Opinions of supply teaching

[ShangelaLaqueefaWadley]

I'm currently a Cover Supervisor and it's rubbish. I'm on a TA salary (no disrespect at all, i've been one and they are very underpaid for that they do).
I'm a bit concerned about the risk of schools going remote again due to Covid, so wanting to wait until around Feb time at least to give my notice.
I know supply is essentially a zero-hours contract. I'm hoping to team it with an evening/weekend job to boost my salary.

I think the daily teacher rate can be really good, and i've calculated that some months I could earn double what I earn currently. Have some debt I really want to pay off.

I'm in the Manchester area, if anybody else does supply round here. Is it better to sign up to several agencies ?

I know it's no walk in the park, just would like to experience different schools and the idea of not having to commit to one place.

Take into consideration no holiday pay and no pension subscriptions.
Are you a fully qualified teacher? If not pay might not be that good.

That's true. They tend to say that holiday pay is included in the daily rate don't they ?
I am yes, i've been advised to negotiate my rates, just worried about signing up and then having hardly any work, unless I can guarantee a long-term placement.

I worked for an agency as a Cover Supervisor and while on an assignment would come across qualified supply teachers also placed daily and log-term by my agency. The supply teachers quite rightly earnt more than me ( they taught, I covered) and some would tell me it was more lucrative to work as supply via the agency than to work directly for one school. As to how much work you will get, I found it probably depended more on how much the school wanted to spend, as I was a cheaper option than a qualified supply teacher. But if the school needed a subject specialist, or a longer-term replacement, then a supply teacher would be more likely to get the gig.

Depends what you mean by good, in salary terms. The fee paid to the agency might be good, the amount that actually arrives in your pay packet might not be!

It depends a lot on your area and age range and subject, if secondary. You could also see what they think on the Staffroom section of this site.

It didn't work for me (Early Years trained).. I tried for years to make a part-time living out of it, but work dried up year after year, mainly duetobudget cuts and schools using TAs to 'teach' classes. I think I got 10 days work in the whole year the last year I did it. So I decided to work in admin instead. I work minimum wage for an agency, and I feel rich in comparison to supply teaching.

Bear in mind too that even if you get plenty of work, in general, there's little or no supply in September, December and July, and a lot of schools won't have any cover either the week before and after half terms too. So going by my area, you'd be very, very lucky to get work for 30 weeks of the year maximum.

Thanks for the answers, i'm secondary and MFL.
The supply teachers currently at my school tell me there's tons of work at the moment, I have heard that about Sept/July though and would need to budget accordingly or take on a second job.
I take home 1250 per month currently, though at least it's consistent.
A friend tells me she can take home over 2k net per month in supply.

I think if you already have a part-time/second job lined up, it would give you some peace of mind. AFAIK, it's good that you're in MFL, as I know it used to be a shortage subject, so that's in your favour.

Just another couple of things I've thought of that might be relevant: if you also rely on child tax credits or universal credit, a fluctuating amount of supply will affect those too, which can make it harder to budget, as your figures will change every month.

Sorry, me again. Again this might be area dependent, but it wasn't something I was aware of. IF you work for the local authority supply pool (still around in some areas), they pay a month in arrears. So you could do a day or two's work at the beginning of October, but it'll be the end of November before you get that money.

If you are MFL and half decent (can plan a lesson on your own and keep 30 bums on seats for an hour at a time), you will find there is plenty of medium to long term work. You might get the odd day here and there as well if lucky.