work together and learn
from each other's experiences.
Realistic planning and anticipation of problems are vital. Schools that think they may be in difficulty should signal this early to their LAs. Key figures here are the Recruitment Strategy Managers (RSMs) which most LAs either have already or plan to recruit. Through their national network and links with the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), RSMs should able to advise on what has been tried elsewhere, either locally or nationally.
The Department, in partnership with Tribal, is launching a new Schools Recruitment Service in September 2009. This Service is an innovative online system for schools in England to recruit permanent teaching and support staff. The Service will improve their recruitment process and make savings in time, money and resources to help schools deliver a first-class education for our children. The Schools Recruitment Service will allow schools and local authorities to upload their job vacancies, whilst candidates will register, search for and apply for jobs online. Recruiters will also be able to send email alerts to candidates about potential roles that match the search criteria.
TeacherNet's A to Z of School Leadership has an entry on teacher recruitment, which contains a checklist of points on retention, and short and long-term recruitment. You may also wish to consider how schemes such as 'golden hellos' could help with recruitment.
If you recruit teachers directly from the Commonwealth you should read about the new agreement.
Child protection issues
NCSL provide an online training package, Safer recruitment,
in response to recommendation 16 of Bichard's report. The training is for
head teachers and school governors to ensure that interviews to appoint staff
reflect the importance of safeguarding children. Full details are on NCSL's website.
The DCSF has produced guidance to support and accompany the online training; Safeguarding Children: Safer Recruitment and Selection in Education Settings which is available to download.
General Teaching Council (GTC)
The GTC has a statutory power to advise the Secretary of State on
recruitment and retention issues, and conducted a countrywide survey to
establish why teachers leave the profession. The results of this survey
are available from the GTC website.
Checking teachers' qualifications
DCSF has produced a brief guide for employers
of teachers on checking their qualifications.
Supply teachers
A Quality Mark for supply teacher agencies has been introduced. The
mark sets minimum standards for agencies in the way they recruit and interview
staff, how they check and manage their staff and the way they stay at the
forefront of changes in the teaching sector. The agencies will also be assessed
on how well they relate to schools and teachers. Click here to download the leaflet.
Last updated: 18 June 2009
