Application forms should be the same for every council. Interviews should scrap the 20 point system and include a HT statement and/or an observed lesson. In fact the whole application/interview system is broken. I know teachers who have never filled out an application or interviewed that have permanent jobs!
Applying over and over again for positions in schools where you are already ‘good enough’ for supply work/temp contracts is horrible. I am constantly told by SLTs that it is a crime I don’t have a permanent job and that they would keep me if they could.
Why don’t HTs have a say in who their teachers are? Why does it come down to your interview skills? Why do councils not look at their supply lists and help those who want permanent jobs?
My council have never asked me what type of work I want. Not once! I have put in the same amount of hours/money/study as everyone else and it is an unfair system.
In the same council, the only council I have worked for, I have had two year long temp contracts, three 6 month temp contracts and many, many full weeks in other schools. I have cancelled holidays and plans to go into schools at the last second. I have HTs phoning me to see if I am free. I respond to emails and hear nothing.
The impact on my MH has been awful. It’s demoralising as a teacher. I know I am a great teacher but now I have actively chosen to take a step away and it breaks my heart!
This is answer 235 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.