Letters Academisation changed everything
MY experience of a school being academised was not a happy one. When they came in, they uttered the words “we will not change anything if it is working” and then immediately set about changing everything. From student uniform and standards, through to job roles, titles and responsibilities. There appeared to be a ‘system’ to gradually eradicate the over-50s until they moulded their chosen staff. I may just be bitter about being one of the over-50s who ended up on supply, but having spoken to many other colleagues from other schools that
have been academised, it seems I am not the only teacher who has gone through the above system. David Harrington, Redcar
Central supply register would benefit us all
I AM a science teacher with 20-plus years of experience. Having left the profession to have children, on my return I have been unable to obtain permanent employment. For the last ten years I have been on temporary contracts, usually through supply agencies. Unfortunately, I am in a profession where the more experience you have, the less desirable you are as
a new employee because you are more expensive. I am registered with three agencies, but constantly contacted by others from across the country. An agency in Bristol regularly emails me about work in the North East. I’m not sure how this agency has any real knowledge of our schools here. My impression is that the majority of teaching agency staff are not teachers. Colleagues contact me directly about work because their schools are unable to source teachers through agencies. If the agencies do not have a suitable teacher on their books, schools are left in the position of making
random calls to one of the many other agencies out there. A central register of supply teachers would make it easier for schools and supply teachers. I have numerous examples of the destructive parasitic nature of agencies/academy trusts. A supply teacher friend was recently working as a science teacher. The school really valued her, but after a few months she was contacted by the academy trust to say she needed to sign up with a different agency to continue working there. On further investigation she discovered she was going to receive a substantial cut in her daily rate.
A slippery supply slope that sadly started decades ago I WAS interested to read in your article, The fight for a fair deal, that 74 per cent of cover supervisors were delivering lessons (Educate, March/April, page 29). When I worked at a school in the 1990s my head was among the first to introduce cover supervisors and I predicted that it would be the “thin end of the wedge” and that before long such supervisors would be used in place of qualified supply teachers. How sad I am that I was right. John Lovell, Worthing
74%
48%
36%
of cover supervisors deliver lessons
of HLTAs teach whole classes regularly
are timetabled to teach whole classes permanently
Teacher’s pet Rocket Rocket lives with SEND assessment officer Sam Nicholson-Hickling in Oldham. Sam says: “Rocket was a school guinea pig who I rescued nearly seven years ago. He’s now the ripe old age of ten and is spoilt rotten. “When I was having my trickiest classroom days, he would have this sense that I wasn’t feeling great and would give my chin a lick to make me feel better. “When things were hard, he was a great emotional support animal.” If you have a treasured pet you’d like to show off, email a high-resolution photo with 50 words about what makes them so special to educate@neu.org.uk 42
educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)
