International Schools: how to attract and recruit good quality personnel

Guernsey-based Sovereign Pension Services (CI) Limited is compiling a series of articles exploring how globalisation and the changing employment market is impacting different sectors and types of employer.

This issue looks at the International Schools sector and how to attract and recruit good quality personnel.

The critical shortage of teachers is impacting the Education 2030 Framework for Action, according to a recent report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which predicts a deficit of 44 million primary and secondary teachers worldwide by 2030.

Couple this with the explosive growth in international schools over recent years and the scale of the challenge in recruiting teachers of sufficient calibre and in sufficient numbers to deliver excellence soon becomes apparent.

As of July 2022, ISC Research data recorded a total of 13,180 English-Medium international schools around the world, enrolling 5.8 million students aged between three and 18 and generating over USD53.8 billion in annual school fees. Critically, they also employ 571,000 teaching staff.

In such a competitive market, any international schools that have succeeded in attracting the best educators will need to be sure that they can also retain them, so they can build continuity and a positive culture.

The sector is increasingly turning to employee benefits to stand out from the crowd and go that ‘extra mile’ for their staff. An international school or group of schools that has a reputation for delivering excellent benefits to its personnel will be seen as an exemplary employer across the sector.

This has not always been the case. Many long-serving teachers who are now approaching the end of their careers are realising that they have not accumulated adequate private retirement provision and have also not been paying into their home county’s state pension scheme. This means they have lost valuable time to secure their financial future and will therefore have to work much longer than anticipated.

The new generations coming into the workforce are more demanding. They are coming from a less accepting and more mobile environment, so their expectations have changed. They view working overseas as an opportunity to develop professionally, experience other cultures and lifestyles – and to save for their future. Due to the teacher shortage, they are also in a position to choose employers that offer them both fulfilment from a current career perspective and in respect of their future financial independence.

To meet these recruitment challenges, international schools and groups are increasingly looking to occupational international pension and savings solutions, which have served as a well-established tool in other sectors. These solutions offer a simple and effective method to provide a meaningful benefit to staff whether they are local or expatriate, or on short-term or long-term contracts.

Schools can structure these plans to include:

• A sign-on bonus.
• A completion of contract bonus.
• A regular employer contribution that the employee can earn the rights to if they serve a specified length of time.
• A savings element, which is popular with staff because they can save easily and penalty-free from payroll for life events such as a house purchase, wedding or children’s education.

The added advantage of an international plan, for groups of school in particular, is that their staff can move around their global footprint while remaining in the same plan. This provides consistency and consolidated benefits for the employee and helps school groups to retain staff who want a long-term career and who understand and foster the group culture.

The good news is that an international plan is simple to implement and administer and is also transparent in terms of information and fees. The latter can be paid by the school, the employee or be shared, according to choice.

Sovereign’s international pensions and savings plans are a highly effective way to address staff recruitment and retention issues within the education sector. To better understand their potential impact on your business, please look at our schools’ case study at International Solutions – The Sovereign Group

For further information or to get the process started, contact Jo Smeed below.