I believe that my council unlawfully broke my continuous service by altering a short term contract without my knowledge. This was only discovered during a payscale dispute and HR were very aggressive and essentially told me it was ‘too bad’ and I should’ve said something earlier.
I have struggled more and more each year to get even a supply post in my council because too many people in the area are qualifying each year and they are not being told about the situation. I then teach the TIS teachers about the supply system because I don’t want them to go through what I did, meanwhile the councillors merrily pretend we’re expendable and keep churning us out. Of 5 probationers I was with when I started, 3 have left teaching due to lack of jobs and 1 wanted to start a family.
I build relationships with schools, staff and pupils and every time I have to leave a school I have to console children who feel like I’m abandoning them because I’m not being kept on – how does this constant disruption help pupils have good H&WB and meet GTCS standards of integrity?! It has been like this for me since 2022.
I’m now in my sign off year and as usual the education councillors’ support is “supply teachers need to choose a HT to sign off if you’ve been in a post for 3 consecutive months”. This same rule applies to the yearly “perm/temp role” applications – once again changing the goal posts to make it harder.
If I don’t get a 3 month post, I’m trapped on the supply list with no income. It’s soul destroying.
This is answer 152 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.