Demand for contractors in the classroom

by Susie Hughes at 10:27 14/08/14 (News on Business)

Contractors within the education sector are feeling optimistic about their earnings over the next 12 months, in part due to the new emphasis on IT skills in the classroom.

A survey by umbrella employment specialists, giant group, found that 79 per cent of contractors within the education sector expect their earnings to increase or stay the same over the next year, a growth of five per cent on figures from last year. This can be partially attributed to the addition of new subjects to the curriculum, such as programming and coding, which could potentially lead to a shortfall of skills required in the classroom. Other findings from the study suggest an ongoing shortage of teaching staff as the majority of respondents to the survey (70 per cent) have only undertaken one contract role over the last year. Additionally, there has been a three per cent rise in contractors within education reporting an average gap of 0-31 days between assignments, indicating that teachers are in demand. Capacity Managing Director of giant group, Matthew Brown, said: “Much of the increased optimism amongst contractors in the education sector has been caused by changes to the curriculum that are set to come into play later this year. Advertisement "The addition of subjects such as programming and coding to the UK syllabus has boosted demand for skill sets in these niche areas and therefore contractors with these attributes are now expecting a rise in earnings over the next year. Specialists are particularly sought after to plug gaps left by an expansion of the curriculum and also to generally smoothen processes for education providers. "We’re all aware that adding new subjects is likely to bring staffing issues and many schools are looking to employ contractors to ease the transition come September.” “However, while the heightened expectations are a positive sign, many education providers will also have to be wary of a potential skills shortage looming around the corner. The majority of contractors have only undertaken one role in the past year and the gap between assignments is decreasing, suggesting that there’s increased demand for education specialists. "If this trend continues, we could be seeing an education contractor market that’s pushed to capacity.” Tweet -- If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is free and easy - see 'Join Shout99'. - Susie Hughes © Shout99 2014

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