If you ask international schools what their biggest challenge is this year, you’ll likely hear the same thing: attracting top quality teachers.
Problems around teacher supply and retention are major issues facing the education sector, in the UK and abroad. 94% of British international schools said they find recruiting quality teachers 'somewhat' or 'very challenging*. There’s a global teacher shortage and it’s increasingly important not only to be able to recruit the best candidates, but ones that are the right fit for your school.
Hiring a member of staff who is not right for your school can be expensive and time consuming: if they’re not in tune with the existing team or contributing to the ethos of the school, they can lower morale in a department or impact your pupils’ learning outcomes and you need to recruit again.
From a candidate perspective, teachers searching for new opportunities are becoming increasingly motivated by a school being right for them. For teachers who are looking to move abroad, this becomes more complex; they’re not just moving jobs, they’re moving their entire life and this has the potential to make or break a new career and life decision.
So, how do you ensure you get someone through the door who is the right fit for your school? And how can schools meet the needs of candidates?
We can help with our new product, smartMatch Direct**. SmartMatch Direct was built with both international schools and teachers in mind.
smartMatch Direct helps international schools reach suitable candidates at the touch of a button. You can reach more than 377,000*** worldwide teachers who’ve let us know what roles they're interested in and are open to chat about the right job.
It allows prospective international teachers to ask you questions about the role and your school before sending an application. International teaching is difficult to navigate, by providing a way to start a conversation directly with the school, teachers are able to ask questions to see if they're suitable for the role before applying in full. Plus, you can see if they fit the ethos and culture of your school.
Click here to find out more about smartMatch Direct and how it can help your school
* COBIS research into Teacher Supply Research
**All international schools with a Recruitment Subscription can access smartMatch Direct with unlimited use until the end of August 2020.
*** Tes internal database statistics – correct at time of print, September 2019
