Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Schools to Pilot New, Free Teacher Vacancy Website
A new Department for Education initiative aimed at reducing the cost and improving the efficacy of teacher recruitment is now being piloted in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
The scheme, a government-funded online solution to help schools advertise for, and recruit the teachers they need, has been championed by South East Cambridgeshire MP, Lucy Frazer, for some time.
Her repeated calls for such an initiative have come to fruition. A commitment to “create a single jobs portal for schools to advertise vacancies in order to reduce costs and help them find the best teachers” was included in the 2017 Conservative party manifesto.
Over the course of the last year, schools in Cambridgeshire have been involved in assisting the Department for Education. Last summer, seminars, which brought together school leaders in the region with Department for Education officials, were held at Bottisham Village College and Fulbourn Primary School.
At the time, Head Teacher of Fulbourn Primary School, Claire Pickard, said, “We are experiencing exceptionally challenging times regarding the recruitment and retention of teachers, particularly in Cambridgeshire, where the high cost of living makes it difficult to attract staff. Historical budget constraints mean that schools can ill afford the high costs of advertising nationally. If this proposal for a funded, centralised advertising system comes to fruition, it could make a significant positive difference to schools.’
The pilot phase of this website has now being introduced to schools across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Lucy Frazer, MP said “I am very excited that this new, free of charge, teacher vacancy website is ready to be piloted. I have been liaising closely with the Department for Education on this project and I am pleased that schools in South East Cambridgeshire and the wider Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region will be some of the first in the country to trial this new initiative. The website will tackle two critical issues head on. It will dramatically reduce the cost to schools of teacher recruitment. It will also make it much easier for those searching for teaching work to see what vacancies there are in one single place.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The total spend by schools alone on teacher recruitment is approximately £200m.
- The placing of advertisements, on average, costs £1200 per hire.
- The cost of hiring via a recruitment agency, which accounts for nearly two thirds of the annual spend, is 4-5 times more than that of placing a traditional advert
Contact: Caroline Cosgrove (Office of Lucy Frazer MP)
020 7219 5082 / [email protected]