For myself after probation year I tried every day including early morning emergency supply and was still unable to get work until 5 weeks in. I only even received this work as it was with my probation school.
From there on I completed a crazy amount of different roles in the same school plus some extra supply elsewhere before finally getting my own class at the end of January and even then I wasn’t actually offered the fixed term contract until Easter break therefore only received pay through one school holiday (summer). I was then also told I had a role back at the school come August but was subsequently ignored by the headteacher and given no role.
I missed a week of teaching in term 1 which is a nightmare for work particularly in the first few weeks which cause me particular stress due to service. Thankfully my service wasn’t [broken] and I done 2 weeks of supply all over the city before being offered a 4 week place in a school. I was told before this I am only allowed 4 weeks regardless of performance due to not having RC approval.
Throughout this period I have been regularly working both my jobs, not getting home to my newborn till after 10 at night. I now also have the impending anxiety towards having to find work again after the October break.
This is answer 136 of the 269 written answers that teachers let us quote anonymously in the Scottish Teacher Employment Survey 2026. It answers the survey’s last question: what do the people who make decisions about teacher employment need to know?
We have corrected spelling, added paragraph breaks and removed details that could identify anyone. Words in square brackets are ours.