I heard from a contracted teacher the other day who wanted to know if I’d come across this before:

There’s a new sign in their staffroom suggesting a donation of 20p for each cup of tea or coffee, and a rather obvious, overly large arrow pointing to the donations jar. Directed at supply teachers.

Having been a supply teacher in the past, she was disgusted.

Justification:
The teachers pay an amount each term for their drinks. This equates to £1 per week. Supply teachers should contribute similarly.

Argument against:
Supply teachers are visitors to the school. They are providing emergency cover… Helping the school out of a difficult situation. You wouldn’t treat any other visitors like that.

Personally?
I don’t think many supply teachers will be surprised to see this sign. And I can’t imagine many begrudging the money, as they know how the teas and coffees are funded (from teachers’ pockets) However, I think if the supply teacher is new to the school, they should be treated as a visitor and offered a drink. Or two! The supply teacher will no doubt be carrying a tea bag anyway, but how nice to be offered one! When I was contracted, I would gladly let the supply teacher taking my place to take my cups of tea for the day too.

I’m glad that the supply teachers are expected to use the staffroom in this particular school, as I know that they increasingly ostracised for fear of them over-hearing confidential information.

Next time you go on a supply assignment, don’t forget your 20p pieces!

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on supply teachers: bullies with the biggest sticks. Check out our resources area here too.

Best job in the world.

Being a Supply Teacher is the best job in the world.  It is certainly the best job for a qualified teacher.  I have all the fun and none of the plodding paperwork and tedious meetings.  I can go into school enthuse the children about their work and steal a little time in the day to have fun with the children. 

I have a head full of funny songs to share, something children seem to miss out on in schools today as the curriculum crowds them out.  I also know a few magic tricks that act as excellent bribery tools to encourage children to behave.  I tell them at the start of the day that if they behave and work hard all day, (that’s everyone, emphasized with me looking into every child’s eyes) I will show and teach them some magic before they go home.  Children love this and I never have any discipline problems.

Tell the children that you   ‘Don’t have naughty children in your classes’ and bingo they don’t want to be the first and they don’t want to let their class, school down. Kidology is a marvellous tool.

Teaching angles becomes doing Angle Hookey Cookey!

As often as weather permits I take children outside to do their learning.

Another useful component of my supply bag is intricate colouring sheets.  Stained glass windows are really good. I use this for start of the morning or afternoon to create a calm classroom. It’s amazing how much the classroom assistants enjoy this activity. They look lovely stuck on the classroom windows which is a nice treat for the returning teacher.

I always have a smile on my face when in school and love it when the children ask when am I coming again.  I sincerely recommend being a supply teacher and I often have to turn work down as there is so much demand.

Pat King, teacher for 43 years – WOW!

For some, it’s an easy decision. There are many stories to be heard about staffroom bullies, ever-increasing workloads, and the pressures of constant curriculum changes, parents’ expectations, and of course, the looming OFSTED inspection.

For others, supply teaching could be the greener grass on the other side of the metaphorical fence:

Images of a better work and home life balance
No display work
Little planning
Less paperwork
No staff meetings
Fewer responsibilities
No parents’ evenings
No ‘voluntary’ clubs to run
And you get your weekends back.
And all for the same pay.

Tempted?

Then the first thing you need to consider is your financial status. Can you afford to be out of work, potentially forever? It sounds dramatic, but supply teachers are less and less in demand in some areas due to the emergence of cover supervisors, and the use of HLTAs to cover lessons.

Can you afford to work for much less? If you can work locally through the Local Authority supply pool, you should be paid to scale. However, these are now a rare breed, and on the verge of extinction since the introduction of recruitment agencies into the education sector. Agencies supply schools with staff at a school’s request. They manage the paperwork and payments. And therefore they take a cut. A variable cut!

Keep in mind that without a contract, the possibilities of you receiving sick pay, maternity pay or paternity pay are slim.

You need to be able to manage your finances well. You will need to look into pensions carefully, don’t assume that you can pay into the national teacher’s pension scheme. During the summer holidays, will you have been diligent enough through the year to ensure you have money put aside for August? Of course, you could aim to get a summer job!

You need to believe that you would be happy leading a nomadic existence. Supply teachers roam from school to school. Possibly never visiting the same school twice in a term! Would you be happy without your own classroom? No stock room? No displays? No children to nurture and no staff with which to build a relationship?

Happy with all this? Then if you really want to leap, you’ll need to give formal, written notice to your Headteacher and Governors. It worked for me!

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on making the most of your education recruitment consultant. Check out our resources area here too.

National Supply Teacher Week – Celebrating Supply Teachers

National Supply Teacher Week 16th – 20th June 2014.

Hosted by TheSupplyTeacher.com, e-zine for the supply teaching world.

In proud association with SupplyBag.co.uk.

National Supply Teacher Week aims:

 To highlight the importance of supply teachers in a child’s education
 To increase respect for supply teachers
 To show appreciation for those working as supply teachers
 To help combat the recurring feeling amongst supply teachers of isolation
 To support supply teachers with their professional development
 To provide information for those considering supply teaching as a career move
 To increase awareness of the skills needed to be a supply teacher
 To help schools work with supply teachers more effectively

National Supply Teacher Week news and updates will all feature in
The Supply Teacher e-zine.

What TheSupplyTeacher.com and SupplyBag.co.uk are doing towards the National Supply Teacher Week aims can be found at TheSupplyTeacher.com here. If you’d like to add your pledge, please email it as soon as possible to office@thesupplyteacher.com.

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on national supply teacher week. Check out our resources area here too.

I mean, you actually want to be a supply teacher?

It’s not an obvious choice. It’s not up there with train driver and air hostess is it?

Why not? Because we all remember with a wry smile, what happened when the supply teacher walked through the door when we were 13 years old. The knowing sniggers. The plumping up of Alpha-Boy’s chest. The sharp exhalation of disappointment from the students who were there to learn, knowing that disruption after disruption would soon lead to tears. From the supply teacher’s eyes.

Remember that? And that’s why we didn’t sit in front of the Careers Advisor at secondary school and say with that little sparkle in our eyes that we wanted to be a supply teacher. [My careers interview: What subjects do you enjoy? Languages. Ok, here’s a leaflet on being a translator.] [Yes, that’s it!]

But it suits some. It suited me from the off. I enjoy meeting new staff and kids, seeing different classrooms, the work / life balance (there is one!), pinching discovering new ideas and sharing old ones. I do not miss planning, display boards, assessments, staff meetings, parents’ evenings or production rehearsals!

It’s not an obvious career path. But it could be a great one for you too. It’s an option worth more than a moment’s thought, is it not?

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on spring flowers and literacy. Check out our resources area here too.

It’s not as easy as that is it? A supply teacher may not know what year group, what subject, what time assembly is, what time break is or what time the day ends!

Coming up with a lesson idea for you, I have to take that into consideration. Improvisation is key. Your key skill. You may have to develop your improvisation skills if you are to be a confident supply teacher!

Try now. There’s no time like the present!

Here’s an exercise for you:

1. Consider this image:

A squirrel.

Literacy idea? You’ve got 10 seconds. Go!

Well done. A poem, alliteration, similes, descriptive writing.

Numeracy idea? Go!

Well done again! Counting nuts, how many nuts needed for hibernation if they eat 3 a day and hibernate for 145 days, how long will it take to collect 20 nuts if it take 40 seconds to collect one nut.

Science idea? Go!

Hehe, you’re getting the hang of this now! Habitats, adaptation. Where do squirrels live, would they be better suited to living in a house. Could a dog live in a squirrel’s drey? Fur, feathers or fins? Similarities / differences with pets, ocean dwelling creatures, humans.

For more one-off supply lesson ideas see my Emergency Lesson Plans here.

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on supply teacher time fillers. Check out our resources area here too.

For some supply teachers, this is the worst thing they could find on a teacher’s desk:

Familiar feeling?

My apologies for the drawing, I’ll keep trying!

During many years of supply teaching, I only had this experience a handful of times. The Post-It note. Fortunately, I didn’t mind. I loved it. For me, it meant I didn’t have to do PE, RE, Geography or DT! I could do observational drawing, poetry, and numeracy, three times!

If the thought of arriving at a school to find no planning strikes fear into your very core, there are a few things you can do, now, to calm your nerves:

1. Think of a word or phrase, and try and come up with, in 30 seconds, a rough lesson idea connected with it. You might go off on a tangent, but never mind. Your creative juices are flowing!

2. Think of a different word or phrase, and try and come up with, in 2 minutes, as many rough ideas for activities based around it as you can. You don’t have to teach these, this is training your brain to improvise!

3. Have a handful of emergency lesson plans at your disposal (try my resource-free one off lesson plans for Key Stage 2!) Make sure they can be adapted to suit a wide range of abilities, and that they are resource-free as much as possible. You do not want to be carrying round (or spending lots of money on) a great big lever arch with 30 copies of every worksheet, just in case, and a crate on wheels full of lollipop sticks, 3D shapes and 12 copies of Goodnight Mr Tom!

4. Remember, the majority of children can talk the spots off a giraffe with little encouragement, about anything. They can lead lessons with a little guidance!

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on working as a supply teacher without transport.
Check out our resources area here too.

SupplyBag.co.uk contains 289 lesson plans for supply teachers. These one-off plans for Key Stage 2 are available to view here. They are also available as a handy PDF file to take with you on your next supply teaching assignment.

The lessons in this book, aimed at Key Stage 2 children, cover Literacy, Numeracy, Science, History, Geography and DT. They are intended as a springboard for supply teachers faced with no planning. And most importantly, the require no resources other than pencil and paper! When substituting another teacher, one rarely has access to the photocopier, a password for the whiteboard, time to make or print off resources and worksheets, or indeed time to think! Far too often, we are faced with no planning. I don’t intend to scare you, it happens rarely, but it shouldn’t happen at all.

All the lessons are intended to be used only when no other form of planning is available for the children’s day. Every effort should be taken to cover the children’s learning objectives for the day.

This book is an invaluable tool, giving you confidence to walk into any Key Stage 2 classroom, knowing that you are able to deliver a varied programme of lessons for the day at a minute’s notice.

£1.75 – Upon payment, please click on ‘Return to Merchant’, which will redirect you to the PDF to save to your device.

An extended edition of the book is available here. This version contains more than 50 extra lesson plans, covering PE, RE, ICT, PSHE & Citizenship, Music and Art & Design.

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on switching from full-time to supply. Check out our resources area here too