Shropshire secondary schools spend over £2m on supply teachers last year

Secondary schools in Shropshire spend £2.2m on supply teachers

Secondary schools across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin spent more than £2.2 million on supply teachers last year, new research suggests.

For England the total figure was almost £300 million, which equates to spending of more than £100,000 per school, according to an analysis of Government figures by the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Schools in poorer areas are more likely to use supply teachers, the pressure group claimed.

It said this suggesting that pupils most in need of stable teaching were not getting it.

The report analysed figures on school spending, published last month. They show England’s state secondary schools, excluding academies, spent £293 million on supply teachers in 2009 to 2010.

Schools in the Shropshire Council area paid a total of £1,269,703 while in Telford & Wrekin the figure was £1,029,907.

The biggest spenders included Wrockwardine Wood Arts College —£230,923, Idsall School in Shifnal — £157,182 and Burton Borough, Newport — £140,134.

Aggie Caesar-Homden, Shropshire Council cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said: “Schools want to minimise any impact on their budget and have consistency in teaching, and will therefore only spend money on supply teachers when absolutely necessary. However, some use of supply teachers is inevitable.”

The research shows that schools in deprived areas, with more than 30 per cent of pupils on free meals spent an average of £140,000 on supply teachers.

Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Many parents are very concerned when they see their children being taught by a series of different supply teachers, rather than enjoying a stable learning environment with a regular teacher.

“At the same time, we have just seen a decade in which Britain has spent more and more on education but slid down international league tables for performance.

“Taxpayers deserve to get better value and this report provides new evidence that suggests the key to improving schools isn’t just throwing more money at them, but improving how they are managed. Headteachers need to be given more power to run schools and should be accountable to parents, not bureaucrats in Whitehall.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: “It is down to schools and local authorities to decide on their use of supply staff and ensure that taxpayers get value for money.”

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1
H. St. John Peasbody

February 25, 2011 at 11:05

If there was a reasonable level of discipline in schools, there wouldn’t be as many teachers off sick.

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2
eva land

February 26, 2011 at 16:57

Teachers do set a bad example with time off sick especially when they work so few hours compared to other professions and are so much better paid comparatively.
Still if I had any starting secondary school this is a much better statistic to use than exam results (swayed by pupils being encouraged have private teaching for example)
Meole Brace outshines the rest by far.

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3
Greg

February 28, 2011 at 21:00

Eva either the gremlins got in or you must have been taught by a supply teacher:)
“Teacher’s work so few hours” – a teacher’s work really starts when they get home. With a lot of professions you can close the door on it when you go home. Not in teaching. There is so much to do outside the classroom in order to teach a good lesson.Unlike most jobs where you have time at work to prepare meetings etc in teaching you have very little marking and preparation time.
Also in how many other professions do you have 30 teenagers in front of you, some unwillingly, and you have to keep their attention?
One thing I have noticed is how many people who entered teaching from other jobs were surprised at how hard and exhausting the job could be.
When the sickness level in a school is high look at the senior management ( they are supposed to be in charge of discipline). Don’t blame the guys at the chalk face.

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