06.09.11
Frustration is a dangerous thing. It can cause anger, a complete loss of patience and the inability to form a calm and logical thought process in attempting to talk to others.
I am a frustrated supply teacher. And at this very moment in time I am finding it difficult to stop myself constructing plans to seek revenge on council workers who have become, in Marvel comic terms, my worst enemies in the world of employment.
Let me try to begin explaining where my exasperation has come from.
After removing me from their supply list for no reason, a certain council in the West of Scotland (lets just throw ‘Dunbartonshire’ in there for a giggle)-then told me that I had to re-apply for the position (one which, incidentally has never given me any work up to this date), and in addition to this I had to pay a fee of £59 just to be back on that list. Furthermore, they sent me on a wild goose chase back and forth to the council buildings, then online to fill out further application forms, then back to the council (a 40 minute drive each way) just to give them said application forms and double-triple check it was me by photocopying my drivers licence and teaching qualification, (something they had already done). After all this, I was finally on that list- just to sit and wait another two years while they supply me with no work at all.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am certainly not blaming this council for the lack of jobs out there- it’s difficult. And for a supply teacher I understand that work is thin on the ground. However, I have been informed countless amounts of times in this particular council that positions are available in schools for supply teachers and they are simply not being advertised, or becoming inaccessible due to the outrageously high amount of admin and bureaucracy that goes into getting us registered. (Not to mention hefty money-making schemes just to squeeze a little bit more blood from our unemployed supply teaching stones).
This time last year BBC Scotland reported the figures for teaching to be 17 applicants for every 1 job. Things haven’t improved this year, if anything they’re worse. Teachers are now less likely to retire and if they do, continue working on in a supply role for the same position but with the added bonus of a pension. And where does that leave me? An unemployed supply teacher of 5 years at the age of 28 buried in useless paperwork and spending hundreds of pounds on petrol just trying to get on one of the most expensive lists in Scotland. It would be cheaper trying to teach the kids in nightclubs- they only charge a tenner on the door.
This year the BBC reported a massive shortage in male primary teachers, and overall unemployment rates this year have fallen by 8%. So what’s going wrong? Why is communication so bad? And why, when I walk into a council building does the secretary look almost scared to be there, while HR have no clue what to do about willing and highly qualified teachers? Someone let me in on this big secret because quite frankly I’m sick of being told I’m wrong, and someone with a lot of time on their hands is right and therefore I should go away and fill another form in.
I have been happy supply teaching for the last 5 years. It’s rewarding, fun and the kids in Scotland are fantastic to work with. It really is a shame that what my job has become is nothing but cut budgets, paperwork and a wall of confused office workers.
