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Is being an international school harder than one in the UK?

Like many schools in the UK, school staffing is more difficult than ever and so recruitment is our biggest challenge. 

How have we helped your school tackle teacher shortages?

As Tes has the largest network of teachers in the world, we advertise pretty much all of our jobs through you. In time we’ve built up strong relationships and the team have taken the time to get to know our school and share their wealth of recruitment knowledge.

Recently we've begun to use the Tes Institute QTS preparation course, Straight to Teaching. It has provided a great route to qualified teacher status (QTS) for some of our existing workforce and has been key when the recruitment of qualified teachers has proven difficult.

How do you promote Straight to Teaching in your school?   

We’re always actively looking for eligible candidates from within our school. Not only has it helped us to develop and retain existing staff, it has also been an excellent recruitment tool for us, as being able to offer Straight to Teaching differentiates us from other schools in the region. It works really well.

How has the Straight to Teaching course kept staff up to date with the English curriculum?

It’s very important as an international school that our teachers are up to date with the English national curriculum. The expat community can be itinerant so it’s essential that pupils can easily fall back into place if returning to England.

Straight to Teaching is mapped against the English curriculum and the Teachers’ Standards, which provides a consistently high benchmark for our teachers and holds them to account when they become qualified teachers.

Would you recommend Tes?

Tes and Tes Institute have been great in helping us attract and retain teaching staff. I've recommended them to other schools in Oman and beyond, and will continue to do so!