Press releaseWednesday 18 February 2009

More than 10 times as many supply teachers would prefer to work at academies than private schools

• Just 3.7% of supply teachers would prefer their next placement to be at a comprehensive school

86% of supply teachers would prefer to work in academies and City Technology Colleges (CTCs) over all other kinds of secondary schools, reveals research by giant group plc, the contractor services provider. The research confirms that the popularity of academies and CTCs is growing among supply teachers (81% of teachers ranked academies and CTCs first choice last September).

According to the research by giant group, just 6.4% of supply teachers would prefer a private school as their next placement, while only 3.7% of supply teachers would like their next placement to be in a comprehensive school.

Matthew Brown, Managing Director, giant group, comments: “It’s surprising that so few supply teachers would prefer their next placement to be at a private school given the potential for higher pay in the private sector.”

Academies are a relatively new Government initiative and are often located in areas where academic achievement is below the national average. They are all-ability, state-funded schools established and managed by sponsors from a wide range of backgrounds, including high performing schools and colleges, universities, individual philanthropists, businesses, the voluntary sector, and the faith communities.

Matthew Brown explains that academies can be seen as combining the best of both worlds - having some of the independence of a private school, the benefit of both public and private funding, and being unique in how they provide education and serve their community.

Says Matthew Brown: “There seems to be significant attractions of working in academies to supply teachers. Performance pay and a bigger emphasis on challenging the ‘norm’ through practical and specialist education methods, are major motivating factors to contract teachers when deciding the location of their next placement.”

According to giant group, 67.4% of supply teachers would prefer a long-term contract over a higher per hour payment (32.6%).

Matthew Brown explains: “Long-term contracts are considered preferable to a higher-per-hour payment as for some contract teachers it provides a bigger pay benefit in the long-run and of course job security.”

“This is especially the case since demand for supply teachers is much less volatile than other types of contractors, where sudden booms in demand can be commonplace, leading to sharp rises in per hour payments.”

Other findings by giant group also showed that 47.3% of supply teachers said that flexible working was their main reason to become a contractor.

Note: Established in 1992, giant group specialises in providing services to recruitment agencies, temporary workers, freelancers and contractors. The range of services include agency back office solutions from giant precision (www.giantprecision.com) – timesheet management, billing, payroll, contract management, pre-employment and background checking, BACS disaster recovery – and giant umbrella payroll services where giant is the professional employer organisation employing and payrolling the temporary workers and contractors.

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