AIBU to think Supply Teachers Should be Paid WAY More?

@NewName24 I agree with all of that. I also teach 2.5 days as a Yr 6 Class Teacher. But obviously I work a lot more than that from home.

So, if you multiply that by 190 days (as if you were teaching FT) then divide by 12 (as a contracted teacher would get their money spread over 12 months) your net income would be £1773.33, which is not great, and certainly doesn't recognise the skills and experience needed.

OTOH, the idea of walking away at 3.30 sounds very attractive to a lot of teachers right now.
£16 an hour (net) wouldn't be seen as being so bad for the benefit of not having to do any of the pointless crap teacher generally are forced to do, or any of the social work / mental health support, conflict resolution, etc, etc.
It sounds as if the other things going on in your life mean you need the benefit of a) being able to turn down work, and b) only working just a little more than the teaching hours.
I guess it depends on how much prep you need to do, to be able to deliver days like that.

I'm a qualified teacher with 21 years' experience who has just started supply so flexibility with a poorly husband and three kids of my own.
Just did a full day supply (8.30-3.30) and came out with £112 net.
Hubby thinks decent wage, I think piss-take!
Opinions please!

Pre supply agencies, pay was the same. Annual salary divided by 195 days, meant the 'day rate' appears higher, but, if you worked every day, then you would earn the same (as no pay in the holidays).
Agencies ruined that.

However, it is a valid point that the 6 hours of actual teaching is a tiny fraction of the work a teacher does.
But then, there is supply and then there is supply. Some people take on regular days at the same school and are much more part of the team, or even cover a long term sickness or maternity leave, whereas others drop in, do one day and walk away again. Longer contracts do tend to involve more involvement / picking up some of the extra work.

That's beyond crap, shocking and makes me so sad. I used to get £117 per day as an NQT supply teacher 9 years ago.

I have no idea 🤷🏼‍♀️

Supply teachers don't have any where near the same workload and responsibility as permanent teachers with their own class. They don't have to (or at least shouldn't have to) do planning, marking, assessments, staff meetings, wall displays, report cards, parents nights.....

Do agency nurses/doctors/pharmacists etc have the same workload and responsibility of permanent equivalents? How does the pay compare?

Supply teachers don't have any where near the same workload and responsibility as permanent teachers with their own class. They don't have to (or at least shouldn't have to) do planning, marking, assessments, staff meetings, wall displays, report cards, parents nights.....

I am in Scotland it it seems to work completely differently to England, no agencies, paid same as if you were permanent, just for the hours you are actually teaching for and you do get holiday pay.

DH is also planning and has full accountability for his classes. They redid the timetable for September to mean he works every period on the days he works (he won’t ever work full time as he owns a business). He also does parents evening, marking etc. the only thing he doesn’t do is any admin

Because they can’t! They are a top grammar school and he’s a maths teacher! He’s only staying after Christmas as no one applied for the role this term. The day rate is equivalent to his salary before he left a normal teaching role - he was SLT. So when you take out pension, sick pay, national insurance - DH is still cheaper. Thats how much supply agencies charge the school.

Because they can’t recruit! I’m assuming this is secondary. Schools are under huge pressure to get exam results. They can’t do this without long term quality teaching. Sometimes that means paying over the odds.

Supply teachers only do one bit of the job of being a teacher though. They don’t do the planning, the meetings, the parent consultations, the extra responsibilities of being subject lead or year lead, the filling in forms and dealing with other professionals about children and there’s plenty more

don’t do planning? Lost count of how many days I did whilst on supply with sod all planning in place. When on long term supply, I always did planning, meetings, parent’s evening, phone call homes etc. I have handled safeguarding issues, writing statements. Long term supply requires dealing with other professionals. You are deeply naive if you think supply teachers don’t do extra. Some might run out on the bell but many don’t. I took it seriously, always had work, always paid to scale.

What crazy school is paying someone this?!? Why don't they just employ someone permanently?

Supply teachers only do one bit of the job of being a teacher though. They don’t do the planning, the meetings, the parent consultations, the extra responsibilities of being subject lead or year lead, the filling in forms and dealing with other professionals about children and there’s plenty more.

Supply teachers often don’t do anything that a good TA couldn’t do and there’s a reason many schools look to their own support staff before going to an agency.

All teachers should be paid more.

The end.

I'm a teacher of 21 years, just done a full day of supply teaching; 8.30-3.30.
Will come out with around £120 for the day.
It's crap tbh.

My DH is paid £310 per day, he invoices the school himself and has a direct contract. It’s rising in 2025 as they still need him.

I’m on £165 a day now, and have a few schools that I work with closely. My line with my agency is that I won’t work for less than a school would pay a gardener to come in and work for the day (no disrespect to any gardeners out there!) Though I suspect I’m still paid less than they would pay a gardener!
Agencies just take far too much money off top. It does stick in your throat a bit when you see them on LinkedIn at Christmas having huge parties in swanky hotels drinking champagne, or my particular favourite this summer was seeing “high achieving” agency staff on a work bonus trip to Spain!
I would say I work about 90% of the school year.

I wonder why when I work directly for an academy school as a supply teacher I get paid on my pay scale but when I work for a council m a t school- which I started to this week- I have to accept three pay scales lower at m s 3?! Is this part if deterring teachers to move to supply. I left teaching for all the well known reasons! My agency I sometimes work for- I work directly for three schools/ academies more now due to pay- still paid me the same for 22 years despite me asking!!! At the moment they pay me £25 more than the original amount- £125 per day. I’m in Dorset. I don’t think this is in line with inflation, it’s rather insulting, it’s less than schools pay. I keep asking for more but there’s always a reason! Do academies tend to pay more than m a t schools?

@LoveSkaMusic Not much need for supply teachers now, OP. Both HLTAS and TAs in England can be used to cover classes for a fraction of the cost. I get paid £11.60p/h for the "privilege." Classes of 30, including high levels of additional needs, no other adult.
Some of my colleagues are paid even less.

The issue is they do pay more, but supply agencies take a large cut and then they make you go through their offshore umbrella company for payment - it’s a scam.

My husband is paid £300 per day (but has to plan the lessons)

Because schools wouldn't (can't) pay more. If supply gets too expensive they will attempt to cover with existing staff or just not cover some things. On the provider side, I can only speak for England, but supply agencies are private businesses, not government controlled and as long as they pay at least minimum wage, will obviously pay as little as they can get away with.

Supply teachers I have met have good reasons for not wanting to be permanent and prioritise schools that treat them decently and where behaviour is OK, rather than trying to negotiate pay.

I blame the agencies.

I've worked in teaching for longer than the agencies have existed. Originally you'd contact the school yourself and they'd put you on a list of people they would get in touch with if they needed a supply teacher. Or the county council would have a list.

Back then you got paid more per day if you worked as you were only paid for term time etc. If you ended up on a long term contract and worked a full year you would end up being paid the same as a full time member of staff would.

That was a faff for the schools, so agencies set themselves up on the principle that they would do the looking for the school.
Then they started offering a lower rate of pay to cover their own costs and be more economical to the schools.

I know of supply teachers getting a lot less than this and they're on higher than M1. It must differ a lot in different parts of the country and with different agencies.