Supply Teaching myths and truths

February 12, 2020 | Time: | Location: | Category: Teaching Resourses

Supply Teaching Myths Busted by Luke Boydon-Jones...

On the outside, it’s fair to say that the Supply Teaching world can be one which seems confusing and often daunting; with multiple types of supply roles and agencies to choose from as well as the many myths and misconceptions flying around it’s easy to see why! That’s why we, the insiders, want to help makes things a little clearer by pointing out the facts and the fakes associated with Supply Teaching. So what are the most popular myths associated with Supply and how factual are they?

“SUPPLY TEACHING WORK ISN'T FULL-TIME”

Full-time, part-time, day-to-day – IT’S UP TO YOU. There are many different types of supply work available ranging from permanent contracts to daily contracts. At Mana our teachers get to decide what type of contractual roles they are put forwards for, meaning if you want permanent, long-term, short-term, full-time or part-time or even just 1 day a week, then we will be able to accommodate. Read more on the types of supply roles available here: https://www.manaeducation.co.uk/blog/teaching-jobs/teacher-recruitment---teaching-supply-agencies/supply-teacher---what-is-supply-teaching-and-the-benefits

“SUPPLY TEACHERS ARE ONLY THERE TO MANAGE MISBEHAVIOR”

This is a bigger fib than any you have received from a pupil about their missing homework! Our Supply Teachers serve many vital positions within the School setting, whether it’s covering a maternity contract or conducting PPA cover, a Supply Teacher is expected to carry out all of the same roles and responsibilities as a class teacher on a permanent contract, unless the supply teacher is working as a cover supervisor or teaching assistant. For those Supply Teachers looking for daily cover supervisor work, we always try to offer our teachers work in the same school, allowing time for a rapport to be built between the students and the staff. At Mana, we always ask our teachers for feedback on our schools to ensure that if a teacher doesn’t want to go back to a certain school they won’t!

“SCHOOLS ONLY APPROACH AGENCIES FOR TEACHERS WHEN THEY CAN’T HIRE THEMSELVES”

Schools only work with Mana because we are brilliant, so brilliant that most of our schools never hire directly but instead will always recruit through us. This is because we interview all of our teachers, take care of all of the paperwork and safeguarding, and we are audited to the gold standard of recruitment by the REC, who are the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. Due to Mana’s low fees, it can be cheaper for a School to hire through Mana than independently!

“SUPPLY TEACHERS NEVER GET OFFERED PERMANENT WORK”

At Mana, this fact couldn’t be more wrong. Due to our exclusive relationships with our schools and our low agency fees, Mana Teachers are regularly offered permanent contracts. You may have heard that some agencies charge a very high ‘Finder’s Fee’ to a School when they ask for a permanent teacher. This fee can be detrimental to the likelihood of a teacher finding perm work. At Mana we work hard with our schools to ensure that our fees will never get in the way of a school offering a teacher a permanent contract! Also, nowadays a lot of Schools are employing Teachers on a supply contract with the aim of hiring that teacher on a permanent contract afterwards – this way both parties get to assess their happiness and then move forwards or sideways from there!

“SUPPLY TEACHERS DO NOT GET PAID THE SAME AS MAINSTREAM TEACHERS”

Due to the Agency Workers Regulations, we are obliged to pay teachers to scale once they’ve completed at least 12 full-time weeks in a mainstream school – this is known as the qualifying period. Once reached, teachers become applicable to be paid the same as the school would pay that teacher direct. Essentially, this means that if a Mana Teacher carries out a long-term placement, they will be paid the same as the other staff members within that school holding the same responsibilities. For those not working in a long-term contract, Mana works hard to negotiate a suitable pay scale with our Schools reflective of the teachers experience and responsibilities. For those supply teachers who work on a daily basis, the daily rate is actually quite high to reflect the pay lost over School holidays.

“SUPPLY TEACHERS ONLY WORK IN STRUGGLING SCHOOLS”

Certainly not… State Schools, Private Schools, Colleges, Special Educational Needs Schools, Outstanding schools, School requiring improvement, WE WORK WITH THEM ALL. A Mana Supply Teacher will be offered positions within all types of Schools!

“SUPPLY TEACHING IS FLEXIBLE AND WITH THE RIGHT AGENCY, SUPPLY CAN WORK AROUND YOU AND YOUR NEEDS”

TRUE. Mana Educations supply teachers can choose the days of the weeks they work, the distance they travel to work, the types of contract they wish to be put forwards for, including part-time and full-time, as well as the schools they would like to work in and the schools that they would like to avoid! Mana Supply Teachers have the benefit of being entirely selective over the type of work that we look for on their behalf and they NEVER have to accept any work that we offer – it’s all just for consideration!