Effective School Management

Attracting suitable candidates
The relationship between supply of and demand for candidates for teaching
posts has varied over the years and will presumably continue to do so. There
is also, of course,  a background of variation by subject. Specialists for example
in maths, sciences and modern languages have tended over many years to be
in relatively short supply.
In this shifting situation the need remains always to attract the right
number of the right candidates. Ideally we should probably like about
twenty application forms from which to select five candidates for interview.
There are a number of ways in which we can increase or decrease the
number of applications we receive. We can
(1) tighten or slacken the essential and desirable characteristics in the
personal profile and advertise accordingly;
(2) limit or extend our choice of advertising media;
(3) target groups other than existing teachers, redundant teachers or newly
qualified teachers; and
(4) build the image of the school as an attractive place in which to teach and/
or offer or make known fringe benefits.
Taking each of these in turn:
Adjusting the personal profile
A critical examination of the personal profile is always well worthwhile before
advertising a post. As we have already said, it is not always – even usually –
wise to appoint someone in the image of the previous incumbent. We want to
encourage a creative approach. Furthermore, we need to beware of anyone
who demonstrably possesses all the qualities and more needed to perform in
the job and has perhaps moved or been made redundant from a similar post.
The problem with such people is that the job may present them with insufficient
challenge and motivation. The ideal candidate is usually the one who has
potential to grow into and develop a job – and possibly move through it to an
even more challenging job.
For the above reason we should be careful not to make the essential

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EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
characteristics (the ‘musts’ in the advert) too tight. However, we do want
them tight enough firmly to rule out unacceptable candidates and