As schools work towards filling their staffing plans for the next academic year, it’s a great time to consider how supply teachers can help bridge any gaps - - particularly given the current situation with COVID-19.
Over the year’s schools have relied on education recruitment agencies, like TLTP Education for their staffing needs and have become an integral part of most UK school recruitment strategies. We are proud to be on the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staff framework which is supported by DfE and recommended in current DfE guidance. It can help schools efficiently get best value when recruiting supply teachers, classroom assistants, tutors and other temporary staff.
Usually at the start of every academic year comes the inevitable press coverage about schools using education recruitment agencies; usually focused on the ‘cost’ to schools, these articles rarely highlight the benefits for a school of outsourcing its recruitment.
It is important to point out that, whilst agencies are typically described as ‘supply agencies’, many of these, including us, provide staff for a range of contract types. These include day-to-day and short-term supply to cover unplanned teacher absences, and also to fill longer term vacancies such as maternity cover, long-term illness, and permanent positions.
Just as there are a host of different reasons why organisations from most other industries use recruitment agencies as part of their overall hiring strategies, so too with schools.
How schools benefit from using recruitment agencies
Save time and resources
Schools often lack the time and/or experience to effectively screen candidates – failing to separate the top candidates from the wealth of applicants.
Some job applicants oversell their abilities, enthusiasm and dedication in their CVs, whilst other, very talented, teachers may submit weak applications, being inexperienced in writing a professional CV. Experienced recruiter are equipped to identify the worthwhile recruits – saving schools valuable time and resources. This also minimises a school’s risk of making a poor recruitment decision.Good agencies, therefore, help to improve education standards by ensuring the best possible candidates are placed in schools that best match them.
Compliance
Quality agencies – accredited by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Audited in Education – have stringent registration and vetting procedures in place to ensure that all legal and contractual requirements are met before a candidate starts work. They should also ensure candidate compliance criteria are up-to-date, including the monitoring of key expiry dates such as Disclosure and Barring Service certificates and visas. This relieves schools of a huge administrative burden, thereby enabling them to focus on their core business of educating children. TLTP Education are proud to have continually retained the the REC Audited Award – the gold standard in safeguarding.
Flexibility and experience
Schools require staff to cover an absence under a variety of planned and unplanned circumstances including sickness, training days, maternity leave, and unfilled teaching posts. As such, supply contracts are flexible and can range from just a few hours to days and long-term placements.
The diverse nature of supply teachers they have a large amount of experience working in a variety of schools in a short amount of time. This enables teachers to offer more skills and knowledge and have the ability to deliver across a range of age groups and subjects.
Quality teachers often prefer to be recruited via agencies
A growing number of educators only seek work through recruitment agencies, rather than applying directly to a school. Job-seekers use agencies as it’s generally a far quicker way to find a position, and larger agencies typically have a wide variety of jobs to choose from. Professional education recruiters typically, such as TLTP Education, have extensive knowledge of schools in their area. The best agencies will consult meaningfully with job-seekers to ensure the best possible fit between school and jobseeker. Again, this reduces the risk of a bad recruitment decision, and helps ensure a better standard of education for students.
Temp-to-Perm Options
Many schools and jobseekers like to work on a temp-to-perm basis. In this situation a teacher is appointed on a temporary contract with a view to becoming a permanent member of staff. This reduces the risk, both for schools and teachers, of making the wrong recruitment choice. It enables both parties to trial working together before making a more permanent commitment.
Difficulties due to teacher shortages
The UK teacher shortage is well-known, as are the regional imbalances and deficits in specific subject areas. With soaring numbers of pupils entering the education system, particularly in secondary schools, and large numbers of teachers leaving the profession, the teacher shortage is projected to increase to over 13,000 by 2021. Fewer people are entering teacher training courses due to the wider career options available, compounding the shortage because there are insufficient graduates to replace retiring teachers.
How does this influence a school’s use of supply agencies? Schools that do their own recruiting say it is increasingly difficult to find suitable candidates – even after spending large amounts of money on job advertisements. It’s more efficient for schools to get an agency – which has a large, pre-vetted pool of agency candidates from which to choose – to do the recruiting for them, with no risk of it leaving them out of pocket.
Talk to one of our recruitment experts
If you are school interested in finding out more about how supply staff can help you with your recruitment needs, have a conversation with one of our recruitment experts to find out how we can help you ensure you are fully staffed and ready to return to school in September. Simply fill in a few details by following this link www.tltp.co.uk/fill-a-position and we will be in touch.
Latest Temporary Vacancies
If you are a teacher of support staff looking for supply work, have a look at the latest temorary vacancies and apply today.
If you cannot find what you are looking for, don’t worry. We receive new vacancies daily and as a result not all are advertised as they are filled straightaway. To ensure you don’t miss out please register your details by following this link and a recruitment consultant will be in touch to discuss your requirements. Alternatively, please give us a call on 020 8709 6540.
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Education recruitment specialist TLTP Education (The London Teaching Pool) has been awarded Gold Audited status by industry body The Recruitment & Employers Confederation (REC), making it among less than ten per cent of educational recruiters in the UK to be awarded the status.
REC Audited status ensures that agencies are undertaking all relevant checks when recruiting teachers. It enables schools and education providers to be confident that they are using an accredited supplier, which puts standards at the centre of their business. But it goes beyond simple compliance, requiring agencies to demonstrate that they operate best practice in areas such as customer service, staff development, diversity and client management.
“We are delighted to have been recognised with REC audited status,” says Darryl Mydat, Managing Director, TLTP Education. “It provides independent assurance and verification that we operate to the highest industry standards and put the needs of both our clients and candidates front and centre in our business. Not many education recruitment agencies can say that.”
This scheme run by the REC, the professional body for the UK’s £25 billion private recruitment industry, is the most comprehensive audit of its kind. It provides successful recruiters with an accreditation that is recognised by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), confirming that TLTP is conducting its business both ethically and in accordance with industry standards.
REC Chief Executive, Kevin Green congratulated TLTP Education on its recognition:
“TLTP Education has joined an elite group of recruitment agencies across the UK that has achieved this high standard. This accreditation recognises that we have rigorously audited the company and found that it is performing to the highest professional standards and represents best practice in our sector.”
TLTP Group, which specialises in recruiting teachers for UK and overseas postings as well as non-medical healthcare staff for the NHS, has restructured its management team following its most successful trading year to date.
Ryan Kissin, who joined the company when it was established nearly ten years ago, steps up from his role as Education Manager to become Commercial Manager with a brief to support company growth and introduce new marketing initiatives as the company plans for future expansion.
Elsewhere in the business Scott Simmons becomes Sales Manager for the company’s domestic education recruitment business joining Lee Fenley and Lisa Camp, who remain in post as sales managers for Education Overseas and Medical respectively.
“The business has had a highly successful 2014,” explains managing director Darryl Mydat. “Not only did we move into new, larger premises, we also recorded a 200 per cent year on year increase in permanent education placements at the start of the academic year in September and, for example, a 45 per cent increase in our temporary and interim business across both the education and healthcare sectors.
"We intend to maintain that momentum and have put in place a team to secure that growth whilst ensuring that we continue to offer a very personal, high quality service to both clients and candidates.”
Founded in 2006, TLTP Group is a privately owned recruitment consultancy specialising in the supply of professionals to both the public and private sectors worldwide. At the heart of TLTP’s role as a vendor manager is the guarantee to provide people who are unquestionably fit for purpose.
At the same time it ensures that its workforce is placed on assignments to which they are suited as individuals, where they are happy and content – assignments which suit their personal agendas and circumstances, where their contribution is appreciated, where they can provide the vital services for which they were trained and where they can further develop their skill-sets.
