Building an inclusive and positive learning environment is important for all communities. To create this environment, you need teachers, educators, and support staff on board. Recruiting for diversity is key.
Research from the University of Melbourne highlights a major gap in Australia’s education workforce: it doesn’t yet reflect the diversity of the population. While most recruitment efforts focus on filling teacher shortages, far fewer aim to boost diversity. Currently, only 6% of teachers report a disability, 17% were born overseas, and fewer than 2% identify as Indigenous. Yet having diverse educators in the classroom delivers real benefits, like improving student outcomes and strengthening connections with local communities, especially in hard-to-staff areas.
So, how can education leaders ensure their hiring processes genuinely reflect diversity and inclusion principles? When you already have so much on your plate, refining your education recruitment strategy might seem like just another big task.
There is good news, though: making your recruitment process more inclusive is often simpler than you’d expect. Making small, step-by-step adjustments and raising awareness are the best ways to get started. Here’s how you can make recruitment across early childhood, primary, secondary, and even tertiary education settings more inclusive, without the need for a big budgets or complex system.
What Does Diversity Mean in Education Recruitment?
First, let’s clarify what diversity and inclusion principles actually mean when it comes to recruitment. Fundamentally, recruiting for diversity ensures that every candidate has a fair opportunity to secure a role, regardless of background.
Diversity means representing a wide range of voices, identities, and experiences across your workforce. Inclusion ensures that all staff – whether they work in early learning centres, schools, TAFEs, or universities-feel valued, respected and supported in their role.
This matters just as much for learners as it does for staff. When students encounter educators who reflect their own backgrounds or can give them a different perspective, it broadens their thinking and inspires new aspirations. Having diverse representation in an education organisation challenges stereotypes. It helps affirm the identities of those from underrepresented groups.
A great starting point for embedding diversity and inclusion into your hiring is to define your commitment clearly and openly. We recommend sharing your organisation’s diversity goals with your leadership and hiring teams to create a shared understanding. This can be supported with training, discussions, and by embedding inclusion statements into your official recruitment policies. Now, let’s get into some more practical tips!
Tip 1: Write Inclusive Job Descriptions and Job Ads
This is an important step in recruiting for diversity, but it’s easy to overlook it during the hiring process. Put simply, the language you use in job descriptions and job ads directly affects who feels encouraged to apply.
For example, requiring a “native English speaker” may unnecessarily exclude multilingual candidates who are excellent communicators. Or describing roles as “physically demanding” could discourage applicants with disabilities, even if reasonable adjustments are possible.
It also pays to get input from a mix of staff. Ask: “Does this ad feel open to all?” and tweak wording based on their feedback. Small language changes can remove big, unseen barriers.
You could also invite feedback from a diverse mix of your current team members. Ask: “Would you apply for this role based on this wording?” and adjust based on their suggestions.
Tip 2: Look Out for Bias in the Hiring Process
Unconscious bias can influence hiring decisions in ways we don’t always recognise. That’s why Inspired Recruitment builds safeguards into every stage of the process, and you can too.
Here are three simple ways to reduce bias in education recruitment:
Provide bias awareness training for anyone involved in hiring. Raising awareness is the first step toward fairer decision-making.
Anonymise CVs-remove names, ages, and other personal details so candidates are assessed purely on skills and experience. (There are easy online tools for this, or a recruiter like us can handle it for you.)
Use structured interviews with a consistent set of questions and scoring criteria. This makes sure candidates are compared to each other fairly and reduces subjective judgements from interviewers.
Tip 3: Track Your Diversity and Inclusion Metrics
If you want to make lasting progress, you need to measure your results. Key metrics to monitor include:
The diversity of your candidate shortlists
The proportion of diverse candidates who progress to interview and job offer stages
Retention rates for staff from underrepresented backgrounds
Start collecting these figures as soon as you introduce changes to your hiring practices. Reviewing them regularly (monthly, quarterly, or annually) will help you spot trends, strengths, and areas needing improvement.
Tip 4: Keep Reviewing and Refining Methods
Creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce isn’t a “set and forget” project. To see real impact, it’s essential to regularly check in on progress.
To do this, seek feedback from candidates (successful and unsuccessful) plus your existing staff to identify issues or blind spots. Analyse the numbers from regular reviews of diversity metrics to find where the gaps or hurdles are, and which aspects of the process need more attention.
Stay informed about emerging best practices and evolving expectations around diversity and inclusion in the education sector.
Remember that even small, consistent improvements can lead to meaningful change. Tackling issues step-by-step helps create educational environments where everyone feels welcome and supported.
Tip 5: Broaden Your Candidate Pool with a Diversity-Focused Education Recruiter
To reach a more diverse talent pool, it might help partnering with an education recruitment agency that actively supports diversity and inclusion principles-like Inspired Recruitment.
We connect education providers across Australia, including Sydney, Melbourne, and regional areas, with a wide network of teaching, leadership, and support staff from varied backgrounds. Our strong local knowledge and understanding of the sector give us the ability to find educators who could be under your radar.
Instead of relying on traditional job advertising, working with an education recruiter that embeds diversity in their process can give your organisation a real edge in finding great people from underrepresented groups.
Talk to Us
Want expert support to make your education recruitment more inclusive? Inspired Recruitment specialises in helping education providers across Australia hire better, fairer, and smarter. Let’s build a workforce that reflects the rich diversity of Australia – together! Don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team in Sydney or Melbourne today.