Recruitment and Retention

Profile

Beijing World Youth Academy (BWYA) is an independent, international, day school located in Beijing. Founded in 2001 with a small cohort of students studying the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, it has now grown into a large K-12 school with over 1100 students. BWYA has developed a reputation for academic excellence coupled with a strong sense of community. We educate students with English and Chinese as the main language of instruction, as well as with a commitment to the Chinese government education policies for national students. BWYA is authorised with International Baccalaureate Organisation (IB), Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), and accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The school is also a member of Association of China and Mongolia International Schools (ACAMIS) and East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS).

Mission

Beijing World Youth Academy strives to provide members of our community excellent learning opportunities that incorporate critical investigation, exposure to different cultural perspectives and assessment against objective criteria. Our mission is to develop principled, open-minded thinkers who are capable of integrating with diverse international communities and who are empowered to shape their environs for the improvement of quality of life for themselves and others.

Values

As a school community, these are our values:

Compassion: We respect and empathise with the rights, opinions, culture and feelings of others.
Trust: We believe that honesty, integrity and reliability in ourselves and others, forms the cornerstone of our community.
Solidarity: We value harmony and oneness while recognising the individuality of each person in our community.
Collaboration: We recognise that the development of the student is the shared responsibility between the student, the family and the school.

Schoolwide Learner Outcomes

We have adopted the International Baccalaureate ® (IB) Learner Profile, which describes a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academic success, as our Schoolwide Learning Outcomes as part of our commitment to help all members of the school community learn to respect themselves, others and the world around them.

As learners we strive to be:

Inquirers: We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life.
Knowledgeable: We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines. We engage with issues and ideas that have local and global significance.
Thinkers: We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems. We exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions.
Communicators: We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.
Principled: We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences.
Open-minded: We critically appreciate our own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others. We seek and evaluate a range of points of view, and we are willing to grow from the experience.
Caring: We show empathy, compassion and respect. We have a commitment to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around us.
Risk-takers: We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.
Balanced: We understand the importance of balancing different aspects of our lives — intellectual, physical, and emotional — to achieve well-being for ourselves and others. We recognise our interdependence with other people and with the world in which we live.
Reflective: We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development.

Rationale

This policy has been developed in order to guide our recruitment practices and procedures, to ensure that recruitment is performed so as to safeguard all members of our school community and to populate the school with teachers, administrators and support staff of the highest calibre.

Introduction

Beijing World Youth Academy strives to recruit professional, capable and qualified teachers, administrators and support staff so that we may offer a valuable educational product to our community. This policy outlines procedures we have in place in order to most effectively do this.

Guiding Principles

This policy exists to ensure that we:

Attract and recognise high quality applicants for positions of teaching, administration and volunteering.
Identify and reject applicants who are not suitable for the positions applied for in terms of safety towards others, qualifications or fit with existing school culture.
Identify the strengths and weaknesses of current teachers, administrators and support staff, and provide professional development opportunities accordingly.
Identify and retain current teachers, administrators and support staff whose services add value to the school community.
Identify and replace current teachers, administrators and support staff who are found to be unsuitable for their positions in terms of safety towards others, qualification or school culture.

Policy and Implementation

Teacher, Administrator and Volunteer Profile

Teachers, administrators and support staff at Beijing World Youth Academy:

Are qualified, professional and dedicated educators.
Have an excellent knowledge of, and passion for, their subjects.
Are open-minded and comfortable interacting with students, colleagues and parents from diverse cultural backgrounds and ethnicities in a way that is respectful, amicable and inclusive.
Are excellent role models for our students.
Contribute to an environment that is safe and conducive to teaching, administration and learning for all members of the school community.
Thrive on finding opportunities to support student and personal growth.
Have genuine empathy towards students, colleagues and administrators.
Present the school in a good light by means of their behaviour and presentation whenever they represent the school.

Requirements

In order to be considered for a position at Beijing World Youth Academy, teachers, administrators and support staff must have the following:

Criminal clearance certificates.
A bachelors or higher degree
At least two years of full time teaching experience since graduation
An accredited teaching qualification
Fluency and proficiency in English
Good health
A willingness to act as a homeroom supervisor and to contribute to the co-curricular programme

Safeguarding

Beijing World Youth Academy considers no aspect of its operation or administration more important than the health and safety of its employees, students and visitors. This is achieved by maintaining safe and healthy working conditions and by fostering a culture focused on awareness, open communication, safety education and supervision, with safe working methods. Safeguarding is a priority for the BWYA community.

All job descriptions and job advertisements posted by Beijing World Youth Academy contain the following statement:

Beijing World Youth Academy is committed to safeguarding children and young people. All post holders are subject to vetting procedures including thorough background checks. Aligned with the recommendations of the International Task Force on Child Protection, we hold ourselves to a high standard of effective recruiting practices with specific attention to child protection.

Recruitment Process

Recruitment of teachers, administrators and support staff takes place via the following steps.

1. Screening

Applicants are screened by our Human Resource Manager, possibly in consultation with other members of the school community, via their submitted documents. Before the recruitment process may advance beyond this stage, we must have the following information from an applicant:

Full, legal name. Aliases or other names used currently or in the past
Personal details including gender, date of birth and marital status
All countries of citizenship and residence
Contact details, including email address, physical addresses and phone numbers in countries of citizenship and residence
Education details, including institution names, dates attended, and names and descriptions of degrees and certificates obtained
Work experience details including employment history with position descriptions and reasons for moving on
Explanations for all gaps in work history
Name and contact details of personal and professional referees
A full account of the candidates criminal history

Any form of misrepresentation on the part of the applicant forms the grounds for immediate exclusion from further steps in the recruitment process, or immediate contract termination by the school if it is only discovered later on.

2. Interviewing

Screened applicants are then interviewed either in person or online. Appropriate members of staff may be included in the interview process, particularly for applicants applying for positions of leadership or where specialised knowledge is helpful in assessing the suitability of applicants.

During the interview the following areas will be addressed:

The applicant's motivation for working in education and with young people
Any issues with the candidate's background information (such as periods not accounted for)
The candidate's attitudes and bahaviour
The candidate's teaching and leadership style

3. Reference Confirmation

Applicants are expected to provide at least three confidential references, of which at least two are from a direct supervisor. All references are to be recent and gaps in the working history presented are investigated by our Human Resource Manager.

At least two of the referees are to be contacted directly to discuss the references that they have provided.

In particular, referees will be asked:

Whether they or anyone else has, at any point in time, had or expressed concerns about the candidate working with children.
Whether they would rehire the candidate or hire the candidate for the post applied for.
For information pertaining to the candidate's sickness and attendance record, disciplinary actions and general suitability for the post.

4. Criminal Record Clearance

Candidates are expected to provide police clearance certificates from their country of origin and the country that they reside when they apply to the school. In accordance with the regulations of the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs in China, these certificates must be legalized by the Chinese Consulate in the country in which the certificates are issued.

5. Confirming Credentials

In accordance with the regulations of the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs in China, the school must obtain from the candidate professional qualifications that have been legalised by the Chinese Consulate in the country where the qualifications were issued.

Retention

We are committed to retaining teachers and staff members who demonstrate a genuine passion for education and students' wellbeing. The performance of teachers and other staff members is reviewed periodically through the appraisal process. Where a staff member has failed to meet our expectations, an Individual Improvement Plan will be provided to support their improvement. Upon successful completion of the plan, a new contract will be offered.

In the event that a staff member breaches the school's policies, the following actions will be taken:

• First offence: a verbal warning will be issued.
• Second offence: a written warning letter will be issued.
• Third offence: the contract will be terminated.

Records of the above actions will be retained in the staff member's personal file with Human Resources.

Given the nature of an educational institution, where an offence is deemed to endanger students' safety or wellbeing, the contract will be terminated with immediate effect.

Professional Development

We put a lot of effort into the induction, orientation, and professional development of our staff.

At the beginning of the academic year, new staff members are shown around the school and introduced to their responsibilities and expectations through a series of meetings and activities.
All teachers are appraised by their department heads, section coordinators and principals, both informally and formally, at regular intervals during the academic year. For information on school policy in terms of probation, observation, goal setting, and appraisal procedures, please see the Performance Management Policy.