teacher recruitment | Schools Week

Disastrous’ change in teaching training causes 7% drop in numbers

The government’s “disastrous” changes to how universities and other teacher training providers offer places led to a 7 per cent drop last year in the number of applicants starting their courses. Recruitment controls prevented many initial teacher training (ITT) providers offering places – even though fewer graduates applied last year than the year before – […]

Hundreds of schools use Uber-style apps to hire supply teachers

Hundreds of schools are using apps to employ supply teachers in a bid to cut out crippling recruitment agency fees. But they should be “cautious” about using the online technology as its lack of face-to-face verification could lead to fake teachers heading into the classroom, say some union leaders. A Schools Week investigation has found […]

Two-year visa migrant teachers ease recruitment crisis

Schools are increasingly opting to employ migrant teachers on strict two year-only visas. The government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published its “review of teachers” report last week calling for computer science, Mandarin and general science teachers to be added to the government’s official occupation shortage list – jobs where there are not enough resident workers […]

We need an education system that works for the whole of society

Attainment is important for young people, but exams have to be seen in a wider context as part of an education that allows young people to flourish, says John Sentamu. Up and down the country, there are great examples of schools achieving fantastic results for some of the most disadvantaged pupils – results that give […]

Pilot ‘Teach North’ scheme to boost school performance, report demands

The government needs to improve its teacher supply model and pilot a ‘Teach North’ training project to improve school performance in the north of England, a leading academies boss has urged. A review of the role of schools in the government’s ‘northern powerhouse’, by Dixons Academies chief executive Sir Nick Weller, has found that teacher effectiveness is […]

Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL and TUC president

Mary Bousted is sitting in her central London office near Trafalgar Square and quibbling with my first question. “It’s funny you say I’m strident, because that’s not how I feel. “It’s simply that it has always been apparent to me that the direction of travel set in train by Michael Gove would come unravelled. And […]

Teacher transfer window: Why can’t we fill our vacancies 365-days-a-year?

The idiosyncratic “teacher transfer windows” model is failing schools and teachers. Notice periods for teachers should come into line with those of the private sector, says Frank Norris. The football transfer window, an agreed period of time when players can transfer from one club to another, has closed for another four months. These two artificial […]

There’s more to worry about than grammars

Spending the summer worrying about the return of grammar schools is like worrying the NHS is about to reintroduce frontal lobotomies. Lobotomies, like grammars, were a miracle cure of the 1940s. At their peak more than 1,000 people a year had metal spikes pushed into their skulls, swished around, and withdrawn, in the belief that […]

Safeguarding compliance – has the education recruitment sector been lucky so far?

The education sector spends millions, even billions (if you read some reports) per year on supply teachers and support staff. As this demand for teachers continues to grow, thousands of agency staff, often complete strangers are being sent into UK schools on a daily basis, writes David Boon. So it would stand to reason that […]