Supporting Local Authority Supply Services

Supporting Local Authority Supply Services

By Bill Esterson MP

Supply teachers do a great job when full time teachers are not available. Schools need the best possible support in locating properly qualified and effective supply teachers, and in turn supply teachers deserve to be fairly and properly paid.

Over the past few months I have been helping to support the future of the Sefton local authority supply teacher service. My son’s school in Sefton uses supply teachers and are very happy with the service that they receive from Sefton Supply Service. The fact that council budgets are under pressure means that cuts have to be considered; but that does not mean that services like the supply teacher service should be cut. The alternative to using the council-run supply service is for schools to use agencies. A big reason why my son’s school likes using the Sefton Supply Service is the continuity. In other words, the same supply teacher is usually the one to go into a school. The relationships and the reassurance that this gives to other staff and especially to the children is a vital ingredient in a supply service and having the same teacher over a period of years is far more effective in supporting learning than if a different teacher arrives each time.

Agencies typically pay much less to their supply teachers and do not offer training or CPD, something that is available to council supply teachers and which benefits schools and teachers through the improvement in quality which follows. Around the country the increasing use of agencies is posing a risk to the quality of supply teaching. From the evidence given to me at those schools in Sefton which use agencies, there is a lack of continuity. Agencies in Sefton are also using unqualified teachers and are charging the same amount as they would for a qualified teacher. This cannot be a good way forward for schools or for children.

It is ultimately the decision of the schools whether to use the in house or agency service. But there is little doubt in my mind that a local authority service is superior for children. In the end, staff facing big cuts in pay by having to work through an agency are less likely to stay in the profession. Sefton runs a successful supply service.

I have been strongly encouraging the council to keep the service and there are now welcome signs that this may happen. I hope that schools will make any additional contributions towards the service that might be needed to cover any shortfall. The responsibility for the potential cut to the service and to other cuts lies firmly at the door of the coalition government who have cut far more from the budget of Sefton and the rest of Merseyside than they have to the wealthiest parts of the country. However, cutting the supply service would in my view be a false economy and is not the way to deal with the cuts. Ultimately, a poorer quality of teaching and learning will hit the most disadvantaged children hardest.