For the past three years I have spent January – September Weekend each year going through recruitment for a council (from attending application webinar through interviews and waiting on results) to be told I am ‘successful’ at interview but with no guarantee of a job and then ending up on supply again after September weekend. I secure supply work from October onwards but then start the process again.
It is so tiring and demoralising and I do not feel I am giving my best in jobs as this hangs over me for most of the teaching year and across the summer holidays! It affects my mental health and my mood with my family also. I have been requested back to schools for continuity and been told I couldn’t go by the council.
I have decided if it occurs again next year I will be leaving teaching. I am praised in every school I work in with positive feedback and it doesn’t count for anything.
I’m terrified I’m going to be left as a ‘lost generation’ of teachers if the new 3 year guarantee comes in.
This is answer 163 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.