Since qualifying as a teacher, finding stable employment has been incredibly difficult. I have continued to work across different schools and settings, including both mainstream and ASN, gaining experience and developing professionally, yet I am still reliant on supply work with no guarantee of how many days I will work from one week to the next.
One of the hardest parts is that this is not through a lack of willingness to work. I want to teach. I am flexible, willing to work across different schools and settings, and have continued to build my skills and experience wherever opportunities have been available. However, I can go from being needed regularly to suddenly having very little work, with no real way of knowing what my income will be from one month to the next.
The insecurity affects much more than my career. I have a young family and I am now expecting another baby. Because of a break in my teaching service of just two weeks, I have found myself in the position of not being entitled to maternity pay through my employer. It is difficult to describe how worrying that feels when such a small gap in employment can have such a significant financial consequence for your family.
Even the seemingly small things make insecure teaching harder. When you are not permanently attached to a school, you can lose access to basic systems that other teachers take for granted. I have had my work email deactivated, meaning I could no longer access teaching files, resources or contacts I had built up. It can then take weeks for access to be restored. In the meantime, I am still expected to arrive in an unfamiliar school prepared to teach.
Supply teachers are constantly adapting to new schools, classes, pupils, systems and expectations, often at very short notice. We can be trusted to walk into a classroom and take on the full responsibility of teaching and supporting pupils, yet we do not have the employment security or even sometimes the basic practical support that comes with belonging to a school.
What I find particularly difficult is knowing how many qualified teachers are actively looking for secure work while permanent opportunities remain so limited. I trained to become a teacher because I wanted a career in education, not because I wanted to spend years moving between short-term and uncertain work.
Greater security would mean being able to properly invest in a school community, develop professionally, build lasting relationships with pupils and colleagues, and have some certainty about my family’s future. It would also give pupils the consistency that comes from teachers being able to stay and become part of their school community.
Shared anonymously with the contributor’s consent and reviewed by the campaign. Light edits may have been made for readability and to remove identifying details.
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