Recruiting teachers online: marketing strategies and information dissemination practices of UK‐based agencies

Abstract

A review of the websites of 43 UK-based agencies that are recruiting teachers in South Africa and other countries finds that important information about what to expect often is missing. An analysis of the marketing strategies shows that agencies overall are promising schools thorough vetting of candidates and low fees, are promising prospective teachers good pay while inviting them to imagine an exciting life outside the classroom, and are assuring both that the agency can make the "right" match. The article concludes with a list of recommendations for candidates and for agencies.

Journeys into Teaching: Pathways Created by Overseas-Trained Teachers into a Career Secondary School Teaching in New Zealand

“…However, she struggled because of her lack of experience and due to being the only Electronics teacher on staff. That situation is similar to the findings of De Villiers and Books (2009) who researched recruitment websites and found that they promised OTTs and schools they would match staff and roles perfectly. However, that was not the case.…”

“…Emily and Leonard"s experiences echo the findings of international research which indicates OTTs receive misinformation about teacher shortages and access to the teaching profession (De Villiers & Books, 2009;Guo & Singh, 2009;Pollock, 2010;Vohra, 2005). In some cases misinformation has led to disillusionment for both OTTs and schools because their expectations were not met (De Villiers & Books, 2009).…”

“…; TeachNZ, n.d.). Research, both internationally and in New Zealand, has found that on bureaucratic difficulty faced by OTTs is that they are provided with misinformation about teaching in their country of choice (De Villiers & Books, 2009;Guo & Singh, 2009;Pollock, 2010;Vohra, 2005).…”

“…Ross and Hutchings (2003) indicated there were hundreds of teacher recruitment agencies operating in the United Kingdom. De Villiers and Books (2009) studied content on the websites of fortythree teacher recruitment agencies and found that many of those agencies were presenting misinformation by giving a positive picture about what could be expected when teaching abroad; without supplying information about the difficulties that would be faced during immigration. According to De Villiers and Brooks, the problem with providing this optimistic information was the resulting disillusionment, because those high expectations were not met.…”