A UK
headmaster has travelled to Australia in order to recruit staff as skills
shortages bite.
Gordon
Owers, headteacher of Queen Elizabeth’s Mercian School in Staffordshire, said
he couldn’t find suitable applicants in the UK.
He
went to Australia for 10-days to find 14 teachers to fill specialist posts,
such as religion and science.
His
recruitment drive took him to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, at a cost of
£70,000; paid for by the public sector employment agency Dream Recruitment.
Owers
chose Australia due to the similarities in language and the education system.
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The
Teacher Training Agency (TTA) has estimated the industry needs 35,000 recruits
a year to replace those who leave the profession early or retire.
