Supply or Long-term?
With the 2024-25 academic year here, we thought it would be best to discuss one of the questions many teachers arriving in London will have to consider—should I be looking at supply or longer-term roles?
At Swift Education, we present teachers and teaching assistants with various roles that suit individual needs.
Let us show you some key benefits of taking either a supply or permanent job.
Supply Work:
Permanent Role:
Supply Work
Flexibility
Most would agree that the main attraction of supply work is the flexibility it provides. This works especially well if the educators are occupied on certain days of the week or cannot entirely commit to the job throughout the school year.
You can also consider taking breaks in between school terms—let’s say when you have completed two terms of cover, and want to travel, you’re then free to do so without giving 2-3 month’s notice.
Less Admin & Reports
There’s a lot of other work involved in the day-to-day of being a teacher aside from the actual teaching. This ranges from planning, report-drafting, marking and meetings.
These often eat up quite a lot of your time and can occupy a substantial portion of a teacher’s after-school hours—It’s not uncommon for teachers with permanent placement at school to have to stay an additional 1-2 hours each day.
Finding the one school that best fits you
Working as a supply staff makes it easier for educators to change to a new school, role, or key stage on a trial basis.
Many educators have pointed out that doing so helped them find the one school and role that matched them, which they eventually took on for a permanent placement.
Permanent Role
Stable and Consistent
If you want a stable weekly income, pension, and to get paid during school holidays, then a permanent role is probably a better fit for you.
If you are the type of educator who likes to grow and work with the same class throughout the entire school year, then permanent placement can provide you with more stability.
Professional Development
If you want to continue to further your career in education, attending workshops/courses is hugely beneficial.
The benefit of taking on permanent placement is that schools often arrange training for their regular staff, covering topics like classroom management, curriculum development, safeguarding and first aid, and the use of IT in teaching.
Career Progression
Finally, if you aim to reach middle or senior leadership positions within the same school, consistent experience in the same school will likely be required. You might be asked to highlight with examples that you can lead not just your class, but also critical phases, subjects, or other functional groups within the school administration.
Fully immersing yourself as a permanent staff member and working in the same school can allow you to show the headteacher that you are ready to take on more duties and advance to the next step in your career.