This article will deal with issues of training. We will look at the benefits of training for the organisation and the individual, issues to be taken into account before starting a training programme and different ways of developing staff. The article promotes a pro-active approach whereby training is used to enhance a school’s services, motivate staff and address staff problems.

The advantages of investing in training could be considered as self-evident but I think it’s worth outlining them briefly. The benefits are twofold: to members of staff and to the school or organisation.

Benefits to the organisation include:

• Better trained teachers enhance the quality of product offered to clients. Teachers should have, at the very least, training in basic techniques and methods.
• Training allows staff to keep up with developments in the TEFL field (i.e. going further than basic training). New knowledge is acquired and applied in the classroom. This in turn helps the school stay ahead of competitors by offering courses or services that clients might not find elsewhere.
• When teachers have new goals to work towards, they have increased motivation which is obviously a bonus for the organisation.
• Staff seem to like being trained. Regular training and development sessions can attract the type of teacher who wants to develop. If training is good quality and ongoing, it can be a reason for motivated staff to stay which is always a good point for a school.
• Training helps avoid “routinisation”. Some teachers can get into a rut and treat all classes as the same, however different their needs may be. Training can help change this.
• If teachers are performing below standard, training can address or even help to solve these performance problems. Training can be part of your system for dealing with poor performance.

The benefits to individuals include:

• They have new goals to work towards and increased motivation.
• Training can help teachers have more confidence. They can feel better equipped to tackle a wider range of levels or groups and to try out new ideas.
• They acquire new skills which helps improve their status within the school. They can have their opinions on the subject they trained in respected.
• Pay rise. In some situations, training can lead to progressive levels of responsibility and salary

Having outlined the benefits of training, we will look at issues to consider before starting up a training programme. Issues for the organisation to consider include: commitment in terms of money and absent teachers. Firstly, it is important to consider the budget available. Look at the benefits that will be gained, by whom and by how many people and then study this along with the cost of training before committing yourself to any training programme. External courses are often seen as the best solution, but they are not always the best answer and they can be costly too. The school also needs to think about costs in terms of how long teachers will be absent (if this is the case) and how to deal with classes of the absent teacher. Will someone else teach them or will the classes be postponed and the teacher deal with them later? To counter the budget problem, we will look at training that doesn’t involve costly external courses below.

With any investment of money and time in training, it’s important to ensure that a maximum number of staff gain maximum benefit. One way is to implement a cascading system whereby teachers returning from training share their newly-acquired knowledge with colleagues by giving a training session or by informal sharing of ideas and materials. By using this method, more people benefit from the training activity. Whichever method you use to share the knowledge, decide this beforehand. It should also be stressed to any member of staff who attends a training event what is expected of them upon their return.

After training, the organisation must make every effort to provide teachers with opportunities to use their newly acquired skills and knowledge. If not, it is not a good use of your budget. Furthermore if skills are not put into practice, staff could lose these skills and even begin to question the benefits of training.

Also, bear in mind that multi-skilled, better trained staff will expect more flexibility and mobility in the organisation. You can consider extending the types of courses taught by the teacher or extend the types of courses you offer to the public. Also, think about providing rewards; e.g. extra responsibilities, time off work to attend training or a pay rise if qualifications are obtained.

For individuals, one issue to consider before attending a training event is that commitment is required that can go beyond regular working hours e.g. time for reading, planning lessons, travelling to the place of training… If management decide to implement a cascading system, teachers will also need time to converse with colleagues after the input session.

Planning a Training Programme

Before planning any training programme, it’s a good idea to carry out an audit or needs analysis of your staff’s current skills, knowledge and aspirations.

• Are new systems and / or technology about to be introduced? If so, this is an area for training.
• Establish the objectives of the training programme and of the school; the content of the training programme should always be relevant and linked to the job description and duties.
• Consider whether you want staff to acquire general awareness or to learn skills and be ready for action
• You can start by looking at problems in performance. These are often caused by an absence of skills or knowledge. Identify any skills and / or knowledge that may be lacking and aim to provide training in these areas. However, you should examine very carefully the causes and solutions before deciding on the type of training to initiate.

Choosing Participants

Choose the participants carefully. Some ideal characteristics of individuals for training include: openness, willingness to change; previous positive experience of training.

Training

It’s useful here to take a look at some forms of training and development that can be carried out without requiring an external training programme. Some methods include:

• Shadowing: this is where a person follows a more experienced colleague in their work duties. This is a useful method for preparing one person to take over the job of another.
• A similar means is by job rotation: two people swap roles or classes for a short period. Both people involved in the swap can learn from the new role they fulfil and from seeing how another person handles their job. This works best with experienced members of staff.
• Connecting to on-line forums or seeking out on-line training is another viable method. This is especially good for autonomous learners and people in areas where there’s limited access to other methods.
• Setting guided reading tasks involves members of staff reading about an area they wish to develop and discussing what they read with more experienced members of staff. The person reading learns and the other member of staff who supervises or assists starts out in the role of trainer.
• Projects and development plans involve a member of staff setting themselves a goal for development, usually discussed with a senior member of staff. They explore ways of achieving these goals through semi-autonomous work which can include reading, observing teachers of other classes, attending seminars… These goals are drawn up with a timeframe and at the end of the allotted time, progress towards the goal is discussed between the two people involved in the initial goal-setting. Again, the person overseeing the development plan learns training skills.

Trainers

Who gives the training? It is important that the person has knowledge of the subject matter, credibility and good interpersonal skills. Being a facilitator is considered by many to be more important than being an instructor.

Evaluation

After the training event, it’s essential to carry out some form of evaluation. Areas to look at include: What was the participant’s contribution? Did they learn what they expected or hoped to learn? Has performance in the classroom improved? To what extent? How effective were the trainers? Were the objectives and design of the training programme appropriate?

The last two articles have looked at selecting and recruiting new teachers. The view taken was that if you get your recruitment procedure right from the start, you’re more likely to get teachers who fit the needs of your school and clients; and teachers who are more likely to commit to your school in the long term. The longer teachers stay, the easier the day-to-day running of the school becomes and the less often you need to recruit. This ultimately saves you money. Following in the same vein of getting the right teacher in the right job and getting them to stay, this article looks at what induction can contribute.

Induction comprises welcoming and integrating a new member of staff and is part of those vital first impressions. You might well ask why bother with induction. After all, you could just throw your teachers in at the deep end and see if they sink or swim. This would give you more time to deal with other matters and would give teachers a taste of things to come. This might even work for experienced teachers, for teachers who know your country and town well and for teachers who know your school’s style and priorities. How many of those have you recruited? If you have recruited from abroad, or if you have taken on less-experienced teachers (even post-CELTA, teachers can be anxious about a new job), they will benefit from some sort of introduction to your school. This doesn’t mean training them, it does mean going through how your school functions. Even experienced teachers will benefit from this input.

Concern at this stage is to give an introduction to the school and its particular features, not to the work of teaching itself. You want the newcomer to be an effective member of staff as quickly as possible. You should never take it for granted that a teacher will take up a new post easily and smoothly.

Consider, too, the fact that there is an existing unity in the school which is solid and well-formed. New members need to fit into this. So you need to cultivate the feeling that the new members of staff fit in and feel they belong.

We’ll look at how to do this and how to minimise the time you spend with new teachers. The intended outcome is getting your new staff to fit in and feel like staying around.

AIMS OF INDUCTION

• to have the new employee(s) efficient as soon as possible
• to encourage the new employee to become committed to the organisation
• to reduce the likelihood of staff leaving quickly
• to familiarise the new employee with the job
• to quickly dispel the feeling of being out of place – teachers are professionals and want to be accepted by other professionals
• to familiarise them with rules, customs and procedures

You don’t need to have a programme organised on military lines. It’s important to have an induction programme that is coherent with your usual working practices. It should fit the characteristics of the school and the organisational context. It will also depend on the size of the school and the number of people arriving.

WHAT TO COVER

1. Structure of the school
   • Structure re management, admin staff, levels of classes
2. Roles
   • Roles of management
   • People who are there to help (formally and informally)
   • Introduction to the principal
3. Job
   • Breakdown of what the job consists of and specific duties
4. Language input
   • If the teacher is new to the country, (s)he’ll benefit from knowing some basics: buying food, asking for directions, etc.
5. Functional
   • Show the newcomer around the building, give a map of the area.
6. Contractual
   • There may be a contract to sign, bank details to take, work permit to organise, etc.
7. Social gathering
   • Meal/night out together

On the first day, it’s a good idea to cover, at least, the following:

• Organisational jargon
• Practical info – food, breaks, toilets, building layout etc.
• People info – who’s who
• Health and safety info – emergency exits, fire extinguishers, first aid kit – not nice but essential!

The priority from the new employees’ point of view will be to familiarise themselves with the immediate requirements of the job they are about to perform

HANDBOOK

You might choose to produce a handbook. If so, its layout and form is important. You should present the various strong points of the school. The layout should reflect your school’s identity: is your school young, dynamic and open to change? or is your school well-established as a leader? The handbook should represent who you are. This is an exercise in internal marketing and communication.

Suggested areas to include:

• Welcome letter
• Brief history of the school
• Organigram
• Staff names and positions, areas of responsibility
• Working conditions, times etc
• Details of holidays, sick leave etc
• Staff appraisal system (if you have one)
• Details of any trial period
• Trade union representation
• Equal opportunities

This welcome file or staff induction manual will benefit newcomers as it is a readily available body of knowledge. Details will vary from school to school and many feel nothing complicated is needed.

HOW

You can consider various ways of organising your induction period. For example:

• presentations to the group of newcomers
• a meeting including a question and answer session
• visit of the school
• observations of lessons to get a feel for the image you portray

You could also think about making the induction interactive. Teachers can go on a treasure hunt with a list of questions to answer and things to find. Some examples are:

• Where are the attendance sheets kept?
• Who do you speak to if you need a new board pen? What other functions does this person have?
• Where are the upper-intermediate listening materials kept?

You can also give them a plan of the building with just office numbers, for example. They go around and fill in the names and functions of people. To do this, they’ll need to introduce themselves and they’ll have the opportunity to get to know their new colleagues. It’s best to check beforehand whether colleagues will have the time for interruptions. If someone is likely to be too busy, it’s best to include the details for that person on the building plan and introduce them formally later.

An interactive induction is more memorable for your new teachers. Think about how you teach and apply the same rules to induction. This way of going about it also frees you up to do other things.

WHO

You could delegate induction to an experienced teacher(s) to allow for some professional development and motivation. This can work if the school year is slow to start and you have some teachers who are down on teaching hours.

Another option you could consider is mentoring. An experienced teacher is designated to be on hand for questions and queries. This helps to motivate the current member of staff and helps the newcomer settle in. A mentoring system needs careful thought and planning, led by the management team. The chosen teacher should be clear about his/her role in the process.

FOLLOW-UP

It’s a good idea to programme regular check-ins to help you identify any problems and solve them in a timely manner. This also allows the newcomer a chance to raise any questions. You could schedule meetings one month and then two months after the start date to ask how things are going.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

Remember the newcomers know about teaching and are with you to fulfil a new post in a new school. Don’t talk down to them.

Remember emotions about this time: they may be feeling nervous about the new job and/or country. This could lead to uncertainties about the decision made to take the job. So you want the first weeks to be as positive as possible without being false.

Different people adjust to new environments at different speeds, just like students who learn at different speeds. Don’t underestimate the time taken for someone to settle in. Someone who appears comfortable initially may have delayed shock when it all becomes real. Be ready for it.

Remember the new teachers have expectations of you and the school. Think about their expectations and needs – of course, this should be realistic and may need modifying!

Problems often show up at the beginning but people don’t pay attention to them. They think it will just go away. The more attention you pay to problems that arise, the better it is.

Successful integration depends on the time spent explaining the post and the systems used in your school. It’s also an exercise in team-building.

I’d like to end by saying that induction is an essential phase in the success of a quality recruitment process. A selected candidate, even with a good knowledge of what the job entails, will need induction to ensure maximum effectiveness as quickly as possible in the school. The induction process can also serve as the starting point for the training and development of staff.

The tools and training made available to newcomers from the moment they arrive allow them to position themselves to integrate. This makes it easier to evaluate their performance and abilities from the start. You should be looking closely at performance throughout this time. Trial periods exist for a reason and should be used to their full.

There is no fix-all recipe that will work for everybody. According to age, situation, profile and personality each teacher will have different needs and expectations.

© Lucy Pollard 2005
Lucy Pollard has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and Director of Studies for over 15 years. Her teaching experience is very varied: adults, English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes, as well as teenagers and young children. She has worked with multi-lingual classes in the UK and in various European countries. Lucy is available for teacher training and staff training in Western Europe, and further afield. Please contact lucy@tefl.net if you are interested.

Continuing our series of recruiting and retaining staff, this month the focus is on dealing with problem staff. What do you do about somebody who is persistently late for work? What about the teacher who never completes paperwork on time? You need to deal with this; firstly to eliminate the problem and secondly if other teachers are aware that you aren’t reacting, their performance might start to slip, too. After spending time hiring and integrating people into your team, you probably want them to stay on. They know your school and the procedures well. So, it’s easier to retain them than to hire a replacement. However, you might want certain aspects of behaviour to change. The objective is to extinguish the undesirable behaviour without alienating or demotivating the member of staff. A demotivated and resentful employee can do your business harm.

Tact and diplomacy are required for dealing with the issue. This is best done in an interview with the person concerned. There are stages to follow before, after and during this interview. We’ll consider them in turn.

BEFORE THE INTERVIEW

If you have been alerted to a problem, consider it carefully before diving in. Gather evidence and observe the problem for yourself. For example, look at class registers or records of work to be sure that the member of staff is not doing the necessary paperwork.

You may feel like you’re spying and being sneaky. In fact, you’re getting the facts straight. Your checks might reveal that the person is doing their work correctly. If so, all the better. If not, you’re dealing with concrete facts and not hearsay, rumours or a general feeling that all is not well.

When you’ve got the details straight, you need to fix an appointment with the person. Explain that you want to review some aspects of performance. Depending on the severity of the problem and the rules in your school/ country, you can inform the member of staff of their right to be represented. Agree a day and time and organise a quiet room where you won’t be interrupted.

You also need to check the rules, by reading contracts or other relevant documents. Rules and regulations will vary according to the labour law of the country you’re working in. You might need to check up on the law; this is outside the scope of this article as I’m writing for an international audience. You also need to consider the severity of the offense. Lateness and arriving drunk for classes in a Muslim country are both issues for concern. Lateness can be dealt with by an informal conversation; drunkenness in a country that frowns upon alcohol requires more serious handling. Consider whether the issue is minor, serious or major and handle it accordingly. Then plan how you are going to deal with the interview.

DURING THE INTERVIEW

Turn up on time and ensure you won’t be interrupted or overheard. Start by building empathy; for example, “Our relationship is normally very good” or “We value your teaching”. Explain the reason for the interview; e.g. “I noticed you were late for class twice last week”. This phrase deals in facts, not personality. Contrast it with “You’re always late”. The first sentence is respectful of the other person and focuses on observable behaviour. It’s also difficult to contest the fact that they were late twice. On the other hand, they can disagree with a statement that they’re always late. Try to avoid extremes such as “always” or “never” as they can become a point of contention. The objective isn’t to spend time discussing how often the person is late. Your time will be better spent resolving the issue. Keep your focus on the behaviour, not the person. “I noticed you were late for class twice last week” focuses on the problem behaviour. Whereas “You don’t take your classes seriously” focuses on the person and their personality.

• You need to explain that there is a gap between expected behaviour and the behaviour of the individual. You can use statements such as:
• Our students expect their classes to start on time. Your classes started late twice last week.
• Our fee-paying company students expect written reports every two months. The company students in your class didn’t receive their reports on time.
• Teachers are required to attend monthly admin meetings. You were absent from the last two admin meetings.
• Young learners need to be supervised all the time they’re in the building for safety reasons. Last week you let your young learners leave class before their parents were here to collect them.
• Teachers need to be sober and alert in class. I noticed that your breath smelt of alcohol on Wednesday.

Using such statements ensures that the employee is aware of the rule or standard. Try to get the person’s agreement that your observation is correct. Getting their agreement means that they are more likely to commit to improvement, which is your ultimate goal. If they haven’t agreed you can’t do much to improve the situation. Your detective work before the interview will come in useful here. Again, focus your discussion on behaviour, not personality. All of the above focus on facts; so it should be easier to get their agreement that the statements are true.

Try to stay calm and objective. Be clear and concise; it is more difficult for the member of staff to disagree with your observations if they are specific. If the person’s omission or mistake is carefully worded, you’re more likely to get their agreement that it is true.

Any discussion should be well-structured, controlled and unemotional. Throughout, you need to be:

• CLEAR: don’t soften your comments to the point that they are muddled. This can lead to misunderstanding.
• RECEPTIVE: listen to what the other has to say.
• DIRECT (without being rude): “the last piece of work wasn’t of the usual standard, what happened?” Not “this is crap!”
• SPECIFIC: “The report is too long and some points are irrelevant” works better than “it’s not good enough”
• TIMELY: let the person know about the problem quickly so they don’t continue doing the same.
• HONEST: this speaks for itself

You can then move onto a discussion of the reasons. It’s usually more fruitful to ask “Is there any particular reason for your absence?” or “What are the reasons for your absence from meetings?” Asking “Why were you absent?” can be interpreted as a challenge.

At this point allow the member of staff to do all (or most) of the talking. Your role here is to listen and ask for clarification. The information gleaned can often be surprising or revealing. I have had such comments as: “My off-site classes finish at 3.00 p.m. and public transport is a problem. I can’t get here on time”. Other explanations have included sick members of family who needed caring for which meant there was less time available for paperwork. If you’ve been respectful of the person, they’ll feel able to open up to you. Listen carefully, check information and ask for clarification. You need to decide which factors really are outside the control of the person and which they can do something about. For example, have they considered all forms of public transport as a means of getting from off-site classes back to school? Be prepared to be wrong or to change your opinion but don’t allow the person to play you on this. You need to focus on the gap between actual and expected behaviour and ways to reduce this gap. You can then move from talking about the past to talking about the future.

Try to get the person’s commitment to making improvements. The issue is closing the gap between expected and actual behaviour, not about changing the person entirely. Discuss and agree solutions. You can ask the member of staff to make suggestions for improvement. Be firm about the expected outcome whilst being understanding towards the person. Let the person know what the consequences will be if the standards are not met. Reassure the person that you want them to succeed and let them know if a note is placed in their personal file.

If you decide that there are extenuating circumstances and the member of staff can be absent from a meeting (or excused from any other duties), let them know that it is exceptional and not a regular occurrence. The rest of your staff also need to be aware that this person is excused exceptionally so that resentment doesn’t build up and so that they don’t think they can be absent too. Be tactful and delicate when announcing this; try not to reveal information about a person’s private life. A simple “Mark is excused from this month’s meeting” will suffice to let others know that the absence is authorised.

AFTER THE INTERVIEW

Set a review date during the interview and stick to it. If you offered help, you need to follow up on this. Monitor behaviour and note improvements, or lack of them. During the review, give feedback on your observations, both positive and negative. Encourage and praise improvements. If the problem behaviour continues, you can consider further steps. Check your school’s procedures for this.

Finally, don’t be afraid or nervous of handling such issues. This is one aspect of the role of management. Be confident and don’t apologise for the discussion. Make any punishment fit the crime, don’t be over-zealous in your desire for perfection! Be hard on the issues but fair on the person.

© Lucy Pollard 2005
Lucy Pollard has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and Director of Studies for over 15 years. Her teaching experience is very varied: adults, English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes, as well as teenagers and young children. She has worked with multi-lingual classes in the UK and in various European countries. Lucy is available for teacher training and staff training in Western Europe, and further afield. Please contact lucy@tefl.net if you are interested.

For those of you who have already seen the first article in this series, you’ll know that I take a structured approach to interviewing. The first article gave an overview of the process of recruiting. Here, I’ll go through suggestions for the interview itself.

Preparation

You need to refresh your memory with the details about the post and the candidate. So go back and re-read all the related paperwork. This includes the ad you placed, the person spec and the applicant’s CV. The person spec is a description of what you are looking for in an ideal candidate and was described in the first article in this series. Reviewing paperwork seems obvious, but how often have you sat in an interview where it was clear they hadn’t read your CV? What did you think of their interest in you?

Decide what questions you want to ask, which questions you will ask everybody and which will be specific to individual candidates. Also think about the order and sequencing and what info you need to give out. For this, you can see my suggestions below.

It’s usual to have two interviewers and for them to take the roles of chairperson/questioner and note-taker. Be clear about these roles before starting. To ensure fairness in decision-making all candidates for the same post should be interviewed by the same people. Consider this when setting up your interviews.

On a practical note, have a clock in the room for the eyes of the interviewer.

Structuring the interview

I like to keep things simple and to ensure all areas are covered, I tend to go for a chronological structure:

• Past: qualifications and previous jobs
• Present: current situation, opinions and judgements about current ESL issues
• Future: short, medium or long-term ambitions

Remember to create the right atmosphere from the start: put the person at ease. You won’t gain anything by stressing the person out. You can do this by:

• Holding the interviews in a quiet place and refusing interruptions
• Not keeping candidates waiting without an explanation
• Starting with a friendly introduction to the interviewers
• Outlining the interview: first we’ll talk about…then… State how long you think it will last.
• Starting with simple questions that the candidate should be able to answer easily.
• Starting by asking about the most recent job as the candidate will remember it more easily.

As the interview ends, indicate what the next step will be, eg you can expect to hear from us in xx days. Thank the candidate for coming. All candidates should leave feeling they had a fair chance to express themselves and put across their case.

Always allow time between interviews to write up notes, discuss with the fellow-interviewer and to prepare for the next interview. You’ll also need a break, interviewing is a very tiring business. I would say no more than 4 hours in one day – 2 interviews of one hour in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. If you’re tired, you’re less able to listen to the candidates and that isn’t fair to them.

After the interview

Make a note of your initial impressions of the candidate as soon as the interview ends, then consider the interview again 24 hours later. You usually see things differently after “sleeping on them”. It’s wise to keep records of reasons for offering the job (or not). This is in case of future claims of discrimination, which unfortunately do occur.

If you have decided to request references, you can now go ahead and do this. Think about how you handle this, the more effort you put into your requests, the more info you are likely to get. Think about what exactly you need to know – eg points that were not sufficiently covered in the interview or anything that was vague – then ask specific questions.

Interviewing skills

Interviews differ from everyday conversations in that they have a specific purpose. Always bear your purpose in mind: how to gain enough information to decide whether or not to hire someone in a short space of time. Remember you’ll be working with the person on a regular basis, so you want to get it right. A certain amount of control is needed to achieve this objective. If not, the interview can go on too long and too much time can be spent on irrelevant issues. You come out feeling you know nothing about your candidate which is not the best use of your time. Control doesn’t mean being authoritarian, it does mean being able to help the candidate open up and guide the interview in the direction you want to go in.

To get the candidate to talk freely, remember to ask open questions, eg “what sort of classes did you teach in xxx?” and not closed questions, eg “Did you teach xxx?”. Open questions allow the candidate to talk freely and so allow you to get more information. With closed questions, it’s very easy for the candidate to just reply yes or no. Closed questions are useful for factual information but don’t stimulate discussion. For example, “Have you got the certificate?” “What grade did you get?” “When did you do it?” Here, you don’t need detailed information so closed questions get you a quicker and shorter answer. However, do be careful as too many can sound like an interrogation!

Ask for evidence that the person has the skills or experience they claim they have. Don’t just accept the answer “Yes, of course I can do that”. It’s a good policy to probe whenever you get a vague or general answer. Examples include:

• You say you’re good at handling difficult students, can you give me an example?
• You taught a mixed-level class, how did you handle it? What went well? Is there anything that didn’t go so well? What did you learn from this?
• Tell me more about…
• You find teaching beginners easier/more difficult. In what way?

Be careful when using leading or multiple questions. Leading questions elicit the answer you want. eg “What did you like about teaching beginners?” Maybe the candidate hated it but will feel obliged to say what they enjoyed. You’d get a more truthful answer by asking “What do you think about teaching beginners?” And, truthful answers give you a better picture of the person.

Multiple questions can confuse the candidate and so they are not sure which part to answer. They tend to answer the easiest part or the last part of the question. For example: “Why did you change that way of doing it and how did you go about it and what was the reaction?” It’s useful to have all this information but break this question up into three questions.

Your ability to listen and observe will help you get a clearer image of the person in one hour. Remember the Pareto rule 80 – 20. In this case, you talk 20% of the time and listen 80% of the time.

Examples of questions you could use:

• How would you motivate a class of students?
• What do you think are your strengths/weaknesses as a teacher?

For an inexperienced teacher:

• What do you think are the strengths/weaknesses of a teacher you had in the past?
• What would you do in the first ten minutes of your first lesson with a new class?
• How do you decide whether a lesson has been successful or not?
• What course books or materials have you used in the past? Then probe by asking:
  • What did you think of them?
  • Did you supplement/adapt?
• Have you ever taught a class of different abilities? a financial English class? etc

To probe:

• How did/would you deal with this?

For an inexperienced teacher:

• Have you ever been in a class of different abilities? How did the teacher deal with this? What did you think of that way of handling it?
• What levels have you taught? Which do you like/dislike? Why?
• Have you worked with people of a different culture to your own? What did you think of this?
• How do you deal with deadlines?
• Has your teaching changed in the last X years?
• What aspects of your teaching would you prioritize for development?

Remember to ask some questions about hobbies and interests to get a fuller picture of the teacher as a person.

An alternative…

An alternative or additional way for hiring is to ask the candidate to teach a demonstration lesson that will be observed. This is an excellent way to judge their capabilities. If you choose to do this, then provide all the necessary materials – course book, teacher’s book, cassette, etc. Allow the candidate to observe the class they’ll be teaching for the demo lesson well in advance and to talk to the class teacher. Remember to brief this teacher carefully on what is expected of them and the role they are to play.

In some countries, the law can regard this as unpaid work. So check the status in your country. If this is the case and you still want to go ahead with the idea, you could pay the person for the time they spend based on the hourly rate you pay your teachers. Alternatively you can give them the materials, describe a hypothetical class (age, level…) and ask them to plan a 45 minute lesson. They can then talk you through how they would handle the lesson. This also gives you insights into a teacher’s abilities, how they structure a lesson and what issues they consider when planning.

© Lucy Pollard 2004
Lucy Pollard has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and Director of Studies for over 15 years. Her teaching experience is very varied: adults, English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes, as well as teenagers and young children. She has worked with multi-lingual classes in the UK and in various European countries. Lucy is available for teacher training and staff training in Western Europe, and further afield. Please contact lucy@tefl.net if you are interested.

Recruitment is the process of getting the right person in the right job and so is a key to success in your school. All too often you have one hour with somebody to decide whether they’re going to fit into your school and your existing team. If you hire this person, you’re going to see them on a daily basis, you’ll be sharing in their successes and failures, and the image of your school could depend on their abilities. So you want to get it right.

Mistakes that are made can be costly and very time-consuming. If the person doesn’t fit the profile or doesn’t fit into your existing team, you might find yourself starting up the recruitment process again. On the other side of the fence, if the interviewee doesn’t get all the necessary info regarding the post and the school, they’re not in a position to make an informed decision. They can regret their decision later and leave you. Out of fairness to interviewees and to save yourself extra legwork later, you need to be clear, precise and focused. I think that an hour is a very limited time for both sides to make such major decisions and like to use the time to the full.

Before starting any recruitment process, it’s essential for you to know exactly what you’re looking for. As one very wise person said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know whether you’ve got there?” This sounds obvious but you’d be surprised by the number of recruiters who jump this essential step.

Have your goal or end point firmly in sight. For this, you’ll need to ask yourself a certain number of questions. Here are some suggestions:

• Think about where your school is heading in the near future. For example, do you want to set up young learners’ courses? Do you want to expand the range of business courses offered? You won’t be looking for the same profile, so be clear to yourself about what you want.
• If your school is likely to be expanding, do you want to hire an experienced teacher? This person could move into a post of responsibility later or have a role training and guiding less experienced teachers.
• You also need to consider areas such as organisation, paperwork, report-writing. If your school (or one of your clients) insists on extensive paperwork, then you’ll be looking for a teacher who is happy with this.
• Do you want to hire a teacher who is autonomous? If you have a lot of in-company classes the teacher will get much less moral and pedagogical support than the teacher who teaches mostly in the school.
• Do you want to hire a full-time teacher on a permanent contract? This would increase the amount of commitment on both sides. Or do you prefer to hire one or two teachers on part-time contracts or hourly-paid teachers? These two options allow for more flexibility (both for you and the new teacher) for increasing and decreasing teaching hours.
• What are the legal requirements for interviewing and recruiting in your country? I can’t explore this here as I’m writing in an international context but I will say that the legal framework is crucial. If you’re unsure about any aspect, get professional advice.

Once you know what you want, you’re almost ready to start looking. Before starting, it’s helpful to brainstorm the profile of the perfect candidate. You could consider three categories:

1. qualifications – is a university degree important for you? do you want someone who has the TEFL Cert or Diploma? Will you train the teachers yourself and so think that teaching qualifications are not necessary?
2. experience (type of teaching, number of years, countries, size of school)
3. personal qualities (adaptability, rigour, good with difficult people…)

From this wish-list, you can decide which elements are essential and which are an added advantage. This is your person specification (person spec) and will help you at every stage of the recruitment process.

Think about how you are going to check each item on your person spec. What can you check through asking for references? What will you ask the candidate in interview? How will you check certificates and diplomas? Will you ask the candidate to bring them to the interview? What will you ask the candidate on the phone before deciding whether to continue with the recruitment process? Remember that bringing someone in for an interview is very time-consuming for you and the person concerned. So get as much information as possible before inviting the candidate in.

Now you know what you are looking for, you’re ready to start. Here is my suggested procedure and one that has worked for me.

1. Place advertisement – make the school look seductive and attractive, but be truthful. Essential info includes:
   • experience, qualifications and personal qualities you are looking for in a teacher
   • info about the school: location, structure
   • info about the classes: in-company or in-school; size of classes (group, one-to-one…); type of teaching (young learners, business English…)

   You might also want to add info about possibilities for training and development and the sort of support provided.

   Questions to ask yourself about placing the ad include: where should I advertise to find the person with a corresponding profile? Internet, daily newspapers that are widely read by teachers (eg The Guardian in the UK), word of mouth, the notice board in a library used by teachers. Of course, this will also depend on your budget.

   If you choose to advertise on the Internet, the advantages are that it is instant and worldwide. You can have CVs coming in within hours. Another advantage is that you can put more detail in your ad and even link it to your website. There are thousands of job boards to choose from, some free and others not. As with anything, you get what you pay for. Paid ads have the advantage of being more credible in the eyes of teachers looking for work and so you might get a different class of applicant.

   The disadvantage of recruiting at a distance is that you might not get a chance to meet the person. This is where I think care is needed. If you can, use a local agent to help you recruit. The extra cost will be compensated for if you get the right teacher. If you can’t go for this option, you should at least do a telephone interview and follow up references.

2. Potential candidates contact you and you give further details about the post. Decide beforehand whether this information will be given orally over the phone or written and sent out on request.
3. CVs are received. Qualifications and experience are checked and suitable candidates called for interview. Think about time management at this point. Your person spec will help you wade through the CVs. You can sort CV’s into three categories: teachers you definitely want to interview, those you are unsure about and those you definitely don’t want to hire. For applicants you’re not sure about, phone and ask a few questions for clarification so as not to spend an hour with an unsuitable candidate in interview.
4. Interviews are held in a quiet place to avoid interruptions. Put the person at ease, you won’t gain anything by stressing the person out. You won’t see them at their best and they’ll reveal less. What’s more, it’s unethical. Outline the interview, first we’ll talk about…then… As the interview ends, indicate what the next step will be, eg you can expect to hear from us in xx days.For the interview you’ll need to plan your questions. Decide what you’ll ask everybody and what information you need to give out to all candidates in the interests of being fair. There will also be specific questions that you’ll ask concerning each person’s CV.It’s usual to have two interviewers for two reasons. Firstly, to cover yourself in the event of any complaints from candidates. Unfortunately, it happens and so cannot be overlooked. Secondly, one person can take notes allowing the other interviewer to give their undivided attention to the candidate. The note-taker can also ensure that the essential elements are covered. This person very often notices discrepancies in the candidate’s answers, as (s)he is not involved directly in the discussion. So allow the note-taker some time at the end to ask questions.
5. Write down your initial impressions as soon as you come out of the interview, then consider the interview again 24 hours later. Follow up references, if you’ve decided this is part of your procedure. You can then decide whether to make an offer or send a letter of regret. Your person spec will help you with decision-making.
6. Make confirmed offer (or regret). It’s wise to wait at least 24 hours before contacting the candidate. If you decide to confirm by phone have a spiel ready in case you get an ansaphone. Make it clear and short. Give – and repeat – your phone number. Don’t leave a message turning down your candidate.
7. The contract is signed and details are finalised (start date, etc).

All the above can seem very time-consuming. Especially when you’re ready to hire. I strongly believe that any time invested in finding the right person is time well spent. The more time you spend getting your hiring right, the less time you’ll spend with problems and/or departures later.

The expected outcomes of a well-thought out recruitment process are an increase in the number of suitable teachers who come to work with you and stay with you. The extra costs of a teacher not fitting in and leaving should be reduced.

Of course, some people still prefer to see hiring staff as an art and follow their feelings. By now you will have guessed that I’m in the camp of those who see recruitment as a science. I love spontaneity, but not in the interview room!

Don’t forget that recruitment doesn’t end at the interview. You might have decided to have a probationary period – or the law of the country you work in might require this – if so, how will you handle it? You also need to work at keeping your staff. Newly-recruited teachers are expected to be effective as quickly as possible, and they have their expectations of you too.

© Lucy Pollard 2004
Lucy Pollard has worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and Director of Studies for over 15 years. Her teaching experience is very varied: adults, English for specific purposes and English for academic purposes, as well as teenagers and young children. She has worked with multi-lingual classes in the UK and in various European countries. Lucy is available for teacher training and staff training in Western Europe, and further afield. Please contact lucy@tefl.net if you are interested.