AK Teaching director Jonny Greener talks about the company's growth and role in recruiting new teachers and support staff for Sunderland and North East schools.
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00:00 Ok then Jonny, I want to start by asking for an overview of your care teaching, just how
00:04 many people you've got working for you, the number of schools involved?
00:07 Yeah, so we've grown quite a lot in recent years. We've got a team of around 30 staff
00:12 now working for ourselves. We've got around 250 schools, give or take, across the region
00:18 that we are currently working with and I think we've got upwards of 500 staff out, give or
00:23 take, at the moment across the region.
00:25 And what's the company's main role in terms of filling the void in the teacher recruitment
00:28 market at the moment?
00:30 It's a challenging market out there at the moment. The volume of qualified staff seems
00:35 to be, probably from the time I've spent in the sector, at probably an all-time low. So
00:39 we are a massive advocate and we work with some local companies, some local training
00:44 providers such as Cullinale Education, to try and upskill and support our staff into
00:49 the sector. We're also trying to look at other avenues, so those who came from backgrounds
00:56 of transferable skills such as support workers, ex-forcers, ex-police, sports coaches. There's
01:02 a lot of really highly skilled people out there who might want to look at that transition
01:07 into the education sector.
01:08 I mean, so obviously there are gaps in the teaching market at the moment and obviously
01:13 one of your roles is supply. Is it also trying to get people permanent positions as well?
01:17 100%. I think, again, over the last couple of years in particular, the number of staff
01:22 who start on a temporary basis or a supply basis, who then go permanent in that school
01:27 that they've been working in, is bigger than ever. I don't have the statistics at hand
01:31 but it is something that we are a massive advocate for. I'm an educated person foremost,
01:36 I was a teacher before coming into this industry, so for me I love to see, particularly a passion
01:42 of mine, is getting ECTs into their schools, that they really kind of feel valued and find
01:47 the right role for them.
01:48 Obviously the company has grown, you're now in City Hall here in the city centre. What
01:53 do you think is the main secret behind the company's success?
01:56 I think first and foremost we're just normal people and we're massively focused on our
02:03 core values which is trust and having that quality and that voice. We're driven and we
02:10 want to continue to grow but we don't want to lose who we are and the relationships that
02:15 we have with the schools, that's first and foremost what we're built on. We're a company
02:20 that prides ourselves on our partnerships and the relationships that we have, the sponsorship
02:25 of Sunderland FC and a lot of other local companies, local charities that we do support.