To think this is an unacceptable wage?

[Youthiswastedontheyoung]

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!

But that’s like saying if you choose to do a days work on McDonalds you should be paid a higher wage because of your professional qualifications.!
Supply work entails no responsible other than babysitting. I have done this in the past and £140 a day is fine as long as the agency is paying you PAYE.

@Lisanoonan Yes to be a qualified teacher you now need at least a 2:2 (which still surprises me as back in the day it had be at least a 2:1). But now you can also be an unqualified teacher or cover supervisor with no degree (for less pay of course).

Because OP is the one (wrongly) saying she only earns £16 an hour.

What she means is that after all deductions, she takes home £16 an hour which sounds pretty good to me considering she only works 6.5 hours a day and doesn't have any responsibilities outside the classroom.

And no, teachers can't work a 12 hour day for an hourly wage but that's not really relevant 🤷‍♀️

What was the gross figure? Havd you checked your tax code - you could well have be taxed incorrectly.

But if you are doing supply, you can take another job in the school holidays. I think hourly rates are comparable.
It isn’t on to quote net pay. Taxation varies from person to person, depending what other income they have.

I would guess, as it's a second job, you're being taxed more and will be due a rebate at the end of the tax year.

Teaching as a profession is underpaid given the training, skill and responsibility required, but that is not news. It's also true of nursing and other fields. We work in a capitalist society and things are not equal.

However, you were surely aware of the rate you'd be paid at before taking on the supply role, else why did you agree to it? So this should not have been a surprise.

Supply work sounds nice!

I’ll disagree with the majority. Doing supply should equate with locum/contractor work. This means you are paid MORE for not being employed on a full time basis. This is very different to being employed on a casual basis and cannot be compared.

I'm public sector, my role is comparable to yours. Similar qualifications, similar level of experience. I do agency work and come out at £16 per hour take home also.

Sure I'd love to earn more but that's the going rate. So sounds about right to me.

It's a big difference being a contractor for a big corporation, than doing supply for a school though. The school has to follow pay scales

I'm a foster carer. My hourly rate works around £4 an hour.
No holiday pay, sick pay, or pension

Does that make you feel better

I'm not complaining - I knew the pay rates and terms and conditions

No sorry, what i meant is that i think what you are on is low for your experience and questions but agencies are taking the advantage of supply sraff in general at the moment . I was just giving an example other supply work and pay

If they don't pay you for the hour lunchbreak (which I don't think they would especially if you doing this as self employed) then that's over £20 per hour

Surely you found out the rates before deciding to go down this route?

OP you need to compare your gross wage to the minimum wage for a 'like for like'.
You're not rolling in it, I agree, but a flip way of looking at it is there has been huge improvement in min wage in the last 3-4 years that means finally everyone is on a more acceptable salary. It's is not possible to preserve the distance from top to bottom, so everyone's wages are closer together, which is a fairer way to equalise our society. More is still more, it's just not as much more as it was in previous years.

I was getting £16ph gross 20 years ago for agency teaching in college. It's not much more now, though I'm now on contract rather than hourly. So pay for agency/supply teaching has not kept pace with inflation.

To those who think it’s a decent wage, I have a question for you Poms. How the fuck do you survive on your shit wages? Wake up and smell the coffee.

Presumably it’s a standard rate of pay for all supply teachers, so your number of years experience isn’t relevant?

In my field you increase your rate of pay over time by getting promotions and taking on more responsibilities and accountability. Some people progress quickly. Others stay at the same grade their whole career, therefore on the same rate of pay as new graduates who are the same grade which is fair because they’re doing the same job.

You could be a really engaging and talented teacher who qualified 3 years ago or you have qualified 20 years ago and still be a crap teacher.

My job is £121 per day net (just worked it out) 😂 I think it’s OK because it’s not like I have to finish and do marking or anything. In fact, I work from home and then just chill at the end of the day. Fine by me 🤷‍♀️

It's a bit depressing to see that many people think that this is a reasonable rate of pay for a teacher of > 20 years experience. It's also pretty shocking that some engineers and vets are coming on to say that they get paid even less. I thought the salary for these professions was much higher. Most nurses are also pretty poorly paid. I think we have to bear in mind that the NMW for > 18 yr olds working in McDonalds will soon be > £12 an hour. Why would people continue to go to University, get into masses of debt and take on significant responsibility to earn only a small amount more? As a country, we should be supporting people in these sort of essential professions (imo).

Are these the minimum requirements for the job, or could someone else be offered the job with just a degree? (Sorry, no idea what a pgce is, I live abroad).

So it's £20 per hour. Minimum wage is £11.44

She's not earning the rate she says she is, though - £16 is her take home, not her actual hourly rate.

I can earn three to four times a permanent salary in the civil service when contracting is good. Public not private. Why should this be different for teachers?

What would be a reasonable or fair wage then OP? Why don’t you tell us.

As for the law comments, yes a pp is correct - it’s not megabucks unless you’re doing commercial work at a large firm. Far far from it. A few years ago I saw an NQ solicitor role advertised at 25k.

I work in HE now and earn in the mid 50s. I’m sure there are better jobs out there with more money but generally people leave me alone and as long as I do my teaching I can work from home the rest of the time. When I was a lawyer I used to have to tell someone if I was popping out for a sandwich.

The thing is for supply you don't need the experience so the pay reflects this. That is the downside but upside is you get more flexibility, lack of planning and marking.