Press releaseTuesday 26 January 2010

Supply teachers increasingly confident about job prospects despite fears over education budgets

• 73% of supply teachers expect their pay to rise
• Only 5% go more than three months without work

Supply teachers are increasingly confident about their work prospects over the next 12 months, despite growing fears about education budgets, according to research by giant group plc, the contractor services provider.

The research by giant among over 500 supply teachers shows that 72.3% are expecting their income to rise next year, compared to 69.3% who responded to the survey this time last year.

According to giant, as education budgets become tighter as the Government seeks to reduce public debt, permanent staffing levels in schools are likely to grow less quickly, which will potentially create more opportunities for contract teachers.

Unemployment among supply teachers is already declining with just 5.1% out of work for three months or more, down from 6% at the end of 2008.

Matthew Brown, Managing Director of giant group, comments: “Supply teachers are becoming increasingly confident about their prospects going into 2010. When hiring freezes are put in place for permanent staff, contractors often benefit, so with education budgets coming under pressure, demand for supply teachers could rise as schools respond to short term spikes in demand for teaching skills.”

“If hiring freezes are put in place next year, schools will still lose fulltime staff due to natural attrition. Rather than replace retirees by recruiting fulltime teachers, schools may find it more economical to bring in teaching skills on a contingent basis.”

He adds: “Quality supply teachers in certain subjects are already quite scarce, so any increased demand for their skills, could push up pay rates.”

According to giant, supply teachers increasingly favour higher hourly pay over long term contracts – further evidence of renewed confidence in the jobs market. 40.9% of supply teachers prefer higher pay to long term contracts in comparison to 32.6% last year.

Matthew Brown says: “More teachers opting for higher pay over long term contracts indicates that concerns over job security and the possibility of long term unemployment are diminishing.”

The survey by giant also revealed that just 11.4% of supply teachers had to work a probationary period at the start of their last contract, down from 20.2% at the end of 2008.

Matthew Brown says: “Probationary periods usually rise as the job market ‘loosens’ and more candidates become available for work, which allows schools to adopt a ‘try before you buy’ policy. The declining use of probationary periods suggests we are moving back towards a candidate-led market.”

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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