Agenda item

Report by the Executive Director Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education, the Head of School Effectiveness, and the Director of Children and Family Services.

The report provides an overview to the challenges faced by West Sussex County Council in terms of recruitment and retention of experienced staff to teaching and social work roles.

The Committee is asked to note the nationally demanding environment within which West Sussex schools and the County Council recruits to education jobs, to consider how further West Sussex could be promoted as a good place to work in education and social care, and to consider how to maximise the opportunity the apprenticeship levy funding provides to develop professional skills, build capacity and secure workforce sustainability into schools and education roles in the local authority.

Mr High took the Chair

19.1   The Committee considered a report by the Executive Director of Children, Adults, Families, Health and Education, and the Head of School Effectiveness. The Chairman welcomed Cate Mullen, Principal Educational Psychologist, and Yasmin Maskatiya, Executive Principal of Chichester High School (CHS) to the meeting. The Head of School Effectiveness introduced the education element of the report; the Committee heard the following:

·         The recruitment and retention of people to education roles was a national challenge. The recruitment crisis was not restricted to teaching posts and also included head-teachers. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects were particularly difficult to recruit to. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) indicated that children across the Country were being taught these subjects by non-specialists in those areas.

·         Schools were responsible for their own recruitment. The role of the Local Authority was to support them by making West Sussex an attractive and good place to work. Localised issues, such as the cost of living and high house prices in certain parts of the County, presented a challenge when attempting to recruit to West Sussex.

·         There were a number of reasons attributable to the national challenge of recruiting to education roles. Some examples included the following:

Ø  Some roles could be very demanding, resulting in a short career span.

Ø  The burden of marking could often be astounding.

Ø  A heavy workload, high levels of stress and accountability.

Ø  A negative ethos in schools, demoralised workforces and unhappy staff doesn’t make for a positive impression on new or prospective teachers.

Ø  Challenging behaviours of some children.

Ø  Exceeding number of statutory demands which reduces the time and opportunities to undertake behavioural understanding training.

Ø  Some schools operate a traditional approach to working hours, with a limited openness to flexible working or part-time arrangements.

·         Recent recruitment fairs organised by the County Council have shown the wider variety of educational roles available. Events at Fontwell and Crawley had been well attended.

·         Members heard that school based training was now the most popular route into a career in education.

·         The Executive Principal of CHS shared that contact with young people was widely regarded as the most rewarding aspect of working in a school environment.

19.2   Members thanked Cate Mullen, Yasmin Maskatiya and the Head of School Effectiveness. The Committee raised the following questions which are included below with their responses:

·         Members asked about data from exit interviews, and whether this could be analysed to identify trends in why people were leaving the education profession. Members were advised that schools themselves undertook the exit interviews, and that this information was not currently shared with the County Council.

·         Members heard that Primary schools were easier to recruit to than Secondary, and were interested to further understand the use of agency and supply staff to fill these vacancies at Secondary level. The Executive Principal of CHS reported that appointing temporary agency staff was not a good use of a school’s budget, but that little mechanism existed to facilitate the training and appointment of education staff.  Members agreed that a collegiate and collaborative broker system for schools and teachers would assist local recruitment.

·         The Principal Educational Psychologist reported that positive links had been established between WSCC and universities in the South East, to promote teacher training in a Higher Education setting.

·         Members asked if, and how, WSCC was prohibiting schools. The Executive Principal of CHS responded that funding was the biggest challenge, however noted that this was a restriction placed upon them by central government rather than local. The financial constraints limit schools from being able to provide young people with extra support to get the best possible outcomes.

·         The Executive Principal of CHS added that schools needed strong leadership from the Local Authority. Members heard that the co-ordination of effort and sharing of information could yield positive rewards on a small budget. The Head of School Effectiveness responded that despite the absence of a Director of Education and Skills, a full senior team was now in place that recognised the importance of partnership work.

·         Members highlighted that recruitment campaigns could also be targeted at those looking for career changes, and that a public relations plan could inform people about the different options for training. This would raise awareness of the different routes into teaching that might appeal to those not just at the beginning of their professional lives.  

·         Members and officers agreed that the County Council could support schools in maximising the opportunities of the Apprenticeship Levy by an informative communications and marketing scheme.

19.3   Mr Cloake left the room.

19.4   Mr High welcomed Vicki Edgington, Senior Human Resources Business Partner for Children and Family Services, who introduced the Children’s Social Care element of the report. The Committee heard the following:

·         There were many similarities between the recruitment and retention challenges across education and children’s social care. Many of the themes crossed over such as workload, challenging behaviours and localised issues. As with education roles, the recruitment and retention of social workers was a challenge both locally and within a national context.

·         The biggest challenge for the service was demand and capacity; the current caseloads were running at far too high a rate.

·         The turnover rate of staff was high. It had fallen recently, but work was still happening to steady this. There were too many people leaving and therefore individual caseloads were increasing, subsequently resulting in low morale.

·         Some neighbouring authorities offered a more competitive salary than West Sussex. The service was looking to identify innovative schemes to recruit and retain, including more common incentives such as relocation assistance and key worker housing.

·         Unlike education, as the direct employer of social workers the County Council conducted the exit interviews. This has given the service further insight as to why people were choosing to leave.

·         Children’s social care and Human Resources were taking a refreshed look at recruitment, considering how the County Council could maximise the experience given to employees.

·         Newly qualified social workers could not undertake the more complex areas of work than that of an experienced social worker. The service needed to nurture the newer social workers in order to encourage longevity of their career at West Sussex. This would ultimately result in a good level of knowledge and expertise, helping to spread the workload amongst a solid workforce.

·         The service was pending the framework for a national pathway for apprenticeships. This would help tremendously with the recruitment crisis as it would offer some alternative routes into a career in social care.

·         The overall aim was to bring Children’s Social Care to a positive cycle and return caseloads to a manageable level.

19.5   Members were pleased to receive further insight into the recruitment and retention challenges in the Social Care profession in view of the earlier problems identified in Item 6 (Children’s Residential Homes). The following questions were considered and answered by the Senior Human Resources Business Partner, and the Director of Children and Family Services:

·         Members were interested to know which particular neighbouring authorities were paying a more competitive salary for these positions. Members were advised that West Sussex was most out of sync with areas north of the county, such as Surrey and Hampshire.

·         Members were keen to understand the main reasons for staff choosing to leave the County Council arising from the exit interviews. The recurring reasons were given as lack of opportunity for development or competitive pay, unmanageable caseloads which created a high level for risk and subsequently individual accountability, and morale.

·         Members heard that disciplinary procedures were appropriately managed, and there was clarity for staff about the boundaries of acceptable practice. The Director of Children and Family Services added that the Senior Leadership team was visible and approachable.

19.6   Resolved that the Committee:-

1.   notes the nationally demanding environment within which West Sussex schools and the County Council recruits to education and social care careers.

2.   considers how further West Sussex could be promoted as a good place to work in education and social care.

3.   considers how to maximise the opportunity the apprenticeship levy funding provides to develop professional skills, build capacity and secure workforce sustainability into schools and education roles in the local authority.

4.   recommends that officers consider a pilot mechanism that pools local teaching vacancies or promotes better partnership working.

5.   recommends that Human Resources collect data on why people are leaving education roles, and to use that information for knowledge on recruitment strategies.

19.7   Mr Cloake returned to the room.