Supply teaching market at the moment?

[PensionPuzzle]

I'm relocating and not ready to go back into teaching full time (or even part time, to be honest) after a year maternity with my second.

Leaving aside seasonality and local variations, in general at the moment is supply a viable option? Are schools avoiding using them because of budgets, or is the demand there with reduced supply? Or is it just the same as normal?

I've been teaching nearly 20 years in three very different schools and I know that supply is no barrel of laughs most of the time but I also know that good supply staff always used to be in demand. What I don't know is how money, covid and all the other things have changed how schools use supply, if at all?

Hi, it depends where you are. There's a teacher shortage and the only available teachers tend to be NQTs who, through no fault of their own, trained during covid years. Schools will pay for experience. In the North West they are desperate and willing to use their budget

I teach in a London suburb and we use Supply Teachers pretty much daily. I worked for an agency last year and had a steady supply of work, that still seems to be the case for other supply teachers I know.

Pretty desperate round me - North West. I have not supplied for the last 5 years. I have at least one personal request a week for specific long term work (I am a shortage subject teacher). I have had contact made by agencies on LinkedIn. In my local area, agencies are advertising on local job groups on Facebook (not seen before this year). My friend works full time supply at a local school on £200 a day - she fills all sorts of gaps and they pay to keep her cos she can handle the kids. I would say it's a pretty good time to be a supply teacher

It all really depends what part of the country you are in and whether there is a significant ‘pool’ of supply teachers. Nowadays, schools tend to use Cover Supervisors who are employed by the school permanently and carry out other duties if they are required to teach. Supply costs are ever increasing and with school budgets being significantly reduced year on year then viable options need to be introduced.
We introduced CS roles into my school around 10 years ago and we’ve rarely had to outsource to a supply agency.
That said though, I would recommend for you to sign up to every supply agency in your local area to give you the increased chances of assignments - you never know what opportunities this may lead to.

Thanks all, sounds like it might be worth contacting agencies then (I'm East Mids so may not be quite so busy but plenty of big towns in easy reach).

I know our cover supervisors were always incredibly busy and if I remember rightly we didn't have much short term supply in after the Easter hols but maybe doing it for a term would help me suss out which schools locally I might keep an eye on for vacancies, and which not so much 😂

It's obviously down to local variation, but a lot of schools have unfilled vacancies right now, and if they have cover supervisors, they will usually be covering those classes and the school will get day supply in to cover sickness etc.

That said, I know schools who haven't replaced their cover supervisors when they left, too.

I don't imagine you'll struggle for work as a supply teacher, even after Easter!

I have been busier than usual but it tends to be long term supply.

There has been a slight increase in pay for day to day but that tends to be more hit and miss in terms of work. Pay now back to matching NQT. - yay, my years of teaching experience have paid off!!!

That said, there is still pressure to be a Cover Supervisor (low pay).

If I was back at my starting point of Supply (over 8 years ago) I would look at what I might do as an alternative career. I would do day to day and study on days I wasn't used.

One other thing to consider - childcare costs when there's no work available.

Good luck.

I live in NW London and I am a retired science teacher. I signed on with a couple of agencies: one of which finds me work very occasionally, and the other mostly as a cover supervisor, even though I am teaching my subject. Annoyingly, I might only be told that I am being paid as a CS when I get my payslip. CS work is hardly worth it. £50 net from which I have to find £10 - 15 in petrol does not go very far.