Supply Teaching Agency - Teacher Recruitment - Teaching Jobs - First For Education

Recruitment Policy

First For Education is fully compliant with the Criminal Record Bureau and complies fully with the requirements of the DfES Circular 7/96, Guidance on the Use of Supply Teachers, and continually reviews all of its processes for the recruitment, provision and management of supply teachers.
Teaching Personnel undertakes CRB checks on all its supply teachers, and re-checks any teachers that fall within the guidelines as outlined by the DfES and the CRB.

All First For Education teachers are

• Fully POCAL (Protection of Children Act List) checked including List 99
• Checked for criminal background via the CRB Enhanced Disclosure system or provide overseas criminal clearance where relevant.
• Checked against two most recent independent confidential references
• Interviewed face to face by trained consultants
• Health checked
• Identity checked
• Covered by £5,000,000 employers liability insurance

Face to Face interview

Initially all teachers attend a face to face interview where original documentary evidence is supplied and teachers are questioned on their classroom/behaviour management skills and relevant teaching experience. These interviews are conducted by our consultants.

Vetting Team

First For Education ensures that all the relevant background checks are obtained and are satisfactory. Only once this has been established and correctly entered onto the system, can a teacher be assigned "live" status and made available to fill bookings.

Qualification check

All teachers must provide proof that they hold a recognised teaching qualification and support staff must hold relevant qualifications to their role. As part of the registration process we require sight of original certificates. In the absence of original certificates, we gain a letter confirming qualifications from the GTC or the individual’s training provider.

GTC registration check

Applicants must also have GTC registration (where applicable). Overseas Trained Teachers’ qualifications are checked for compatibility by the National Academic Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom (UK NARIC).

Reference checks

We take a minimum of two references on each new applicant. References must be from the most recent employers from within the last six years.
Referees must be in a position to comment directly on the teacher’s performance and references are sought only from the Head Teacher or other member of the senior management team.
References are not accepted from staffroom colleagues of the applicant. References must be written, but in the case of verbal references, a contemporaneous record must be made of the name and status of the referee, the date and the name of the employee taking the reference. Verbal references are substantiated by a request for a written reference within 24 hours.
Open references are not accepted.
Every effort is made to authenticate the status of the referee i.e. check the school against our database and in the case of a school not registered on the database (FE college, independent school, overseas school) a call is made to the school to verify that the named referee is on the staff and in a position of authority.

Proof of identity

Sight of an original passport, photo ID (e.g. Photo Driving Licence) or birth certificate is required. In addition, an original utility bill or bank statement showing the applicant’s name and address is required.

Medical checks

All teachers are required to sign a medical declaration as part of their registration with First For Education.