What do new term date rules mean for education recruiters?

Nick Bowles

Schools can now choose their own term dates, so how will this affect recruiters, asks Nick Bowles?

It seems that we are getting further and further away from the idea of the nationalised academic calendar. The days of every school and college following the same timetable appear to be coming to an end.

This was recently confirmed by the introduction of a new Department for Education law that will allow schools to choose their own term dates and holidays from next year onwards.

The law has so far had a mixed response from both parents and teaching staff, with some believing that it increases pressure on families with children at different schools and others such as Ros McMullen, Principle of David Young Community Academy in Leeds lauding the changes as “positive both for curriculum planning and in terms of levels of student and staff exhaustion.”

What is yet to be seen, however, is the impact this will have on recruitment consultancies. Traditionally staffing companies in the education sector have benefitted from a large summer break and consistent timetables when it comes to planning their own activity. Now that many schools will choose to cut their summer holidays, how will the recruitment sector react, particularly when placing supply staff?

According to Eddie Austin, Chair of APSCo Education Sector Group, it should be seen as an opportunity rather than an inconvenience. “Although recruiters will have to get used to a slight shift in their calendar, in the long term the advantages outnumber the negatives. Supply teachers are more than comfortable with flexible timetables and this new law will help them as well as the schools themselves. As long as timetables are well synchronised within each local authority’s region, consultancies should be more than capable of dealing with this.

Know your client, know your candidate

The most effective staffing companies within any sector are those who understand the challenges and goals of their clients and candidates. Therefore as the education incorporates higher levels of flexibility for its staff, consultancies in the sector should also be heading in this direction. This is a point which Austin himself emphasises – “with the new regulations, having strong client and candidate relations is more important than ever. Communication is key and consultancies must track the term dates in each region and make sure that their supply staff know their timetables at least one term in advance.”

So in effect, the new regulation doesn’t really shift the goalposts for recruitment, it simply makes it more essential that the job is done correctly. Those that have invested the time and effort to build strong relations with their clients and candidates will find that the flexible term dates will be a positive change. Those that haven’t done this now have an extra incentive to start doing so – and fast.

Nick Bowles is Head of Stakeholder Engagement of APSCo, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies