Briefing 8 - Supply Teachers

Created on: 16 Dec 2020 | Last modified: 17 Dec 2020

Within the EIS November survey, thousands of comments from teachers were collected on issues such as behaviour in the classroom, their health, and wider safety concerns about working in schools.

This is the eighth in a series of briefings, that the EIS will issue to the Scottish Government outlining the experiences of EIS members. This briefing looks at Supply teachers Some comments have been redacted to ensure they do not identify individual schools or members.

Key Issues

  • 1,030 comments were left by members who identified themselves as a supply teacher in their response to the survey (not all are included in this briefing)
  • Members highlighted that it was impossible to socially distance themselves from their pupils when they need extra support, or when the class sizes remain so large
  • Cleaning was flagged as an issue, with members saying that classrooms are not cleaned regularly enough, and that supplies are running throughout the day. This was of particular concern to some supply teachers who covered more than more class in a day or week as they feared spreading infection between multiple classes or schools
  • Ventilation was also highlighted as a key issue as it is impossible to keep the classroom warm as well as ventilated

Supply Briefing

Download pdf