Choosing Which Teaching Job to Apply for

In Cambridgeshire, we have a diverse range of schools. Maintained schools, free schools, federations, church schools, academies and multi-academy trusts, village colleges and a growing number of Teaching School Alliances. All of these contribute towards the wide variety available when looking for a teaching job in Cambridgeshire.

When deciding what kind of school you would like to work in, it is useful to carry out some research into how it operates. A multi-academy trust will have several schools which are all part of the same institution, and staff may well work in different schools within the Trust. This would be unusual for a Newly Qualified Teacher but means that there are likely to be career progression opportunities once you have completed your induction. Information about professional development and career progression in Cambridgeshire schools can be found here: https://teachincambs.org.uk/cpd/.

Look at the school’s ethos – not just what it states on its website, but how that is shown through the website itself and by what you see when you visit it either before or on your interview day. Ask yourself: can I see myself teaching here?

Don’t panic – there will be a job for you! You don’t need to take the first position you are offered if it doesn’t feel right. You will have seen in the media that schools are finding it harder to recruit good teachers; this is a fact that works in your favour!

Having said that, please do not sign up to a teacher recruitment agency. They will make you all sorts of offers and promise to get you a job with the minimum amount of effort on your part. However, these agencies exist to make money and the money is generated by the schools with whom they place candidates. An agency will typically charge a school between £4,000 and £15,000 for getting them a teacher – this is money the school has to find from its budget on top of your salary. Schools’ budgets are hard-pressed, and that money could mean the school being unable to provide certain resources for lessons or, at the upper end of the cost scale, not being able to employ one whole teaching assistant.

Therefore, schools often approach agencies as a last resort. The agency is unlikely to be able to offer you a choice of schools, and the advice in the first half of this blog will not be relevant to you. Think about why you are going into teaching – to make a difference to the children in your school. If you can do that without costing the school extra unnecessary money, how much better that will be!

Take your time and look at teaching jobs in Cambridgeshire that are available in the various schools – visit online advertising sites, such as  teachincambs.org.uk/all-vacancies/  and check whether the job you are applying for is with an actual school/trust or an agency.

Cambridgeshire schools are wonderful places to work in, and they need high-quality teachers. We look forward to welcoming you to our county.