In a normal year, January brings a flurry of recruitment activity for schools, both in the UK and overseas.

For the UK state sector, with its termly resignation dates, the new year is a busy period for applications and interviews. At international schools, where staff movement is generally confined to a November-to-March window, January means a rush of careers fairs as staff weigh up whether to renew contracts or set out for pastures new.

But things have been different this year in many ways, including the relocation of school staff. 

Many schools are looking at this lull as a precursor to busier months ahead, with burnout and pent-up desires to relocate likely to unsettle educators later in the year.

Teacher retention: Staff staying put because of the coronavirus

In parts of the world that have avoided the worst of the pandemic, staff understandably seem happy to stay where they are. In the UK and other countries still battling the virus and living in lockdown, they are also reluctant to make big career decisions at the moment.

“There’s a real uncertainty,” says Kulvarn Atwal, an executive headteacher in the London Borough of Redbridge.

“Less people have been applying for jobs and promotions, because they can’t get to visit the school and interviews have been remote.”

At Shrewsbury International School in Bangkok, where Covid has had less of an impact than in Europe, assistant principal Victoria Rotheram has seen her retention rates rise.

“I think people are seeking a safety net,” she says. “Our retention rate is normally about 90 per cent but this year it’s 96-97 per cent - it’s bonkers.

“Recruitment is already complete for junior school. No more adverts to go out, applications have all been sorted through and interviews have taken place.”

Ian Thurston, head of secondary at Dar Al Marefa in Dubai, is also seeing high retention, which he puts down to job security.

“People are grateful to have a job,” he says.

“We were lucky that we didn’t have any salary cuts; lots of other schools were making 10 to 20 per cent cuts to salaries in order to stay afloat. A lot of international schools were worried about the loss in student numbers.”

Teacher recruitment hotspots

According to Tes Jobs data, the number of vacancies posted on tes.com from schools in China climbed rapidly during January, with the third week seeing a 72 per cent increase on last year.

Emmanuel Bartholomew, academic principal at Ulink College of Shanghai, has been active in the recruitment market but says options so far have been limited.

“Normally we would have been in London this year,” he explains. “Our hands are tied a little in that we have lots of really capable candidates from the UK, but because of travel restrictions and visa issues, we don’t know when they can be here, so we’ve been asking people within the country.”

Visa restrictions have also held up recruitment at international schools in the US, with the J-1 immigrant working permit currently still unavailable to arrivals.

Jennifer Fortet is deputy head at The British International School of New York, and has put contingency plans in place to attract more local staff if visas continue to present a problem for overseas candidates.

“We’re still waiting for that suspension to be lifted and expecting delays at the embassy,” says Fortet. “I expect there’ll be quite a backlog.”

Fears school staff will quit because of Covid pressures

In the UK, staff are also hedging their bets while lockdown remains in place. According to Tes Jobs, the number of vacancies in the UK is down around 58 per cent compared with January 2020 (as of 18 January 2020).

But with schools currently set to open again in March, there are positives signs for leaders looking at their staff rosters for the months ahead.

In addition, the increase in initial teacher training applications in the UK looks set to further bolster the number of educators available.  

But this intake may be offset further down the line by those staff feeling the strain of teaching in extremely challenging conditions. A Tes wellbeing survey back in September highlighted issues, and, according to leaders, there is increasing exhaustion in the sector.

“I’ve become increasingly concerned in the past few weeks that members of staff have become fatigued,” says Atwal. 

“It isn’t just about the job, it’s about their experiences in the wider world and how that’s impacting upon their engagement.

“If our experience is reflective of the wider education system, we may see people leaving because of the emotional impact of Covid.”

Recruitment opening up again

And so leaders are now looking further down the road when planning their staffing.

“A bit like the housing market, where people aren’t buying a house and then all of a sudden the market opens up again, things will move very rapidly,” Atwal says.

“I think you might have a situation where teachers who were maybe planning to take the next step are sitting in flux. There’s every possibility that the summer term could see a lot of movement, and then people having to move quite late to recruit. There could be a late scramble for teachers.”

In the Middle East, Thurston also foresees a delayed period of teacher movement as staff monitor travel restrictions and weigh up the prospect of quarantine.

“Generally, in international teaching, people want to move and want that experience of new countries, new cultures and things,” Thurston says. 

“So it wouldn’t surprise me if there was more movement when things open up because it’s been subdued for the past 12 months.”

Fortet is also preparing for a longer recruitment window than usual with visa hold-ups leading to a “delayed rush”. Rob Ford, director of Heritage International School in Moldova, also points to things to come.

“I think people are waiting a little bit,” he says. “We’re almost on hold. [At] the end part of this crisis, there’ll probably be more movement than we imagined. There’s a fluidity and a flexibility in this year. 

“I think we might benefit from a bounce from the UK. I’m sure there are a few people in the UK who might see having a couple of years abroad as a respite almost from what they’ve had to endure through a lockdown in England or Wales.”

What can recruiting schools expect?

For leaders still looking to fill positions for September, there are reasons to be optimistic. For Bartholomew in China, applications have been strong.

“In tougher times, you get to see people who are passionate about teaching, people who know their stuff, people who have grit and can persevere, and these people have stood out,” he says.

“The educational tourists are kind of falling by the wayside, and people who are passionate and have that moral purpose are standing out.”

For Sue Plant, head of school at John Taylor Free School in Staffordshire, the same could be said of schools, with some rising to the top based on the way they’ve approached the past year.

“I think where schools have supported their staff and really looked after them and understood their contexts, people will stay,” she says.

“Staff are under pressure at home and in their family lives and in their working lives, and it means that they’re valuing those sorts of things even more because life’s quite fragile at the moment.

“I think schools that do this, and invest in making sure that people understand their context and how they work, those are the ones who will be successful in the recruitment round this year.”