Recruitment and Retention – A Practical Toolkit
Thursday 6th March, 2025
We are delighted to announce that this exciting project is ready to be released to schools on 17th of March, 2025!
Why has the toolkit been created?
Teacher Recruitment and retention are a constant challenge for schools.
We believe that initial teacher training is at the heart of effective recruitment.
With that in mind, we have collaborated with schools, leaders, teachers and teaching school hubs across the West Midlands to create this Practical Toolkit. The toolkit is an extensive bank of resources, tools and guidance to support schools with recruitment and retention.
We want to help you and your school attract and retain the best possible teachers, and to maximise the resources in your school.
We want to support schools with recruitment by supporting effective communication, supporting collaborative partnerships and by driving engagement with teacher training and ongoing professional development, across North Birmingham.
The toolkit will be released to all schools on Monday 17th of March.
What’s in the toolkit?
A wide range of resources and tools, broadly divided into three categories: Resources for Leaders, Good News Stories and Recruitment Content.
Over the next few weeks, we will showcase different sections of the toolkit here on the blog and on our social channels. Be sure to follow us to stay in the loop!
Resources for Leaders
We want to support schools and leaders with information and tools for effective recruitment.
There are two primary tools:
- Recruitment and Retention Audit Tool – this is the magic ingredient of the toolkit. When you complete this tool, it will offer links and suggestions of which areas of the toolkit may be of most use. It sends results to users so you don’t need to worry about remembering our suggestions.
- Partnerships Portal – this is your doorway into partnerships and networks. Completing this tool will open up the brokerage of relationships and partnerships with ITT and training providers.
In addition, there are careers curriculum ideas, information and guidance about all the routes into teaching and support to access the DfE ecosystem for teacher training and recruitment.
Good News Stories
Teaching needs positive narratives. We know that our work is challenging and incredibly rewarding. We are determined to support stories to flip the narrative around teaching as a profession by sharing positive experiences, talking up the trade of teaching.
We’re really proud of the Good News Stories section!
It includes a wide range of case studies from schools and colleagues across the piste. Headteachers and Trust Leaders explain their experiences and strategic decisions they have made to support recruitment and retention in their schools.
Early Career Teachers, ranging from recent graduates to career changers, share their inspirational stories about teaching and teacher training.
We have also included a number of case studies about what schools are doing differently to attract and retain great staff.
You will be able to use Good News Stories and our ‘Splash Quotes’ in your marketing and recruitment materials completely free.
Recruitment Content
We know that time and resources are precious, sometimes scarce, in schools. Even with the best intentions, it might not be possible to dedicate time to recruitment and retention efforts, even if we acknowldege their importance.
The toolkit offers a range of templates, supportive resources and examples of effective content for your website, social media channels and newsletter.
From pre-populated posters to template letters, there’s bound to be something in this section to save you time and resource when building your schools’ approach to recruitment and retention.
