While there are many areas of improvement to be made in modern education, maintaining quality staff is perhaps the most pressing. Educational staffing agencies have popped up in many states to fill the gap between teaching hopefuls and schools with a staff shortage. While it might appear that educational staffing is unwarranted, the clear benefits are quickly proving a need for such agencies.
Where do you suppose teachers look for jobs? Perhaps they contact local schools about openings, or maybe they rely on friends and family to help them find their next position. The old adage, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” does have some merit in just about every job search. The veracity of one’s character aside, some studies indicate that it is also one’s ability to work well with others that employers are looking for in a job candidate. People skills are important, especially when in a position of authority.
School staffing agencies do more than simply verify a degree, run a vision and hearing screening, and so on. Educational staffing agencies are meant to serve as a reliable tool to ensure every classroom has a qualified teacher each day of the school year. Even the best of teachers can fall ill or experience an emergency that takes them out of class. Good substitute teachers are a sore point for many school districts, Kelly Educational Staffing asserts.
Why substitute teachers? Surprisingly, many schools do not have an organized plan for when a teacher must be absent for one reason or another. It falls mainly on the teacher to ensure the students will have activities that keep them on track for their next lesson. If this falls through, the students may be given essentially “busy work” to pass the time. While they may be working towards becoming a full-time teacher, there is no question that at times a substitute is chosen simply because they were available, not because they were selected after a rigorous interview process.
The most immediate fear in education right now is that we may not have enough qualified teachers for the projected number of incoming students. Yet, there are many teachers, and even substitute teachers, looking for jobs. The gap between the two needs to be bridged, without making the process more complicated.