The national press recently estimated that at least 25 private schools could be up for sale, as pupil numbers diminish in the current economic climate. But while press stories focus on group takeovers and the effects for pupils and parents if schools have to close, where does all this leave teaching staff – and how can Eteach help?

Back in 2008, The Independent reported that three private prep schools had followed prestigious girls’ senior schools and shut down after falling pupil numbers pushed them into financial difficulties.

And this month, The Guardian quoted Jill Berry, the new president of the Girls’ Association, as saying that any independent school could face the risk of merger or closure even if they were very well run.

Meanwhile the Times reported that two private school chains are hoping to acquire more schools, with “one in negotiations to buy up to 15 schools to add to the 46 it already runs in the UK”.

It’s an uncertain and unsettling environment, for parents, for pupils – and not least, for school staff.

While we don’t have all the answers to the credit crunch, we can pitch in and offer support to staff if they are suddenly faced with the prospect of closure; in one recent case we were able to send an experienced team into a school to talk about the alternatives to staff who had worked there for years. And the good news is that head teachers are obliged to support staff in finding new positions in these situations, and so should welcome initiatives of this type.

Have you found your school in similar circumstances? Do you have any tips on how you might be able to gain support through these difficult times? Add a comment and let us know!

How to save £80m a year

Large schools, and particularly academies, are burning their budgets due to a lack of training, understanding and control – particularly in the area of staff recruitment advertising.

Schools should boycott expensive newspapers like TES, The Guardian and even the local press, and to use more competitive online alternatives.

For example Eteach.com offers a fixed-price unlimited advertising service that will save money especially for larger schools who advertise regularly enough money to employ more teachers, or avoid impending cut backs.

UK schools spend around £68m a year on National Press with the bill for recruitment advertising in the local press coming in at around £20m. Then there are the additional costs of paper-based admin and postage bringing total expenditure to at least £90m a year. (DCSF said it was £120m in 2008).

Just take a look at the figures!

The following comparison takes 100 job postings across 10 schools as an example:

* Eteach Premium: unlimited adverts = 20,000 fixed cost
* Schools Recruitment Service (SRS): Local press @ £500 +250 SRS = 52,500 + TES
* TES Gold: = min 90,000 + newspaper ads

The above is based on Eteach’s unlimited ad package, priced at £2,000 per school.

The Schools Recruitment Service (SRS) would cost £250 per school – plus the cost of media. This flawed DCSF-backed system is incapable of bringing the savings schools need.

The TES Gold service is based upon £900 per advert, with newspaper advertising costs still to be added – typically £1600 per combined advert.

The worrying thing is, by using SRS or just TES/Guardian or Local papers schools have no control over their expenditure.

Eteach is a proven medium, with excellent traffic and responses delivered at a fixed price.

The total cost if all secondary schools in England and Wales used Eteach (e.g.5,000 schools x £2,000) would be just £10m – and primary schools could receive a FREE service.

Now that’s a saving at least £80m per annum immediately!

This is an equation I have discussed many times with various MPs, and yet none has had the power or inclination to drive home the obvious savings that we now need.

It’s time to act…

JPH

It’s been in the news that the government are recommending graduates to consider working abroad, so that they can avoid being affected by the recession. Do you think it’s appropriate for the government to urge UK graduates to seek employment overseas?

In the teaching sector however, working in both the UK and overseas has never been so popular…in the UK approximately 38,000 trainee teachers enrol on teacher training courses every year. This year allocations are up by another 4%, no surprise as teaching is seen as a stable profession during the current economic downturn – in fact according to the TDA the number of enquiries has risen by 34%!

If new graduates in the education sector are looking to teach outside of the UK then this should be seen as a positive factor for their careers, rather than an alternative route to secure a job at all. Graduates can teach overseas by following a variety of routes, the most popular are…

* Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)
* Teaching in an International school after completing a BA QTS/PGCE equivalent
* Working as a classroom assistant or educational project volunteer

The numbers of teachers opting to teach the National Curriculum, reflecting that of which is delivered in England and Wales, has risen by 26% in 3 years new figures reveal. As a result of this, there are now approximately 74,000 qualified teachers from the UK in International schools.

Thinking about teaching overseas? Interested in gaining TEFL qualifications? Have you taught overseas? Would you recommend the experience? Share your thoughts with the Eteach community…

Following from Gerry’s blog post on the recession (see http://eteach-blog.blogspot.com/2009/01/recession-proof-as-teaching-is-its-not.html), Sky News reported that during this tough period, there has been a massive surge in people opting for a career in teaching. Sky News revealed yesterday morning that enquiries for teaching were up by 40%, and there has been a 5% increase on the number of over 25s on teacher training courses. Additionally maths teachers numbers are up by 25%, which historically as we know has been in high demand.

What are views on the stats revealed in the Sky News yesterday. Is teaching the solution to survive the recession period? Should we challenge, the ethics and reasoning’s, behind why people make that choice of becoming a teacher. What are your views on experienced workers outside the world of education sector integrating in the education sector? How many of these will run back to the boardroom when the market gets better? does that matter? Are they really committed to the job ?

We thought these findings were very interesting. As rewarding as teaching is, we’d love to hear your views and thoughts on what was announced today.

Teaching seems it may only be ‘recession proof’ in the State sector. How many Independent school teachers are sure their school will still be open at the end of this year? The telegraph and Independent have reported on this in late 2008