Berkshire’s Eteach creates software to boost teacher recruitment

Eteach, an education recruitment solutions company based in Bracknell, has collaborated with the Catholic Education Service (CES) to help Catholic schools recruit teachers.

Traditionally, many of these schools have relied on downloadable forms and documents that must be filled out by hand and uploaded separately.

Eteach’s new online application form means Catholic schools, which account for more than 50,000 teaching roles, are better able to attract the best available talent.

It comes amid a national shortage of teachers and ongoing recruitment and retention challenges, after the government missed its recruitment target for secondary teacher trainees by half last year.

The new software is fully optimised for mobile – which accounts for 70 per cent of jobseeker traffic – with built-in equal opportunities monitoring to eliminate bias and full Welsh translation where needed.

Amy Harper, director of Teach SouthEast at Xavier Catholic Education Trust, said: “We’ve been working with Eteach for a few years and have seen great results for our recruitment using their platform.

“There’s been a clear uptick again since moving to the new online application form.

“In one instance, we saw almost a tenfold increase in quality applications compared with a previous advertisement for the same role.”

The software has also been endorsed by Churchmarketplace, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting products and services for Catholic institutions.

It’s already being used by more than 400 current Eteach partners.

Paul Howells, founder and CEO of Eteach, said: “We’re delighted to introduce our CES-approved online application form, specifically designed to meet the unique needs of Catholic schools, as the latest product to our award-winning applicant tracking system.

“The whole initiative ensures a seamless journey for candidates, ultimately fostering a faster, more efficient application process for Catholic school candidates.

“By using technology effectively, schools will lessen the impact of staff shortages and reduce costs.”