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The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

The Optimus blog

The blog that inspires leaders in the UK education sector

Retention

John Viner
28 February 2019

Damian Hinds' plans for teacher retention

One of the biggest threats to recruitment and retention in schools is teacher workload. John Viner looks at how education secretary Damian Hinds plans to tackle this problem. I have written before on the problems of teacher recruitment , but the situation is compounded by the rate in which teachers...
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John Viner
8 May 2018

Midday meals supervisor: the school's superhero

While every school might have different expectations of the midday meals team, such expectations are invariably high. John Viner makes the case for recognising their valuable input. In the grand scheme of things, a school’s midday meals supervisor (MMS) is often its unsung hero. Yet the fact that,...
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Maureen Nash
9 November 2017

Rethinking, not recruiting: how to make the most of your TAs

Teaching assistants are integral to better learning outcomes, but not always a valued and fully utilised member of staff. According to government statistics , there are 388,000 TAs working in schools in England. This represents a total cost of around £4.4 billion each year . These figures alone...
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Karen Burns
3 October 2017

Let’s stay together – in a MAT

Personalising the art of retention is key to keeping staff. Karen Burns describes why multi-academy trusts provide more options to aid the retention of talent. Overwhelmingly the biggest contributor to staff retention is the feel and experience of working in a school on a day to day basis. It can...
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Alex Cuetos
25 April 2017

Do new teachers set their expectations too high?

In my experience of working with new graduates from other countries, even a six-hour working day can apparently be 'too much'. Is this a generational gripe, or something more systemic? One of the worst things about working in China is being so far away from home. Seeing so many people come and go,...
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Lizzie Gait
21 September 2015

The most efficient form of recruitment is retention

Here at Optimus HQ, we often end up having debates about education and this time we ended up on the topic of recruitment and retention. Training lead, Lizzie Gait, offers schools top tips for retaining staff. The figures around NQT retention are, in the words of Sir Michael Wilshaw, ‘a national...
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