by Sharon Wood

When I started supply teaching, it wasn’t through an agency.  I knocked on doors and hand-delivered my CV.  I felt I had no professional support.  I once contacted my (then) union about an issue, but unfortunately, unprofessionally, the concern fell on deaf (for deaf, read ‘friend of the accused / small world’) ears.  So, I turned to online support.  Don’t get me wrong, I was doing well, but I wanted to share my stories of how the day had gone, with someone who understood!  My partner isn’t a teacher, and I was new to the area.  I joined the TES forum.  It works for some, but it didn’t work for me.  There was an air of negativity about it.  About supply teaching.  And I was loving my work, I just had questions, queries, and suggestions to share.

I set up the supply teacher support forum and tried to lure other supply teachers to it by adding my suggestions and ideas to it!  It worked, and within a few short months it had become very popular!  In fact, in 2010, we even had a lovely weekend get-together here in the Lakes!

As we know though, supply teaching is a transitory profession for many, and very few of those lovely people we met here are still on supply.  I took time out with my newborn, and the forum fell quiet.

Here I am again however, like a bad penny!  Trying to create a wider sense of community for supply teachers.  I know the vast majority of supply teachers now work through agencies, I know some supply teachers don’t want to mix with other supply teachers, or feel they need to, but I still remember when I did… And I want to feel that I’m trying everything I can to help out anyone else who feels like that.  So we have the forum, the Supply Teacher Network on Facebook, I’m on Twitter, I’m on LinkedIn, I’m on Facebook, I’m on Google+, I have boards on PInterest, and I can be contacted by email… Get in touch, help grow, and feel part of the wider community!