I managed to secure a fixed term contract after being on the supply list for two weeks. I know I am extremely lucky. Those two weeks were absolute hell. My mental health took a massive hit and I couldn’t believe that I had applied for over 150 day supply jobs without getting anything.
Nothing prepares you for this. The council leads sugar coat it and tell you they had the same thing happen to them and they got a permanent contract super quickly and they bought a house straight out of probation year. None of it is realistic.
They tell you not to worry about it, and if you ask a question you get berated like a pupil in trouble. It’s humiliating to go through all the training and then an intense probation year to then go out and say, no job yet. I’m hopeful that we can change this.
This is answer 147 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.