Meet the former teacher helping to bridge the recruitment gap in Sunderland's classrooms

Established in 2012 Sunderland based AK Teaching has expanded to now cover the whole of the North East as the recruitment agency looks to help bridge the gap in the shortfall of teachers across the city and the region.

The agency was established by Anthony Kirtley where he initially operated as a one man operation from an office at the Sunderland Business and Innovation Centre. The company now employs 31 staff, works with over 250 schools across the region and employs around 500 education staff every week. 

The teaching profession currently faces a recruitment and retainment crisis. The latest figures show around one in ten teachers have left the profession in recent years and this rockets when it comes to new teachers with around a quarter quitting the classroom within three years of qualifying and nearly a third within five years.

When it comes to recruitment, in 2023 the Government fell 38% below its teacher training target, with a 50% shortfall when it comes to secondary schools.

The problem is even more acute in certain subjects with recruitment in physics, design and technology and languages falling short by 83%, 73% and 67% respectively.

It’s a situation which AK Teaching director Jonny Greener has experienced here in Sunderland as an increasing number of schools have turned to the agency to help recruit teachers and teaching assistants into their classrooms.

He said: “Schools are definitely experiencing a shortage of teaching staff, particularly in the core subjects such as maths and the sciences. If I had a maths teacher walk in here now there would be a list of around 15 schools requesting their services straight away."

Jonny, a former primary school teacher of five years, added: “It’s a really challenging market out there for schools at the moment and the number of qualified staff seems to be at an all time low. There’s not enough teachers out there and there are shortages across the board in secondary education.

“Part of my role is to work with local universities and they simply aren’t getting the same number of graduate teachers they used to.”

While AK Teaching can provide local schools with short and medium term supply cover, Jonny sees an increasing role of the agency is to gain out of work teachers permanent positions while at the same time ensuring local schools get the staff they need where they may be experiencing a shortfall.

He said: “I’m an educator first and foremost and as a company we are a big advocate of making what starts as temporary positions into something permanent.

“Some teachers and schools will still go through the formal interview process, but an increasing number of positions seem to be filled by people initially going in on supply.

“We often have schools contacting us about a position which has arisen who ask to be put in contact with specific people who have been in on supply and have done well and fitted in at the school.

“I speak with a lot of the trainee teachers at the University of Sunderland and I always highlight how doing supply allows them to gain more experience and see different schools to find a fit which is right for them.”

AK Teaching is also training people from professions such as the police, armed forces, sports coaches and care industry, to go into schools as cover supervisors, to again help bridge any gaps in the curriculum.

Jonny said: “We provide training and upskill people so they have a better understanding of a school environment.

“There are a lot of highly skilled people from other sectors who have transferable skills and can transition into the education sector.”

The recruitment agency also provides teaching assistants for schools and has recently teamed up with Clennell Education to train TAs to meet the growing demand for support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Jonny said: "Since the fallout from Covid, there has been a massive increase in the number of children registered with SEND. More children are needing 1-1 support and schools have been struggling to recruit enough teaching assistants to provide this.

"This is why we teamed up with Clennell Education to help train new teaching assistants to go out into schools and provide this support."   

AK Teaching is looking to continue to expand and now has additional offices in Durham, Middlesbrough and Leeds as it looks to widen its catchment area.

The agency also recently relocated its central hub to City Hall to provide a more accessible base for prospective recruits.

Jonny said: "Around 50% of our workforce are former teachers and so we know what it is like in schools and what they need.

"We see our role as very much working in partnership with local schools as they know us and trust us. We are here to support our schools but are equally here to support our teachers.

"All our staff volunteer to go into schools as each school is different and it's important to know what all our schools are like."

Anyone interested in registering or training with AK Teaching can find out more via the company's website. The agency is also hosting an open day at their offices at City Hall on Monday April 8.