Schools spend £300 million on supply teachers, report claims

12 April 2012

Secondary schools spent almost £300 million on supply teachers last year, new research suggests.

This 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, suggesting that pupils most in need of stable teaching are not getting it.

The report analysed Government figures on school spending, published last month.
The findings show that England's state secondary schools, excluding academies, spent £293 million on supply teachers in 2009/10, over £100,000 per school.

But schools in deprived areas, with more than 30% of pupils on free schools meals - a measure of poverty, spent an average of over £140,000 on supply teachers, the report says.

It concludes: "It is clear that, although spending on both types of teachers (regular and supply) increases with deprivation, the increase is far greater with respect to supply teachers. There may be any number of reasons for this, for example: schools in deprived areas find it harder to fill full-time positions; and there is increased time off for sickness.

"But the simple conclusion is that the children who need good, stable teaching most, are the most likely to have instability in their teachers. This cannot be good for the education system."

Matthew Sinclair, director 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 their schools and should be accountable to parents, not bureaucrats in Whitehall."

The study also found that a "pupil premium" already exists in schools, with schools that have more than 30% of pupils on free school meals receiving 26% more per pupil in funding than others.

Ministers announced plans last year to introduce a new "pupil premium" with schools getting an extra £430 for every poorer child on their books next year.

The Liberal Democrat-inspired supplement, a flagship measure of the coalition Government, will see the government pumping in £625 million for around 1.4 million less well-off youngsters in 2011/12.

This is slightly lower than expected, but is due to rise to £2.5 billion by 2014/15.

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.

"Supply staff play a valuable role in providing schools with the cover they need, but it is important for children to have consistency in their learning."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in