Supply Teacher

The NASUWT works at school, local and national level to ensure that the interests of members working as supply teachers are represented effectively and that their particular needs and concerns are reflected in the development of its policy its advice and guidance.

Know Your Rights: Supply Teachers (PDF 137KB)

News

While all teachers working in schools, colleges and settings across the United Kingdom face many similar issues and concerns, the NASUWT understands that supply teachers face particular challenges as a result of the variable and often unacceptable employment practices of private sector agencies and the lack of access to career development and progression opportunities associated with some forms of supply work.

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Tackling the workload of supply teachers and ensuring that their professional interests are protected and enhanced are key priorities for the NASUWT.

 In England and Wales, the contractual changes introduced by the National Agreement, Raising Standards and Tackling Workload, and the workforce remodelling agenda are creating the opportunities to transform approaches to the organisation and deployment of the workforce that are enhancing all teachers’ working conditions and ensuring that teachers can concentrate on their core responsibilities for teaching and learning. 

While these reforms have led to changing patterns of employment and deployment for supply teachers, the need to ensure that the valuable work they undertake is fully recognised and that they gain access to the same benefits of reform as their non-supply teacher colleagues are central to the Union’s work in this area.

The concerns of supply teachers in Scotland and Northern Ireland are equally as important and the NASUWT’s activities, while reflecting the particular circumstances and context of the education systems in each nation, are also based on an understanding of the urgent need to drive down supply teacher workload and to enhance their professional status and standing.

New European directive

The NASUWT has welcomed a new European Directive that will give equal employment rights to agency workers after a 12-week qualifying period, saying that this will have a positive impact on supply teachers who work via an agency.

The Temporary (Agency) Workers Directive (TAWD) is the result of a six-year campaign and hard negotiation by the TUC and allows the UK to implement the agreement reached in May 2008 between the CBI and the TUC, which means that an agency worker will be entitled to equal treatment after 12 weeks in a given job.

This means that agency supply teachers will be entitled to at least the same basic employment conditions that would apply had s/he been recruited directly to the same job.

Basic working and employment conditions are:

• working time, including overtime, breaks, rest periods and night work;
• holidays, including public holidays;
• pay, including equal pay rights, pensions and sick pay, and bonuses, redundancy pay, maternity pay and paid facilities time for trade union duties.
• European Union member states now have three years to implement the directive, but the UK Government hopes to introduce the necessary legislation in the current Parliamentary session.

There will be a detailed consultation in 2009 and, in the light of responses, a date for regulations to enter into force. The DBERR has stated that it will have avoid unnecessary administrative burdens while ensuring agency workers receive the appropriate protections.

Links to the NASUWT’s most recent policy and guidance materials of particular interest to supply teachers can be found on this page. These materials highlight the Union’s position as the leading trade union for supply teachers as they all reflect and address the direct experiences and concerns of its members. It is only through the active participation of members that the Union’s vital work on behalf of supply teachers can be sustained. By taking advantage of the many opportunities to get involved in the work of the NASUWT, supply teacher members will ensure that their Union can continue to protect and advance their interests and those of their colleagues.