FEATURE FOCUS: RECRUITMENT
the profession, 77% after three years, 73% after four years and 70% after five years. Kevin Courtney, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, commented on the figures at the time: “Despite high demand, there has been a consistent shortfall in the numbers recruited to training courses since 2010. On top of this, schools are now experiencing increased difficulties in retaining staff. Ministers need to ask themselves why this is happening and take immediate action.
“They need to face the fact that schools have become more difficult and less rewarding places in which to work. Intense workload and the demands of high-stakes testing create an environment where job satisfaction is becoming rare.”
With all of these current pressures on education, it is little wonder that the industry has witnessed a significant shift in working, with many of the teachers left in the UK favouring supply work for the flexibility, greater work/life balance – and in some cases – higher pay – it can bring. Supply teachers play a crucial role in every school, covering for teachers who are ill, absent or on training courses.
Research from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) in their Recruitment Industry Trends Survey 2014/15, shows that the education sector accounted for 8.4% of all temporary/contract placements in the whole UK economy during this timeframe – equating to an average daily number of placements of 100,600. This is an increase of 71.2% since the year before.
Contrary to belief, this vital part of the workforce is, characteristically, a highly diverse group. Despite the common assertion, it is not just retired teachers or career-break returners who are seeing the multiple benefits of supply work – many newly qualified teachers are attracted by the autonomy, manageable workload and reduced stress that it allows.
In a June 2016 survey conducted by National Union of Teachers (NUT), 26% of respondents cited “lifestyle choice” as their reason for going into supply teaching, whilst a further 33% stated they no longer wished to work in a permanent post. A survey undertaken by The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) echoes this growing trend, with 54% of respondents stating, when asked why they currently carried out supply work, that they did not want a permanent contract. These statistics demonstrate that supply teaching is becoming more viable as an alternative option and recognised as the valuable stepping stone it can be.
This has however left schools currently grappling with a soaring national supply staff bill, with the latest figures showing spending has increased by almost a fifth in the past four years – from £469 million in 2012/13 to £556 million in
2015/16. Even more notably, these figures exclude the spend for academies, which means the overall cost for academies and free schools – which now represent the majority of schools – will be substantially higher.
With these figures in mind, and the fundamental make-up of the teaching workforce substantially shifting, the question is: ‘what does this actually mean for schools, academies, colleges and universities – and ultimately, their pupils?’ Furthermore, for educational organisations that are increasingly reliant on supply cover, there is the additional question ‘how can this arrangement best work for all parties?’
Although the problems surrounding teacher recruitment and retention are multi-faceted, the solutions can be relatively simple when supply cover is engaged and managed effectively. It needn’t be perceived as expensive and reactive but rather part of a longer-term approach to teacher recruitment; opening doors to temp-to- perm transition programmes, ensuring continuity of teaching and offering teaching professionals investment in Continued Professional Development (CPD).
In the quest to achieving all of the above, many schools, academies, colleges and universities are looking to completely different, innovative solution. A self-funded, framework-compliant ‘neutral vendor’ model, like de Poel education, enables educational organisations to engage with recruitment agencies and manage their supply cover in a more strategic and cost-effective way. This comprises of significant improvements, savings and efficiencies as a result; including streamlined administration, access to an increased talent pool of qualified, high-calibre teaching professionals and recruitment agencies that compete purely on quality, not price. The model works by creating a carefully selected, compliant, agency panel whereby all suppliers agree to transparent, standardised terms and conditions and rates. This is typically supported by a technology platform, like de Poel’s e-tips® solution which locks these rates down, enabling candidate bookings to be ordered through the system – a simple, easy and quick way to track and manage the recruitment process. This point is evidenced by the many schools, academies, colleges and universities using
March 2017
electronic end-to-end systems with great success, now able to better forecast their supply staffing spend and consequently, pay substantially less in recruitment agency margins.
Importantly, the right recruitment solution will offer all of the above, whilst still championing fair pay for teachers and ensuring all supplying agencies support candidates on a programme of CPD, specifically tailored and relevant to their specialist area.
We have been advising our clients in the education sector, providing future-proof solutions to the raft of challenges regarding temporary supply staffing. This includes:
• Talking with framework-compliant supplying recruitment agencies about ways in which they can broaden and develop their candidate pools, to ensure a continual fill of demand – with qualified, high-calibre teaching professionals in play at the right time, for the right price. • Workforce modelling (the process by which demand is matched directly with the availability and preference of skilled professionals), coupled with temp-to-perm transition programmes. Whilst this can often be deemed expensive due to heavy negotiations in what is typically a decentralised agency market, the latter can positively impact attrition rates for teaching professionals who move along this route, ensuring employers retain quality, long-term teachers and achieve cost savings as a result. Conclusively, in an ever-changing education landscape with the teacher shortage only set to worsen, the engagement and management of supply cover staff will continue to play a centralised role in teacher recruitment. With National Audit Office reporting that the Government has missed its teacher recruitment targets for a fifth consecutive year, it is now more critical than ever that the education sector adopts a long-term, strategic view on how best to tap into temporary supply cover.
By aligning with their counterparts in the recruitment space, schools, academies, colleges and universities can realise a more cost-effective service, continual stream of high-calibre teaching professionals and crucially, ensure safeguarding obligations are continually filled. With this in mind, isn’t it time they looked to a strategic partner to seize control of these powerful forces at work and unlock a new world of opportunity?
www.education-today.co.uk 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50
