Supply teaching

Did it for a few years when I started teaching and was moving around quite a bit. I could be challenging at times but it really depends on what you want to get from it. I definitely found it hard to do much good teaching for a few reasons (primarily not having any kind of relationship built up with any kids) but the flipside was having almost no responsibilty once the bell had rung.

Just thinking of all the supply teachers I've worked with and the happiest (and often best) ones were all doing it as a side hustle as they sorted something else for themselves, so perhaps you have a bit of a headstart.

Best of luck!

Done a fair bit - frustrating on the getting to know your classes then leaving bit, but eventually ended up in a gig that went on for years at a very good school. I think I taught some of at least one regular here's family there.

There is a specialist skills set, as you do often find yourself clinging on to the outer branches in a gale. Anyway, I'm going back in again for another try.

Cheers both, that pretty much confirms what I thought - potential issues with building relationships as you're 'just' a cover teacher. But the lack of responsibility for marking, no tutor group, no parents evenings, etc, etc. is defo a bonus!

I'm thinking of leaving for a variety of reasons...
- generally feeling a bit burnt out by 14 years of full time teaching without a break.
- massively increased class sizes. I'm up to 32 in some KS3, and one of my GCSE classes is 29. In a practical subject like DT it makes teaching nigh on impossible.
- I was assaulted twice last year by students, and the school was pisspoor at dealing with it. Basically made to feel as if it was my fault and nothing was ever followed up or resolved.
- bullying behaviour from another member of staff, which is being ignored and/or downplayed by my line-manager. I've tried escalating it but SLT are so weak they can't or won't deal with it.
- constant pressure to improve results, even though as a dept we had the 2nd best results in the school last year. No thanks, no congratulations, just 'can they be better?' and shoving more kids in the classroom!

I enjoy teaching, but need a break! I'm hoping that a sideways move will help.

I did agency nursing for a decade so similar to supply teaching

plus points are that you just do your job and go home without any other responsibilities and that you can choose when to work along with not getting involved in "office politics"

downsides were frustration at not being able to do anything about substandard care and irregular income. It would have been much more precarious financially without a supportive partner in a decent job. some months I made more than a full time salery, some months a lot less

Where are you and what's the supply situation where you are? Some areas are crying out for supply teachers others have too many so getting enough work can be difficult.

I did it for a bit after moving down to Devon and was on the lookout for a career change. It was a culture shock to say the least and requires a complete mentality shift.

I did lots of bitty stuff but found it tough parachuting in to the odd class here and there. As HoD in my previous school I had zero behaviour issues and was called upon to deal with issue across the school. In supply....kids don't know who you are or have that same level of respect. So was a case of getting by, trying to get as much work done as possible etc. but without causing issues.

The quality of the agency helps. I used Class People and they were bloody useless. Typical sales people trying to get their staff in to any school. I was sold as a psychology specialist, languages....so when I got to the school and explained I was a geography and hums teacher, they were a bit annoyed. I got by though.

Bonus was though despite it being a bit harder than your normal teaching (for different reasons), I had zero work to do after 3:20.

Happy to chat more aj. I know you are fairly local to me in Devon.

As above but a big consideration is that with school budgets under increasing pressure for the foreseeable future supply is the first area that schools will look at to chop.

Where are you and what’s the supply situation where you are? Some areas are crying out for supply teachers others have too many so getting enough work can be difficult.

East Devon - I know a lot of local schools can't get supply staff for love or money, there's a real shortage.
For example, Exmouth College are actively advertising to recruit teachers for their supply teacher bank.

@mrwhyte - I was a Head of Faculty at my previous school, so similar. I have very few behaviour issues in my classes, and am acknowledged as a teacher who has a good rapport with the pupils. The incidents last year were Yr11s out of class wandering around school and looking for trouble. In one case they barged into our faculty office and pushed over myself and another member of staff. Amazingly the student only received a 1 day suspension (that says everything you need to know about the weakness of our SLT!)

Have been doing supply on and off for the last couple of years - had some time out of teaching and its worked out pretty well. Initially my agency was sending me to the more "challenging" schools - I've worked in EBD but for the last year I've been almost entirely in one school (I used to work with the DH) - I get a mix of classes, staff and kids know me and I've plenty of work.
Still with an agency who aren't doing a lot for their cut - the school aren't going to take me on though so I'll stick with this as its gives me flex to do other stuff if I want - loads of work ATM if you are any good and TBH loads even if you aren't!

if you go to an agency be careful to check out the pension arrangements. Agency supply teachers and advertising jobs are expensive for schools. I would blast all the local schools (you like the look of) with a letter and a cv. I did that speculatively having packed in my regular teaching job and some months later got a six month maternity cover in an ace sixth form college which was handy extra dosh and made a noticeable difference to the pension. Also you could sign up to be an examiner or moderator. If you're not working full-time you can take up all the extra papers.

I did this for 18 years, some of it being maternity cover, some just a day, some a term at a time. 6 years of inner city Stoke on Trent saw me home to the FoD. The real teaching jobs I wanted I couldn't get and the ones I could get I didn't want.
I hit every primary in the Forest with a CV, hand delivered. Got two long term jobs there and then. Direct contact with a school put you top of the speed dial list as no school likes an agency. Developed good relationship[s with the kids and staff. I did also use agancies, Hays and Class People who were fine if you stood up for yourself and you were in demand. The best jobs, local and in small schools did dry up a bit so was going to Gloucester a bit too much so at the start of 2019 I changed to a permenant TA post at a small village school. Making about the same money, maybe less but fixed and I have a nice 20 miles of gravel commute daily .
Do the job properly or better. Mark as the school needs, don't clear off at chucking out time, have very good classroom management skills ie no bad behaiviour and be prepared to talk to parents. Do this and you'll have plenty of work.
Glad I had a contract for covid but now there are few supply teachers about it seems. Got one tomorrow. No idea who or if it will be any good. Suspect I'll be in charge and they will do the marking.

Scottish borders crying out for supply. All schools seem to be at a staffing level that means they are teetering on the edge of being able to cover illness.
But supply teachers were made poorer by being put on bottom of pay scale no matter experience. So lots of recently retired staff weren't willing to do the job for so little

But supply teachers were made poorer by being put on bottom of pay scale no matter experience

Pretty sure that's not the case any more, it's certainly not the case where I work (Highland).

When I worked directly for the LA I was paid my normal pay rate or slightly more. Agencies will try for less as they have to make a few quid. 10 years ago a school secretary that one agency wanted £250 a day and paid £100.

@Spin I think your right, I did mean to go back and put a caveat to my statement but things....

Some LAs have their own supply bank where you can register for. Gets your name out there. Herefordshire had their own "agency" .
I would approach the agencies but go to schools directly. Face to face. Be aware that Hays, for example, state that if you go to a school first through them and then are invited back it has to be through them. No cutting out the middle man. I just reeled off a long list of schools, some of which I had been to before, and told them this. Happy to go via Hays but reserved the right to go direct. Take it or leave it. They took.
Do it right and you'll have too much work. I had 7 day weeks offered . Out of 5. One day I was shared by 3 local schools. They all wanted me to cover teachers on the same course. They all knew me well so hatched a plan and split me up. Got paid for half a day 3 times that day.
4 years on and I still have several pencil cases full of nice biros. I called it redistributing resources. I would accidently take a pink pen from school A but forget to take it from school B etc.

@alanjtom sounds like you're having a crap time. I know from grim experience what having a weak SLT can be like so I feel your pain.

Not sure what the hiring mechanics are like where you are but one of the benefits of supply for me was being able to pick and choose which schools to work in. Ther were a few instances where I was treated quite badly by the school so I just turned them down when they asked for me. In once case the school business manager got the DH in question to ring me up and apologise so they could get me back in!

Anyway, best of luck!

I had 7 day weeks offered . Out of 5.

I did a spell of supply at a school where the guy who did the cover was a well known incompetent. Lovely guy but a total chocolate teapot.

The way supply worked at the time you would teach 5 periods out of 6 and have one free period per day. I started putting my timesheet in with those hours and he would correct them so that I was getting paid for 6 periods having worked 5 every day. I queried this but he kept doing it so I had months of basically getting paid for an extra day a week. I put it away in case the local authority asked for it back but they never did and after a few months I used it to buy myself a lovely new bike. Happy days and I still like to tell the story of how Mr Kirk bought me a new bike.

I did a year of supply In 2008.

Out the house at 8am, in the house at 4pm for the majority of it. I worked every day bar the two I wanted off.

A language teacher I met had retired and wanted to top up her Pension. She had worked 2 or three days a month.

It was never going to be a long term thing for me. I had 4 of the schools ask me to interview or sign a permanent contract.

The hard bit was meeting a new bottom set year 11 every other week, taming them and building relationships then starting again with the classes closer to summer and leaving. I had a 3 month maternity cover from Easter to summer.

I suspect I would not have worked many days after year 11 and 13 left as several of the schools I had been at shuffled the timetables around to cover absences.

It was a great way to see what other school are like. I've been back full time in my current school for 4 years and have no desire to leave.

It was (mostly) nice for a year.

Mrs lunge did it for a year.
Said it removed the bad bits of teaching, the paperwork, the politics and the pressure.
But it also removed the good bits, the rapport with the kids, delivering good lessons, seeing people achieve.
It was always a stop gap for her, and it gave her 12 months breathing space before doing something else. She got as much work as she wanted, could have done 5 days per week easily but generally didn’t.

Cheers everyone for the replies.
Seems that I should be ok as far as getting work, and the main problems were pretty much what I'd foreseen.

I'm going to proactively contact a few local schools in the new year and sound out getting on their 'lists'.
Would rather go direct than through an agency if possible.

Oh, just a thought. If you're a member of a union then it's def worth speaking to them about what the rules are about working hours, pay etc. Here in Scotland you have protected non-contact time and there's certain rules about which pay scale they put you on. Most of the schools I worked with were great at this stuff but a couple tried to be a bit sneaky with me.

Here in Scotland you have protected non-contact time and there’s certain rules about which pay scale they put you on. Most of the schools I worked with were great at this stuff but a couple tried to be a bit sneaky with me.

In Scotland there's a slightly different rate for long and short term supply due to the fact that ST is basically baby sitting and long term involved planning/prep/etc. Anything more than a week and you should be on a ST contract so that you get the pay appropriate to your point on the pay scale.

Update on this...

I've just been offered a job in a primary school 😁 initially in an HLTA + cover role, but with a view to moving into teaching full time.

Still going to be doing my forest school leadership course in September, as the school is looking for someone to provide these activities in house.

Handing my notice in tomorrow to start after Easter 🙂 seems I've escaped secondary education!

Still going to be doing my forest school leadership course in September, as the school is looking for someone to provide these activities in house.

This is something I would love to do. My wife’s school has acres of land and it’s own woodland where the kids build dens, cook on real fire, set up wildlife cameras and all sorts of other cool stuff. An amazing opportunity to change kids lives for the better.

Good on you. I maybe need to start digging my own tunnel...

Good on you. I maybe need to start digging my own tunnel…

Do it 😉 it's taken me a while to find my escape route.
Nearly a decade and a half of secondary teaching. Enjoyed most of it, but the last year or so has been shite.
Happy to be moving onto pastures new.

Slightly difficult convo to have with the head tomorrow, as I know she's very anti people leaving partway through the year.

congratulations matey!

Slightly difficult convo to have with the head tomorrow, as I know she’s very anti people leaving partway through the year.

she might want to think about your reasons for doing so then? i imagine you can't be too scathing or overt and in any case it never pays to burn bridges but if she can't join the dots she's not worth her shit and if she could have done that in the first place you wouldn't be leaving, would you?

FWIW my Mrs says all secondary heads are pricks anyway. 😀

Nice one OP. Long shot, but did you ever teach in Thailand?

My mother did this (primary level) for many years.  That was a good few years ago now so things may have changed but I’m not sure how easy it would be to fit it 3 days a week around a course.  Typically she was expected to cover whatever the length of the sicknote was the person had - could be a week, two weeks, two months.  If someone was signed off for two weeks and then signed off for another two weeks it would be looked at badly if you weren’t willing to stay on for continuity.  You could then find yourself not needed (and therefore not earning for a few weeks).  A lot of it was short notice with limited ability to plan.  Phone call to come in today or perhaps tomorrow but not usually any more notice than that.  She loved the stress free part of it.  She only worked with three nearby schools so did get to know the staff and resources etc, and even to some extent the kids (she quickly learned which classes to avoid too!).  I think in her circumstance where she didn’t “need” * to work it was probably ideal but if paying your mortgage would depend on getting jobs it could be a lot more stressful. I remember her telling a family friend who was planning to switch to supply that the trick was to have enough fun but relevant material immediately available to fill three days with any year group and that gave you time to work out what you would actually do / what stage kids were at etc. but it also got the kids on board that the supply teacher was worth working with rather than resisting, and the head teacher knew she could just walk in to any class and go - I think supply teachers are a bit underestimated for that resourcefulness.   I remember her still doing plenty of marking and prep work out of hours so I wouldn’t assume it’s 9-3.30 only.  But even then management, politics, metrics, and to some extent parents were things she could mostly avoid.

* that makes them sound wealthy - they definitely weren’t and if she was full time she’d have earned more than my dad but their lifestyle had been built around one income so when she worked it was a bonus that paid for extra stuff.

ah sorry didn’t read to bottom of the thread!  Well done,  tough luck to the existing head - if she was better at her job people wouldn’t be looking to leave mid year.  Don’t stress about that conversation - I assure you she’s had so many conversations like it that you are just a number from the moment you walk in her office with the envelope in your hand!  Even when I’ve talked people out of resigning I don’t expect it to be a long term fix, I know it’s about buying ME time to make replacing them easier!

Nice one OP. Long shot, but did you ever teach in Thailand?

Yes! I think you might be the first person in 20 years to get the reference 😆

FWIW my Mrs says all secondary heads are pricks anyway.

I know that was said part in jest.

I've known a few good ones and one nasty piece of work*. The rest were mostly just struggling like **** in an impossible job.

Anyway, you don't go into that job to make friends.

* it doesn't keep me up at night but they're the only person I've ever known who I could be said to bear a grudge against. If it came into my power to do them a bad turn I probably would. Perhaps them standing beside a big puddle and me driving past...

Yes! I think you might be the first person in 20 years to get the reference 😆

👍 I always wondered actually. Me too 🙂 Still teaching meself, but in a FE college which is a very different game to secondary schools.

😁 someone already had ajarntom@..., So I misspelt it slightly.

Been my email and username on various forums for 20 years now.

VERY different level of respect for teachers in Asia compared to here. Would be amusing if it weren't so depressing!

Indeed, though I teach ESL to adults so still get the benefit. Brilliant students, which makes for happy colleagues (mostly).

Thailand: PT '94-'95 by any chance?

Thailand: PT ’94-’95 by any chance?

Bit later - backpacking round SE Asia from end of 1999 to late 2000, worked in a dive shop on Phi Phi for 6 months, and then taught in a school in North Bangkok for 18mths.

Then a bit more travelling around Laos (did some caving and climbing) and visited various dive spots in southern Thailand and Malaysia before coming back to the UK in 2003

Ah, different Tom. Sounds awesome. How did it go today?

How did it go today?

As well as could be expected.
Told the HT, she was a bit miffed, few comments such as 'I'd hope you'd finish the job you started'.

Then she called my line manager up to her office, and apparently had a right old moan (bit sweary apparently) saying he should persuade me to stay on til summer.

He said he'd not seen her that annoyed before!

Ouch. Nice one though. Better off out of it, and forest school is a brilliant thing.

Amazing how some management value staff once they leave. Well done fella!

Never understood managers who get pissed off when people leave. All that's doing is setting yourself up for being pissed off an awful lot of the time.

And I'm out....now an ex-secondary school teacher.

For shits and giggles, we had Ofsted in for my final two days!

Nicely done sir, or are you not called Sir any more?

Nicely done sir, or are you not called Sir any more?

Do you know what, I don't know!
I assume Sir/Miss is more of a Secondary school thing, and at Primary they say Mr/Mrs.
We shall see 🙂

Been called Sir, Mr, Miss, dad and Dr (secondary) What are you doing now?

Yep, had all of those, I've even been called mum once or twice(!)

I'm off to the sunny lowlands of primary education.
Learning the ropes and curriculum as an HLTA and then if I like it applying for teaching jobs when I think I'm ready.

I've gone part time now. Work a 0.6 FTE as a biology teacher and then the odd day here and there as a lab technician. Both jobs in the same school. Working supply doesn't half show up some really useless people. Some agency staff are borderline incompetent. No classroom control, poor personal standards, lacking awareness of pupil behaviour (eg. phone usage in class) but they are sometimes the only staff available so school has no choice.

I’m looking at a career change into outdoor/forest school/eco school, probably pre-school and KS1 age groups, and to that end I have applied for a part-time course in September to get some relevant qualifications

Where are you?

We might have some KS1 trainee post in Southampton and another in Winchester, and a Training & Delivery officer based on Stirling over the next 4-8 months

https://ltl.org.uk/

Do you know what, I don’t know!
I assume Sir/Miss is more of a Secondary school thing,

At my daughters secondary school it was no uniforms and first names for teachers!

Seemed to work fine.

Late to comment, but...

I did a year of supply in high schools in 2009.
Mostly it was fine. Quite a lot was out the door at 8am and back at 4pm. I had a maternity cover from Easter to summer which was ace as the school was lovely and I was worried the work would dry up with people being taken off y11 and 13 and covering lessons for people who were off.

What wasn't fine was taming y11 classes. Tame one, move school tame that one, move school repeat for a year. That got harder and harder as the bottoms sets (who are the ones who got given supply) got closer and closer to leaving.

At my current school we have had some terrible supply staff this year.

Fell asleep in the staff room repeatedly.
Had to have the lessons she "taught" retaught.
Could find the answered to the tests- on the desk with answers written on in massive capital letters.
Total riot in lessons, books ripped up and scattered all over the floor. Teacher just went home without saying anything.
Couldn't find the text books- found 50cm away in a large box full of identical text books.

So I'd say if you are a half decent teacher you will have no trouble getting regular work.

We have had two decent supply staff this year. One has stayed. One was snapped up by another school

Where are you?

We might have some KS1 trainee post in Southampton and another in Winchester, and a Training & Delivery officer based on Stirling over the next 4-8 months

Cheers, but I'm further South-West in Devon.

@ Ambrose and Tall_Martin

Yeah, supply/cover staff can be a bit of a mixed bag!

Though cover from in school can be shocking too...

In the school I've just left I had to repeatedly complain about one of our cover supervisors.
He covered a couple of my classes when I was off with a virus and a few students trashed theirs and others work, took videos on phones in class and stole scissors and other resources. All while he was sat in the room browsing the internet and ignoring their behaviour.
The other 'nicer' students told me exactly what they'd been up to when I was back in and said they'd complained to him during the lesson, but he just ignored them. Effin tool!
Why they still employed him I have no idea, as every member of staff in the school was aware how useless he was.

Anyway...I'm starting in a Primary after the holidays, and having been in for a couple of induction days it's a much more pleasant environment 🙂

I have been told that I was unusual for actually teaching in one or two places. Anyway, I must be crap as I have not had a sniff of work for ages.

(I may have met some of you on parent's nights btw)

Cheers, but I’m further South-West in Devon.

Where I could do with some freelancers.
We pay well, £360 a day plus expenses, but you do need at attend a course. Which I often offer the right people a discount / sweat labour...
https://ltl.org.uk/projects/professional-accreditation/

Another update....

I'm now nearly two terms in and living/loving the Primary life 😁

Kids are ace, colleagues are lovely, and the general atmosphere is very supportive.

I'm off to a panto with Ks2 on Tuesday - there's worse things to be paid for! (Oh no there isn't 😆)

Also, a maternity post has come up in the school, so I'm applying for that, as 2 terms if hlta work working with every year group has got me up to speed very well.

Do I miss secondary? Not in the slightest!