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Academy Trusts are under growing pressure. Nearly 60% ran in-year deficits in 2023/24, compared with just 19% in 2020/21. Staff costs remain the top financial strain, cited by 81% of trusts. At the same time, teacher turnover in large multi-academy trusts has reached 19.5%, significantly higher than the 14.4% seen in local authority schools.
Falling pupil numbers, rising SEND costs, and new legislation around governance and pay are adding to the complexity. For many trusts, the result is financial instability, higher workload for remaining staff, and a growing risk of poor educational outcomes.
At 360 Talent Solutions, we use our Recruitment Optimisation Framework, powered by The Predictive Index (PI), to help Academy Trusts make better recruitment decisions. This framework ensures that every hire is aligned with the trust’s strategy, attracts the right applicants, is based on data rather than instinct, and is supported through effective onboarding.
The Predictive Index (PI) is a talent optimisation platform that helps organisations make data-driven decisions about hiring and team design. It includes behavioural and cognitive assessments that give insight into how people work, what drives them, and how they are likely to collaborate with others. By understanding these patterns, leaders can hire more effectively, build stronger teams, and align talent with business strategy.
Recruitment Optimisation is a structured way to connect hiring decisions with business strategy. It focuses on four stages: Align, Attract, Assess, and Advance. Each stage addresses a common challenge in recruitment, from hiring for the wrong outcomes to losing new hires too soon. By applying this cycle, organisations can ensure they have the right people in the right seats to deliver on business goals.
When finances are tight, every hire matters. Yet many trusts recruit reactively. This can lead to mis-hires that not only increase turnover but also force painful budget reallocations. A single poor hire can cost the equivalent of a teacher’s annual salary once recruitment fees, cover costs, and lost productivity are factored in.
The Predictive Index Job Assessment addresses this by defining the behavioural and cognitive requirements of each role. Governors, leaders, and stakeholders provide input to create a benchmark of what the role truly requires. This moves hiring away from generic job descriptions and towards recruitment decisions that are directly connected to the trust’s goals.
For example, a trust stabilising a school in special measures will need a leader with a very different profile to one leading a high-performing primary focused on steady growth. By aligning roles to outcomes in this way, trusts can avoid costly mistakes and make decisions that protect both budgets and long-term performance.
Trusts often face the challenge of advertising widely yet receiving large volumes of unsuitable applications. With pupil rolls shrinking and SEND needs growing, this is wasted time and money that trusts cannot afford.
The Predictive Index supports attraction by providing behavioural targets that can be translated into job adverts and role profiles. These targets ensure that messaging resonates with the right candidates; those whose motivations and working style match the trust’s environment.
Creating candidate personas further sharpens this process. By identifying the traits, goals, and challenges of the ideal candidate, trusts can write adverts that speak directly to the teachers they want to attract. This not only improves the quality of applicants but also sends a clear message about the culture and values of the trust.
The result is a more focused pipeline, fewer irrelevant applications, and better use of limited recruitment budgets.
High teacher turnover is a pressing issue for trusts. Nearly one in five teachers in large MATs leave each year, disrupting classrooms and adding to costs. Relying on CVs and interviews alone often leads to subjective decisions, with bias creeping in before assessments are even considered.
The Predictive Index provides behavioural and cognitive assessments that give objective data on how candidates are likely to perform, adapt, and interact. This information allows panels to move beyond instinct and evaluate candidates against the true requirements of the role.
In addition, structured interview guides based on PI data help governors and leaders ask consistent, evidence-based questions. This reduces bias, improves fairness, and ensures that each candidate is evaluated on the same criteria.
For trusts, this means fewer mis-hires, lower turnover, and stronger continuity for pupils.
Recruitment does not end when a teacher accepts a role. Poor onboarding and lack of support are among the biggest drivers of early exits. In a sector already struggling with retention, this is an expensive and avoidable problem.
The Predictive Index offers tools to strengthen retention and development from day one.
For Academy Trusts, these tools provide immediate benefits. New staff settle in quicker, managers are better equipped to support their teams, and culture is strengthened. Over time, this reduces turnover, improves engagement, and ensures that pupils benefit from stable, committed staff.
Most hiring mistakes happen because the team’s needs weren’t fully understood. This article shows how to avoid that by using behavioural insight to make decisions that last.
Hiring mistakes don’t just cost money. They affect team performance, slow down progress, and knock confidence. When a hire doesn’t fit, the impact is felt across the business. It shows up in strained relationships, dropped priorities, and goals that don’t get delivered.
That’s why I focus on helping companies make hiring decisions they can stand behind. By combining the Predictive Index with strategic support, I help you understand how your team works, what kind of person will support its goals, and where things could go wrong if you get the hire wrong.
If you want to reduce risk, avoid disruption, and make your next hire a decision you don’t need to second-guess, I’d be happy to show you how it works. Contact me today, I will be happy to help.
Dave Crumby
Founder at 360 Talent Solutions
Certified Predictive Index Practitioner
360 Talent Solutions Ltd is an Associate Partner of Humanostics® , a PI Certified Partner authorised to use the science, assessment software, and curriculum of management workshops of The Predictive Index.
In partnership with Humanostics, we provide companies access to the assessment tools provided by The Predictive Index.
Take the 6-minute PI Behavioral Assessment™ today. Once you have completed the 6-minute assessment, I will send you a Full Behavioral Report by Predictive Index.
Discover how the Predictive Index and our Recruitment Optimisation Framework help trusts align hiring with strategy, attract the right candidates, and retain staff.
Discover how The Predictive Index, applied through the Recruitment Optimisation Framework, helps organisations cut costly mis-hires and build teams that stay.
Most hiring mistakes happen because the team’s needs weren’t fully understood. This article shows how to avoid that by using behavioural insight to make decisions that last.
Discover why Predictive Index stands out as a hiring assessment, combining behavioural and cognitive insights to help you choose the right person with confidence.
