Supply teachers are continuing to have difficulties securing employment, with the situation having worsened for many since the start of the latest lockdown in January, a survey by the EIS teaching union of almost 1,800 supply teachers reveals.
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said last week - when announcing the Scottish government’s plans for getting pupils back to school - that there should be “no reason why supply teachers are not able to get work right now”.
Now, however, the EIS is warning that some supply teachers are facing “significant financial hardship” and are being forced out of the profession despite “a very clear need” for additional teaching staff to support pupils in their remote learning.
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One supply teacher said they had worked at a school from September 2019 to March but the contract was terminated early due to the first lockdown in the spring. The teacher said: “I have worked 13 days since the start of August 2020 until today. I was available full-time to accept any work.”
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Another teacher said they had covered classes almost every day from October to December but the move to online learning had resulted in supply teachers being “forgotten about”.
Meanwhile, a post-probationer - who should have been protected by education secretary John Swinney’s promise that every newly qualified teacher would get a job this year - said they had been placed on the supply list by their local authority and had found work up to the Christmas break but they had not been able to find any this term.
EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said some supply teachers were now in their sixth week with no income. He called on the Scottish government and councils to act to ensure that every teacher available for work is deployed.
Mr Flanagan said: “We have heard statements from the Scottish government that all available teachers must be deployed to support education recovery, but the findings of our survey confirm that many supply teachers still cannot find work.
“The Scottish government, and the local authorities who employ teachers, must act urgently to ensure that every teacher available for work across the country is deployed to support young people in their education. More teachers are needed to support remote learning - particularly for those young people living in particularly challenging circumstances, who are significantly less likely to have engaged in remote learning during the lockdown period.
“Once more pupils return to school, additional teachers will also be required to support education recovery for our young people. The Scottish government and local authorities must work together to ensure that jobs are available for all teachers currently seeking them.”
The EIS survey opened on 22 January and closed on 29 January. It asked supply teachers how many days they had worked since the start of term; 40.6 per cent of the 1,486 supply teachers who responded to the question said they had worked “zero days”, with almost a third (31.7 per cent) saying the figure was “significantly fewer” than the number of days they had worked in January 2020.
Most of the supply teachers who had a long-term temporary contract in place prior to lockdown had these honoured (85 per cent). However, 15 per cent said their contract had been either terminated early (7.1 per cent) or reduced (7.9 per cent).
One supply teacher said: “In December I had been given supply work for the whole of January. This was then cancelled when lockdown announced.”
Another said: “I had been in a school for three weeks before Christmas and asked if I could come back in week 2 of the following term. This offer no longer applied on school closure.”
Last week, when Ms Sturgeon announced the plans for getting Scottish pupils back to school, she was asked by Conservative education spokesman Jamie Greene why so many supply teachers and recently qualified teachers were contacting MSPs to say they were looking for work.
Ms Sturgeon replied: “There should be no reason why supply teachers are not able to get work right now. We have already made £45 million available to local authorities to employ additional staff. Local authorities should be making full use of any offers of supply teachers that come their way, because the funding is there for that - let that message go out loudly and clearly.”
Today, a spokesperson for local authorities’ body Cosla said: “Due to the ongoing situation we find ourselves in and our continued main objective of getting the workforce in place to deliver the broad range of essential services to our communities, we have had to adapt our practices and procedures to suit.
“The bottom line, however, remains that councils, in line with our agreement with Scottish government, are fully committed to the employment of newly qualified, recently qualified and those teachers on supply lists.”
