Told I’d get 7 hours, timesheet said 5.5

Supply teachers have been dehumanised. The 5.5 hours amounts to a 22% pay cut. A teacher has a choice, to reciprocate this cut by arriving on unpaid time, or arriving at 9am, not knowing SEN, school policies, fire exits, behaviour and medical concerns etc.

The Teacher Booker system discourages personal relationships developing within schools and with children. Blanket offers are sent out to see who gets there first. Some schools still have the integrity to pay a fair rate, but this is (probably deliberately) withheld from the offer.

I refuse to take the cut, and have been told by schools I would be paid 7 hours, only to see the 5.5 on my timesheet. I am a professional, not a hobbyist working for pin money. Supply already offers excellent value, we don’t have security, when we aren’t needed we aren’t paid.

I have met young teachers working between schools, negotiating several stages and policies. That is their first experience of teaching, it is degrading and potentially dangerous to think teachers can arrive at 9am and deliver safe and high quality care.