Supply Work What a Pain!!!

I used to be the one to call in supply teachers; we had several "regulars" who we were delighted to see, and others where a deep sigh could be heard in whichever department needed them. But once we began to employ "classroom supervisors" on a yearly contract, we hardly ever needed supply staff.

It was open odd situation, because the CTs were unqualified, and generally just sat with a class and supervised the work set by the department. Whereas some supply teachers would actually teach, but not all. It was all very unsatisfactory; however, in the long run, supply teachers were too expensive. Money again - never mind the education of the students!

All I know about supply teaching is that I had a young Canadian newly qualified teacher staying in my spare room for a few months and I used to feel so sorry for her, the agency really sent her from pillar to post, often called her at very short notice, plus she was new to London and would have to find her way to whatever school she was meant to go to sometimes with an hour's notice (impossible!). She'd get there and there would be no handover, sometimes there had been a succession of supply teachers, and she didn't last, she went back to Canada and retrained as a pastry chef (the reason she came over here in the first place as there are no jobs for teachers in Canada).

I remember how surprised she was the first time she walked in to a classroom and found that there were "two other women in the class already" (teaching assistants) - she had not come across that system.

Trying to get a job through LA's is sooo difficult, generally there are lots of people after the same job.

I think most LAs contracted out of supply after the last round of cuts.

Does the L A not run some supply teaching ? In my experience agencies pay so much less than the true rate especially if you are well up the scale. When I was doing some supply after I had retired from full time teaching I found that the pay I had from and agency was half that of when I was employed directly by the County. It did not matter to me that you could not pay superannuation as I had stopped anyway but unless they have changed I think they are a curse to young teachers. Of course schools quite like them because they are paying less out of their budgets but an experienced teacher is paid the same as a newly qualified one. Good luck with finding a post in a place you like.