Guide to Recruiting and Retaining Top Staff for Your School
Brilliant, dedicated staff are the cornerstone of the education system; without them it is easy for a school to flounder and fail to deliver high-quality education. In recent years teachers have been leaving the profession in droves, making recruitment and staff retention more important than ever.
Luckily, there are things you can do to improve your chances of finding and keeping exceptional staff.
The importance of having a diverse team of staff
Why strive for an exceptional team with a diverse range of strengths and abilities? Because having one can boost the following:
● The quality of education your school provides
● Your school’s reputation
● The success of your students
● The overall morale of your staff
Common challenges of education recruitment
Here are some of the issues you are likely to have to work against as someone recruiting for education:
● Funding constraints limiting the ability to offer competitive salaries, high-end facilities and resources, and benefits.
● Teacher burnout, which is becoming more prevalent due to larger class sizes, antisocial behaviour and unmanageable workloads. While the number of teachers teaching in secondary schools has grown, the growth of class sizes counteracts this increase.
● Varied standards of digital competency, as the technology used in education continues to change and develop.
The benefits of working with a specialist education recruitment agency
This is where an educational recruitment agency can help. A specialist agency’s knowledge of the sector means that they will understand exactly the kind of issues you’re facing, and know the best ways to avoid them as they guide you through the hiring process.
Defining your needs to attract the right candidates
Before you can start looking for candidates you need to ensure that you have a fully comprehensive description of the role you are hiring for, and the requirements a candidate must have in order to fill it.Clear expectations and a transparent description of what you need from a new hire is incredibly important for endearing yourself to potential candidates. If you need your early years teachers to have an understanding of SEN teaching due to the demographic of your school, state that clearly. And don’t forget to let the pay and benefits you offer be reflective of that extra knowledge.
Finding and interviewing suitable candidates
If not enough people are finding you, you need to be proactive and look for them. A specialist agency will have a wide pool of potential talent to pull from, helping you to access more candidates with the qualities that you’re looking for. If you do choose to use a recruitment agency they will likely have a screening process in place, to ensure that only the most apt candidates make it to the interview stage. They can also offer training and support with making sure your interviews are coordinated and conducted efficiently.
How to create a positive work culture
Once you’ve secured your new hires, how do you keep them there? By making sure that their place of work is a positive environment where they feel seen and supported.
Effective onboarding and inductions
Dropping the ball with onboarding will have your new staff feeling let down from the moment they start. Make sure you have a thorough onboarding and induction process to welcome them to the team and help them settle in.
Providing ongoing training and development opportunities
Don’t let the training end after the induction stage. People are more likely to remain in jobs where they have clear plans for progression and where they are given the opportunities to learn and grow.
Recognising staff performance and contribution
It’s disappointing to know that the majority of teachers feel undervalued. This is why it’s so important to acknowledge the performance of your staff and the contributions they make to school life - it can make the difference in keeping or losing them.
Handling staff turnover and succession planning
No matter how much effort you put into retention, there is always the possibility of staff leaving for reasons beyond your control. When that happens, it can sometimes cast a cloud over the remaining team. It’s important to be transparent across your staff, addressing any concerns that may arise regarding staff turnover, and to carry out an ethical and appropriate exit strategy when the time comes for someone to leave.
Finding the right opportunities for the right teachers
At the Ivy Resource Group we have experience in recruiting school staff for a wide variety of roles, from nursery and early years teachers right through to secondary school teachers, SEN teachers and support staff. The importance of the education sector can’t be understated, and providing recruitment solutions for roles in education doesn’t just benefit the employers and employees - it benefits the next generation. Get in touch to see how we can help you.