VIEWS & OPINION


TES reveals newdata highlighting scho ols’ ecruitment issues


TES reveals new data highlighting schools’ recruitment issues


Comment by CRAIG STEVENS,


Comment by CRA


RAIG STEVENS,


Chief Commercial Officer at TES Global


Chief CommercialOfficer at TES Global


Wa


VIEWS & OPINIO N


TheWarriner School: saving time and


money on parental communication


C omment by LEIGH BARMBY , busines s manager at TheWarriner Schoo l


The latest TES Teacher Recruitment Index report has just launched, tracking how successful secondary schools in England have been at recruiting, by s bjubject and region.We found that schools filled a higher proportion of vacant posts during the Easter 2016 period than in any Easter period since 2012. However, the index also highlighted that schools are less happy with the calibre of teaching candidates, down from 79 per cent in 2015 to 71 per cent now. So despite some success with recruitment, there are growing worries this rise is at the expense of teacher quality.What can schools do to help combat the quality issue and attract top talent? After digesting the index results and speaking to community, we’ve found that there is a disconnect schools are recruiting and when quality candidates


are researching between when the teaching


new opportunities. Our figures are collated at Eastertime, one of the busiest recruiting periods of the year. However, at this point, teachers are so preoccupied with their students they don’t have the headspace to think about changing jobs. It’s only during the summer holidays that they have the time to consider their career options. Because of this disconnect, permanent recruitment agencies are playing a much bigger role in the recruitment process, which is proving to be an expensive and i nefficient way to recruit.


The latest TES Teacher Recruitment Index report has just launched, tracking how successful secondary schools in England have been at recruiting, by subject and region. We found that schools filled a higher proportion of vacant posts during the Easter 2016 period than in any Easter period since 2012. However, the index also highlighted that schools are less happy with the calibre of teaching candidates, down from 79 per cent in 2015 to 71 per cent now. So despite some success with recruitment, there are growing worries this rise is at the expense of teacher quality. What can schools do to help combat the quality issue and attract top talent? After digesting the index results and speaking to the teaching community, we’ve found that there is a disconnect between when schools are recruiting and when quality candidates are researching new opportunities. Our figures are collated at Eastertime, one of the busiest recruiting periods of the year. However, at this point, teachers are so preoccupied with their students they don’t have the headspace to think about changing jobs. It’s only during the summer holidays that they have the time to consider their career options. Because of this disconnect, permanent recruitment agencies are playing a much bigger role in the recruitment process, which is proving to be an expensive and inefficient way to recruit.


Teachers are short of time, school budgets are tight and competition for talent is fiercer than ever. To deal with the competition and timing issues, schools must find ways to adapt and be flexible and attract the best talent to attract the finest teachers. They need to consider their recruitment strategies and market themselves across all channels from an improved social media presence, to simpler applications processes and websites that work on mobile. Schools must also recruit year-round so good candidates are able to seek them out.


Novemb e way to attract


But it’s not all bad. Schools are already finding ways to adapt to today’s tough recruitment market. Many are hiring more newly qualified teachers – our survey of 200 school leaders carried out this summer found that 37 per cent of respondents said they were recruiting more NQTs this year than last, and same proportion said they were recruiting more unqualified teachers. Other schools are restructuring roles. Our survey found schools were willing to be flexible in order to recruit the right staff: 82 per cent of respondents said they had restructured roles in order to make sure they filled a post. Other schools are encouraging more part-timers. A TES survey of 1,500 past and present teachers carried out in June found that 77 per cent of those who had left the profession would consider returning, but only for part-time or job-share roles. Retaining teachers and tempting back those who lapsed will be critical to managing today’s recruitment challenge. Yes, the recruitment environment is tough, however it can be a much better picture if schools adopt the right processes throughout the year. With increased flexibility and a consistent recruitment strategy, schools can position themselves in the best way to attract top calibre talent.


But it’s not all bad. Schools are already finding ways to adapt to today’s tough recruitment market.Many are hiring more newly qualified teachers – our survey of 200 school leaders carried ou t this summer found that 37 per cent of respondents said they were recruiting more NQTs this year than last, and same proportion said they were recruiting more unqualified teachers. Other schools are restructuring roles. Our survey found schools were willing to be flexible in order to recruit the right staff: 82 per cent of


respondents said they had restructured roles in order to make sure they filled a post. Other schools are encouraging more part-timers. A TES survey of 1,500 past and present teachers carried out in June found that 77 per cent of those who had left the profession would consider returning, but only for part-time or job-share roles. Retaining teachers and tempting back those who lapsed will b e g g


critical to ma na in today’s recruitment challenge .


Yes, the recruitment environment is tough, however it can be a much better picture if schools adopt the right processes throughout the year.With increased flexibility and a consistent recruitment strategy, schools can position themselves in the best top calibre talent.


r 2016 2016


Teachers are short of time, school budgets are tight and competition for talent is fiercer than ever. To deal with the competition and timing issues, schools must find ways to adapt and be flexible and attract the best talent to attract the finest teachers. They need to consider their recruitment strategies and market themselves across all channels from an improved social media presence, to simpler applications processes and websites that work on mobile. Schools must also recruit year-round so good candidates are able to seek them out.


At TheWarriner School in Oxfordshire, school-to-home communications were a big issue. Trying to keep parents engaged and informed about what was going on in the school was time-consuming and costly. Our staff needed a simpler way to keep parents up-to-date with school activities and changes to national education, so that they would feel fully involved in the school community.We wanted a system that was intuitive, easy to use and update,


and something that could be synchronised with ourManagemen t Information System (MIS).


Going dig tal to save teachers’ time Going digital to save teachers’ timei


Ensuring our teachers’ time is being put to the best use, by which I mean teaching pupils and developing effective lesson plans, is high on our list of priorities. It’s all too easy for necessary but laborious administrative tasks to eat into teachers’ time – and there are only somany hours in the day! So we knew that we had to find a way to make these jobs more time-effective, so that our teachers could focus on their pupils’ learning and development. We all know that new technologies are forever emerging and making our lives easier, but what we were surprised at was the tremendous amount of time and money that going digital saved us! One of the biggest and most time-consuming tasks for our teachers was keeping parents engaged in ivities; making sure they were aware of any changes, issues or dates, and keeping them in the loop when it comes to their performance. So it made sense for us to begin our time-saving digitising our school-to-home communication processes .


important school act


efforts by children’s


Timely and targeted communications Timely and targeted communications


Now, by using Groupcall’sMessenger, our teachers are able to communicate with all parents, or just a select few, at the touch of a button. If they need to inform all parents about an issue that has arisen, they can quickly send an email or text message, rather than having to rely on letters being delivered home by pupils. Also, if only a select group of parents need to be contacted, such as parents of children in a particular class or those whose children are partaking in a specific event, our teachers can now easily filter our contact list and set up groups, so their communications are always targeted as well as timely. This not only saves us time and the cost of printing letters to be sent home with pupils; it also means that parents benefit from receiving information in real time and in a way that is easy for them to access, wherever they are. This has really helped to boost parental engagement and help parents feel fully involved in the school community .


Cost-effective communication Cost-effective communication


After the trial period, we were thrilled to see th our budget for parental communication! Being


able to cut down radically on at we’d saved 90 per cent of


printing and postage costs meant we were able to make considerable savings, making a massive difference to the school. After a year of using the software, the school has saved £12,000 which is a significant amount. And not only that, but we’ve also saved our teachers a wealth of time and helped our parents to feel fully engaged with the school – and this is invaluable!


www. wwweducation-toda y.co.uk.co.uk 17


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