zen professional development
Education Recruitment is Broken The current system is set-up around an inherent
conflict of interest between agencies and the education system. Recruiters are
completely driven by their commission. The more they charge schools and the less
they pay teachers, the more they take home. This creates a market that fails to
do right by the education system. Most worryingly, it also introduces the
temptation for unsavoury business practices that are exacerbated by the lack of
qualifications required to be an education recruiter or the lack of regulation
required to run an agency. It is time for a change 15 years ago it would have
been unheard of to book a restaurant or hotel online, today it is rare to book
either of those two by phone. Arranging cover for schools will follow this trend
shortly. The use of an online platform allows for a level of transparency and
efficiency that revolutionises the system - schools will be able to see the pool
of available supply teachers by proximity and skills instantly at the click of a
button, instead of seeing only a limited group of teachers found via many phone
calls in the morning that is inefficient and time-consuming. Zen Educate As
experienced technology entrepreneurs, and having a passion for improving
education, we started Zen Educate to lead the wave of interventions that the
education system deserves. Schools spend over £1.3bn a year on agency staff.
Over £300m per year of that is wasted as fees that go straight to the
recruitment agencies. That’s money that could be going back to schools! Worse
yet, there are layers of hidden costs from the inefficient time tracking and
payment process to the overstaffing that schools have had to rely on because of
the frustration of working with agencies. “We always overestimate the change
that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will
occur in the next ten” — Bill Gates We’re on a mission to change the world of
education recruitment and will work tirelessly to do so.
