Eteach, the leading provider of online education recruitment solutions, is pleased to announce its successful collaboration with education employers and teacher unions resulting in the launch of Northern Irelandís first online supply teacher pool.
NISTR (the Northern Ireland Substitute Teacher Register) was developed in response to the Northern Ireland Audit Office report published in December 2002 which highlighted the increasing amounts spent with agencies to recruit substitute/supply teachers when a surplus of these teachers existed.
Schools and education bodies were doing their best to book teachers directly and reduce their reliance on recruitment agencies by keeping manual records of supply teacher availability and circulating these to schools. This cumbersome process was highly fragmented and with a number of local services being offered. This localisation meant that teachers were not always able to find work at the right school and schools were not always able to find the most appropriate teacher.
Once employers and unions became aware of the capability of online technology to manage pools of teachers in ëreal timeí they worked with Eteach to create a single online facility ñ NISTR.org.uk. This service, which has been endorsed by the Northern Ireland General Teaching Council (GTCNI), enables schools across Northern Ireland to book supply/substitute teachers quickly and efficiently from a single pool. The initial phase of NISTR.org.uk has exceeded expectations with over 2,000 supply (or substitute) teacher days booked in two months to May 2004.
Every school in Northern Ireland, around 1200, may use the pool. The integrated electronic booking system is web-based and therefore schools donít need to install any software. All they require is a PC with a standard web-browser and an Internet connection. Schools can upload vacancy details in minutes and search the database of teachers ñ currently over 1500 - by key criteria including subject, location and availability.
Paul Howells, CEO of Eteach adds, ëBy enabling schools and teachers to communicate and make bookings directly online the system is much more efficient. Also, by dealing direct with the schools, supply teachers will receive statutory rates of pay and access to the Teachersí Pension Scheme as well as a greater choice of assignments. Eteach is working with more than 45 LEAs in mainland UK to provide a similar service and we are very pleased to have helped schools and teachers in Northern Ireland benefit from the efficiencies of the Internet using Eteachís state-of-the-art technology.í
Eteach announces this contract following its acquisition of Go-teaching in March this year.
New service ensures payment to scale for NI supply teachers
Eteach is pleased to announce its successful collaboration with education employers and teacher unions