From the Head of School

 

No School is Better than its Teachers

As we returned to school in a new calendar year, the principals and I started to think in more earnest about the new school year.  Winter is the season for employing the teachers we need for Summer 2025.

In November, we asked staff about their intentions for 2024-25; is anyone thinking of moving on?  - while also looking at what next year’s timetable might look like, and who could teach what.  

At ISA, we are lucky; our staff stay for a long time.  Turnover is very low.  However, teachers will move on - for career or personal reasons.  

A school can never be any better than the teachers it employs.  Getting the right people isn’t an incidental part of a school leader’s job; it is essential.  We have to start with a clear idea of what we are looking for.  

First the law.  All teachers in Scotland are required to be registered with the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS).  This means they need a degree and a recognised teaching qualification.  They also need a police check here (known as the PVG - Protection of Vulnerable Groups) which covers Scotland, the UK and 18 partner countries, as well as police checks from other countries they have worked in.  In addition, we phone references from previous employers to make sure no concerns are overlooked.  

Of course, these are the minimum requirements; our mission statement aspires to “high quality education.”  We want our specialist teachers to be passionate about their subject, all our teachers to be student focused, to have thought deeply about how children learn, to be able to communicate and engage, to believe that every child can progress in a full range of aptitudes and skills, and to have strategies to make that progress a reality.  They must ensure “a kind and inclusive” learning environment. 

We are also an international school, with values such as open-minded and reflective.  We expect our students to become global citizens.  We need teachers who don’t merely accept our values and ambitions, but will actively promote them.

There is a lot to think about, and why it is a bit of a process.  We can’t just place an ad in the local paper or on our website and expect to get the breadth of applications we need to make the right choice.  We also use international recruitment agencies that screen candidates and provide confidential references with standard questionnaires on a range of attributes.  We follow up with two rounds of interviews with different people to get a range of perspectives.  If they are coming from abroad (many of our candidates will be currently working in other international schools), we might use Skype or meet them at a job fair in London, which will be held this weekend.  

Recruitment is an investment of time, money and thought that is essential to maintain ISA’s tradition of care, opportunity and excellence in changing times.