In a new series for international school leaders, we look at the state of recruitment and retention around the world by asking leaders for insights on hiring in the aftermath of the pandemic.

In the first piece in the series, we talk to Mark Leppard, headmaster of The British School Al Khubairat in Abu Dhabi, to hear how they have moved to embrace remote video interviews to help engage more candidates - and why wellbeing is core to strong staff retention.

How did your recruitment for this academic year go?

We are fortunate as we rarely struggle to recruit. Occasionally, we may struggle for a particular position, such as economics or physics, but usually we get more than 100 serious applicants for each position.

This year, we saw similar levels of applications but whereas, in previous years, the demographics have been global, this year we saw more from within the UAE and an increase in those from the Far East, particularly China. We have seen fewer from the UK but expect that to change for the 2023-24 academic year.

Have you adapted your recruitment strategies over the past few years?

We have refined our recruitment processes. We always incorporate the latest safeguarding advice and requirements. We have also looked at how diverse the recruitment is for the school.

From a practical aspect, over the past few years, we increased the conference call concept so that all candidates were interviewed online. The advantages to this are that there is less travel and less time out of school for those interviewing. However, the downside is you do not meet the candidate face to face.

We are currently deciding how this year’s recruitment will shape up. We are thinking of returning to face-to-face interviews where possible, particularly if candidates are in the region.

We are also looking at how we can do a more extensive classroom observation, even if the candidate does not come into school. Previously, we have asked candidates to do a micro-teach with a hypothetical class but we are reviewing this to further improve.

The school has promoted staff wellbeing within the organisation and sees this as a positive message for prospective employees, so this does feature in the interview process. We have received positive feedback regarding this and our recent new teachers have commented that this supported their decision to accept the job offer at The British School Al Khubairat.

Have local hires increased - either for teaching or non-teaching roles?

I would say that we have recruited more staff from the UAE in recent years. There are a number of factors to this.

First, the ability to move between schools is straightforward and becoming more accepted. Second, there are more schools, so the pool of prospective candidates has increased, and third, we have worked very hard to ensure that our continuing professional development provision is exceptional.

We have staff on courses for mastering classroom practice, middle leader, senior leader and headship training. We also have staff on part-funded master’s programmes.

The word gets around about this and it is attractive for teachers who are interested in career progression, both within the classroom and more leadership focused.

What has staff retention been like this year?

Because of some of the factors above, our staff retention is very high. I think some turnover is positive as it allows people to move within the school and brings in new ideas from new staff joining the school.

I don’t like to have a hard and fast rule but I think between 8 and 12 per cent staff turnover is reasonable. Much lower and I feel that things can begin to stagnate. Much higher and I think we could lose institutional memory and continuity.

For the previous academic year, our teacher turnover was around 11 per cent and this was similar throughout Covid.

We did have some staff leave because they were missing family back home and, with travel restrictions, this became far more pronounced. We also had staff move for promotion opportunities and I think this is a really positive message.

Something that I feel is often understated but has had a huge impact on our staff is that throughout Covid we protected jobs, did not adjust remuneration if we faced any financial pressures and also tried to be as flexible with staff through their own personal challenging times.

I believe this supports retention in the longer term and has certainly been quoted back to us in a positive way from within the school and wider teaching community.

Have you seen any changes/new trends in retention?

I think that teachers are becoming far more discerning about the type of school they work in and what that school can offer in terms of remuneration, career progression and work-life balance.

We work hard on these areas but also have high expectations regarding classroom practice and support for the co-curricular programme.

It means it’s a busy environment but we try to balance that with email curfews, a wellbeing focus for staff and minimising administration duties. It is not perfect but does feature when we receive staff feedback.

Are you rethinking approaches to staff retention as a result?

We always look at how we can retain our best performers and bring in equally skilled staff. There is not a silver bullet to this but I think setting clear expectations, praising staff when things go beyond expectation and challenging individuals when expectations are not being met supports a positive and professional ethos of the school.

I believe this approach supports staff recruitment and retention as it creates a productive and professional environment where professionals will seek to work.

How does wellbeing play into retention efforts?

This is huge. As a school leader, my main responsibility to the students is to ensure we have the very best staff with the highest energy levels to ensure great teaching and learning. People cannot achieve this on an empty tank, so we have implemented a number of initiatives over the past five years.

We have an email curfew for internal emails. This means that 30 minutes after co-curricular activities (around 5:30pm in the UAE), staff cannot send emails to colleagues and this curfew continues through to 6:30am. We begin school at 7:30am, while on weekends, we also do not send emails, so until Monday at 6:30am. If staff want to send so they feel more relaxed that they have got that job off their desk, we ask them to send as scheduled and time it for 6:30am onwards.

We have communicated with parents that they can send emails any time they wish but it will not be responded to until after 6:30am the following day, if sent after 5:30pm. We have set clear expectations and, in the 15 years I have insisted on this, we have not dropped the ball, so it can work.

The exception to this is a genuine emergency or a huge whole-school celebratory story, and staff understand this.

We have staff birthday coffees. On a staff member’s birthday, they receive a birthday message and a token for a free coffee at the school coffee shop. If the birthday falls on a weekend or holiday, it is given the previous working day. It’s a small gesture but has been very well received across all staff.

We have set up a staff wellbeing committee, which is continually looking at initiatives to support staff wellbeing. Members meet regularly without the senior leadership team and then feed back what they are doing. The SLT is there to support and help fund it, if required.

We openly encourage staff events where all are able to attend. One of my absolute favourites is our Ramadan Iftar meal for all staff and governors. It is a beautiful meal where all the staff come together in a nice hotel and share a traditional event. We greatly missed it during Covid, when social gatherings were not permitted, but I am delighted that it is now firmly back on the calendar.

These areas have been quoted back to me and those on an interview panel by potential employees [as positive aspects]. This means the message is getting out there and can be a determining factor whether a candidate chooses The British School Al Khubairat over another school.

Mark Leppard was talking to Dan Worth