Teacher recruitment 'three times slower than in UK'

Mr Mulkerrin, pictured, who resigned recently as a non-voting member of the board, said that Guernsey was at least three times slower in recruiting secondary school teachers than the UK, where heads had the power to appoint.

His claims came as Education released its latest staff recruitment figures, which showed that the department took on average 38 days to recruit each of its 50 staff to secondary schools last year.

'The Education Department is in practice in a competition with 5,000 secondary head teachers in England to attract and appoint the best available teachers.

'This is a competition Guernsey cannot win unless it radically updates its appointment process.'

The recruitment of teachers was highlighted as a key area of improvement in Mr Mulkerrin's review of primary and secondary education and formed part of his recent resignation from the board.

Mr Mulkerrin also said that Education's figures for secondary school appointments had been distorted by the use of a 'recruitment partner' with which to fill 24 hard-to-fill posts.

However, the department yesterday denied that these appointments skewed the figures.

It said the average time it took to make these 24 appointments was 37 days from advert to appointment – just one day fewer than the overall average.

Minister Robert Sillars yesterday outlined some of the steps already taken in bringing recruitment improvements, but reiterated that the department was not complacent and could always do more to make the process smoother and more streamlined.