A North East firm that has developed an app to improve the recruitment of teachers has secured investment of £100,000.
Sunderland’s Premier Teachers – which aims to cut recruitment costs for schools at the same time as expanding the pool of talent available to them – has been backed by angel investor Gary Dewhurst.
Premier Teachers allows would-be teachers to applying for more than one job at the same time by using one submission form on their phone or tablet. It also provides schools and local education authorities with a searchable database of applicants that match their criteria.
The recruitment agency was founded by teacher Mike Donnelly in 2013 and supplies teachers and support staff to schools throughout Teesside, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland. Mr Donnelly used his experience as a teacher and worked with Sunderland University to put together the team that has developed the new app.
Mr Donnelly said: “This £100,000 investment was absolutely critical as we had taken the product as far as we could and were unable to access the necessary funds to make it a viable product.
“It is a simple and scalable tech solution to address a nationwide shortage of teachers in a profession that has missed government recruitment targets for secondary school teacher trainees for the seventh year in a row.”
The app is due to undergo testing next month and is scheduled to be launched later this summer.
Mr Dewhurst said: “I’m excited to be investing in Premier Teachers and its app as it offers a simple solution to ease the chronic shortage of teachers.
“I have three children in education and have seen first-hand the challenges that both teachers and schools face in recruiting the right people. I value education highly and that is my main motivation behind this investment.”
Mr Dewhurst left his role as part-time CEO of gap Personnel Group after selling his remaining shares in the Wrexham-based company, having sold a 75% stake in 2017 to Japanese-listed recruiter BeNEXT.
The £100,000 investment in Premier Teachers was fast-tracked via the HMRC-approved Enterprise Investment Scheme.