SUPPLY TEACHERS Life as a supply teacher


The life of a supply teacher is becoming harder as schools cut back, work dries up and pay continues to be reduced by agency commissions. We hear from one supply teacher who has been fighting for work


suddenly the consultant’s tone changes. “Anywhere nice?” I don’t respond quite the way she anticipates, but tell her it is a day’s work and that I shall be working in a school. Then she wants the location and I say “Derbyshire”, not wishing to disclose too much information. This clearly is not enough and the hard-pressed


I


consultant asks: “Which school is it?” In between my reluctant replies, can be heard the clattering sound of a computer keyboard as the consultant hastily records every detail. It is part of the agency’s ammunition, as each one battles it out with the rest to control schools’ supply


t is 7.45am on a typical weekday morning and I have just secured a day’s work with a supply agency. I decide to phone another agency to tell them I am not available for work after all. Someone answers and she recognises my


voice: “I am very busy at the moment.” When I interrupt and explain that I now have work,


staff. The supply agency’s next move will surely be to prevail on the school with bribes and offers for engaging their services.They will have teachers of a higher calibre (even if they employ me sometimes) and should that fail, a personal visit can be arranged, armed with calendars and teachers’ mugs exhibiting the agency logo. A day later, there is no work and I turn my attention


to other possibilities. Perhaps, a new agency will generate more work? I have already sat in front of a computer monitor for two hours, or more. And my eyes are starting to suffer. “Supply teachers – sale now on!”That can’t be right,


can it? A second reading revealed “Teacher supplies – sale now on”. At least this made more sense, but then I reflected on how supply teachers are employed. Most temporary teachers are employed through


agencies these days, where teachers’ pay is unregulated and determined by glorified salesmen called “consultants”. I checked some wage slips over the past few years and the information conveyed confirmed a worrying downward trend. My daily rate as a teacher is on average, 20 to 25


per cent less than five years ago, while teachers’ pay nationally has risen by nearly 10 per cent during that time. This also presupposes my status has not changed from teacher to cover supervisor, in which case the daily rate of pay is about 40 per cent of what it used to be seven years ago. I should have seen the warning signs. As long ago


as 2004, the BBC reported on a growing job shortage among newly qualified graduate teachers, following a survey of teacher training establishments. This, in time would affect others in teaching. While the autumn term seemed quiet, this term,


which is traditionally the busiest time of the year, is quieter still. Only a small percentage of so-called valued staff are getting work. These are generally teachers who have occupied longer-term positions in schools and who are therefore well known.


Moral support: Teacher Support Network It’s a numbers game


Julian Stanley tries to discover the true picture


of teacher recruitment and retention


I EXPECT that, like me, most of you have at one time or another found it impossible to get a set of figures to add up. You subtract here, add there, multiply this, divide that, carry the one, yet still the numbers do not quite balance. Often, you can leave them, walk away, come back and find the solution. Or you ask someone else to take a look and eventually between you the numbers start to make sense. How many people would it take then to make


sense of the numbers being released in the press concerning the number of teachers entering and leaving the profession? Having looked at the figures, something for me doesn’t quite add up. For example, a recent report in The Telegraph


suggested that nearly 9,000 state school teachers in England quit before the statutory retirement age in 2010/2011. It said that 300,000 qualified teachers aged under 60 were not working in the classroom and that 232,000 of these teachers had previously taught, while 80,700 had never worked in the profession after qualifying. A report in The Guardian last year, said that


more than 70,000 teachers have left the UK to teach abroad. A story in The Independent the year before said that just over 404,600 fully trained teachers under the age of 60 were no longer teaching. A 2011 survey by the National Union ofTeachers


found that 72 per cent of respondents aged 30 to 50 were likely to quit teaching if they were expected to pay higher contributions to their pension or work longer before retiring. At the other end of the scale, some news stories suggest that applications for teacher training places in England were up 36 per cent last year. According to figures for 2011 released by the


Training and Development Agency for schools (TDA), there was a 30 per cent increase in students training to be physics teachers and the target for mathematics recruitment had been exceeded. In May 2011, however, the Department for


Education revealed that 4,000 university teacher training places were to be axed for the 2012 academic year, dropping from 31,000 to 27,000. Another Telegraph article earlier that year


revealed that applications for secondary teacher training courses were down by 9.3 per cent, with applications particularly low for courses such as design and technology (down 38 per cent), business studies (down 26 per cent) and music (down 27 per cent). Around the same time, The Scotsman reported


that nearly 80 per cent of NQTs in Scotland are failing to find full-time employment, while The Guardian reported that there were 40 per cent fewer full-time jobs available for teachers in England, with a decrease in advertised post of 2,500 between January and August 2011, compared to the same period the year before.The article does make it clear that there are “significant regional variations”. Then, the BBC reported in January that 450,000


extra primary pupils will need extra primary places in schools by 2015, thanks to a 20 per cent higher birth rate in 2010 than in 2002. This could lead, according to a report by Netmums, to “mega- primaries”, which hold more than 700. So given these figures, how many teachers are


there exactly? I am being a little facetious. I have deliberately


listed these examples to confuse. I suspect that a proper analysis of the figures will show that the numbers of teachers entering and leaving the profession has fluctuated ever since there have been schools, but in the end there have generally been enough teachers to teach students. My point is this: if we in the education system


cannot make sense of the numbers being presented to the world at large, how do we expect the next generation of teachers to see past the figures to the uniquely wonderful, incredibly rewarding profession that could await them? How do we entice the experts away from their


subjects and into the classroom to create the next set of experts, if the perception of education is a lack of jobs or the likelihood of enforced early retirement? Yet, with more teachers likely to retire early


before the changes to pensions, or quitting because of indiscipline and behaviour, we need to take these misleading figures out of the equation. A career in teaching very often equals a lifelong vocation.


• Julian Stanley is chief executive of the Teacher Support Network. Visit www.teachersupport.info or call 08000 562 561 (England), 08000 855088


Could the lack of work be due to schools being


placed in a financial straitjacket so they simply cannot employ supply, or are there other factors to consider? Schools are definitely taking a tougher line


over teacher absences and are prepared to exercise disciplinary action when staff take occasional days off. Courses to develop teachers’ expertise are being


drastically reduced, even though we are told how vital professional development is. Fewer courses result in less demand for supply. Class sizes are also increasing, while teacher redundancies are increasing. A number of over-staffed schools have led to


redeployment in others. In many primary schools, one in three class teachers are becoming surplus to requirements, as heads realise that with a lower birth rate still coming through the schools, class sizes can be increased. Added to this, many teaching assistants have had their contracts halved. When I contacted one of the main supply agencies a


few months ago, a somewhat smug consultant told me not to re-register; he had more than sufficient teachers with primary experience. Supply agencies are employing young and inexperienced teachers, simply because there are insufficient permanent jobs and schools prefer younger candidates with the latest training. Also, without a doubt, the agencies are secretly


‘ 14 While some of larger


agencies ask schools for around £200 per day,


teachers are paid at rates which are not related to experience or skill. Some agencies are


offering just £90 for a full day. Cover supervisors can be hired for £50


’


bracing themselves for Armageddon. This is when, under the latest regulations affecting agency workers, many experienced supply teachers can demand their right to comparable pay with their colleagues paid by governing bodies. The agencies who are already charging schools substantial commission, will be exploiting new ways of overcoming an impossible situation. Already occurring, are teachers in long-term roles


being told they are not required just before the 12-week threshold. The long-serving teacher is given one reason and the school another. Later, the same teacher is elsewhere and earning the wage previously agreed. One agency has since asked me for evidence of being eligible for M6 level pay. This could be difficult as my letter of appointment has long since been discarded. Undaunted, the major supply agencies continue


canvassing for teachers, with large eye-catching advertisements. “Urgently Required” is a phrase frequently used, despite their being very few opportunities. Some agencies actually advertise for specific teachers, such as a “year 6 teacher in a Derbyshire school”. More often than not, there is no teacher required and if there is a school in Derbyshire needing the year 6 teacher, it could be anytime in the future, or not at all. The agencies are building-up enormous databases


of teacher profiles which can be duplicated in catalogue form. Schools can then peruse the details in much the same way we read Loot when looking for bargains and second-hand cars. Maths teacher in sound working order. Very adaptable. Can perform. Trial price: £100. Efficiency guaranteed. History and geography teachers in all sizes and disguises. Some nearly new. Rates negotiable. While some of the larger agencies ask schools


for around £200 per day, teachers are paid at fiercely competitive rates, which are not related to experience or skill. The more reputable, pay experienced teachers an amount closest to M4 and occasionally M5, which is about £139 per day. Some agencies, however, are offering just £90 for a full day. Cover supervisors can be hired for £50. Schools are under greater pressure to achieve quality


in line with consumerism.There has never been a worse time to be one of us – supply teachers are available at the best ever prices.


SecEd


• This article has been written anonymously by a former secondary school teacher who is now an experienced supply teacher.


SecEd • March 15 2012


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