Teaching in England: Which agency??

maynooth_rules

Thinking strongly about going to England to teach for a year, but there are so many agencies that I really do not know which one to pick? Any recommendations?? Plus would I have to pay the agency, or is that the schools job??

shtopthelights

maynooth_rules wrote: »

Thinking strongly about going to England to teach for a year, but there are so many agencies that I really do not know which one to pick? Any recommendations?? Plus would I have to pay the agency, or is that the schools job??

Yikes, no! You don't pay the agency and I would recommend that if you're looking for a full-time job, you apply to schools directly, otherwise a substitute (supply) agency is how you get short term contracts.

The agencies are gagging for teachers to put on their books, there is a serious shortage of teachers in the UK generally, with teachers of specific subjects in serious demand. Schools pay the agencies to recruit for them as it's too time consuming to devote their resources to substitute recruitment. The agencies make a packet off their signed teachers -the school pays them maybe around £175 per day for the substitute teacher, they then pay the teacher at the lowest level they can manage to and keep the rest. (Oops, that sounds awfully cynical; some of course, have really good reputations and so concentrate on hiring proven-to-be excellent teachers and they pay them well comparatively) eg. if you're unqualified or recently qualified teacher, you get maybe £100 and it goes up in increments depending on your experience and the agency's practices, though I think the highest level per day is about £130/5 and you'd only get that if you have lots of exp.

Shop around for the agencies that pay best. Some agencies run professional development courses for their teachers (on such things as familiarising yourself with the UK curriculum/educational issues in UK etc) and some also offer nights out, if you'd prioritise nights out over pay (I reckon the ones who do finance these with reduced pay-per-day levels).

Also, if you haven't got a Criminal Record Bureau Disclosure, look for an agency you can submit your application for this through, you can't work in a school without it (and you can't get it as an individual, it can be obtained through a school, LEA -Local Education Authority- or agency). I believe some agencies can 'fast-track' these, so you may be able to start work quicker than the usual 6-8 weeks it takes to get your disclosure back. Some may accept Garda Vetting, if you have it, but as it's not supposed to be transferable between organisations, you might get to use it for a start, but will most likely have to get your CRB check done too. Some agencies pay for your CRB (about £30 as I recall, but it has probably gone up since I was there) and give it to you once you've worked a certain number of days for them. Of course, some require that you get your own....

Rates for teaching in London are generally higher than in other areas...there's a higher cost of living and different rates for inner, outer or London fringe areas. Of course whether your particular agency passes on the higher rate of pay or not depends on them. -you might find that, if you are paid a little more, the increased cost of living will be greater than increased income. However London is THE place to ensure you're never without a day of work, unless you choose to be.

Remember the agency is there to facilitate you, so be honest about the type of work you want (day to day, longer term, maternity leave....) and make sure they know you want to be treated well, don't be reticent about what you want. They need you more than you need them and they will be eager to facilitate you and keep you working for them. If you don't want to be sent back to a particular school, tell them and they'll facilitate you. If being well supported in coming to understand the UK system is a priority, make sure the agency prides itself on this and look for the best benefits you can get, in general.

Are you a Primary or Secondary teacher? If secondary, which subjects?

-Incidentally, whichever you are, you should be able to teach at either level if you want, or if work in one level is in short supply and you opt to be available for work at another (teacher training in UK (technically) qualifies you to teach at either level....).

Hope that helps! If you have any specific questions, I'll try to answer them, if I can!

maynooth_rules

Many many thanks for that helpful reply shtopthelights, very much appreciated.
I am a Secondary teacher. Subjects are History and Geography, and I have experience teaching English and CSPE. Sp are you saying that I could actually teach primary as a substitute in England?? that could be interesting as I would love to try primary and see what i think of it
I am delighted to read what you said about London. My girlfriend is in college in South london so obviously it is my intention to get work as close to her as possible

shtopthelights

You're very welcome maynooth_rules, glad you found it helpful!

I don't think you'll have any trouble getting some experience in Primary schools, it would be easier if you have some primary experience, but London schools really need supply teachers, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Two years ago, I was considering going back to the UK (I studied there) and I signed up with Horizon Teachers in London (horizonteachers.com), funnily, I'd been planning to go for a few months, had my flight booked for the Sat and on the Thursday before, learned of a sub position here that I was interested in, gave my CV in and was told on the Friday that it was mine if I wanted it...so, I went over, did all the registration on the Monday in case I wanted it later, came back on the Tue and never returned (guess I wasn't meant to go!). But, what I was going to say is, they seemed like a good agency and while I'm secondary trained, I have primary experience and was interested in doing a bit of that and they were happy to facilitate me. There are also positions (can't think of the specific name/acronym for them) where you act as a cover teacher in one school and cover lessons where required so teachers can go to meetings etc -could be good if you want variety, but also a familiar teaching environment/to become established in a school.

You could also register with eteach.com, they manage lots of teacher recruitment and some Local Education Authorities do all their supply recruitment through them.

The great thing about supply teaching in the UK is that the lessons are generally planned by the teacher you're covering -it's a legal requirement, so generally it's the case, unless the teacher has left, is on long term sick leave or maternity leave.... I e-mailed cover lessons to my school before 8am when I was at death's door on a couple of occasions when I worked there!

Another good thing is that you'll most likely get a pack when you arrive at the school, outlining what they expect of you as a cover teacher, the break times, timetable for the class/ for use of p.e. hall/comp facilities etc, a map of the school and any other info you might need. Schools tend to be really big over there and so things tend to be well organised. (of course there'll be exceptions, but, remember if a school is awful, you won't be made to go back)

Not sure about the demand for history and geography teachers specifically. If the uni I did my PGCE at (12 people on the history course as I recall, as opposed to 60+ on my English one) and the schools I taught at are anything to go by, history isn't in high demand but really, they don't always require subject specialists for supply work. On a Monday morning when they need 10 cover teachers in a school and the specific 10 specialist teachers aren't available, they won't be holding out to see if they can get them, after all the work should be planned and should be something the students can do without you being a specialist....

Good luck!

sunflower!

Hi,
I am a History teacher who is currently working in south London. I went with lots of agencies when I was looking for work over here. I found http://www.uteachrecruitment.com/showpage.php?name=contact really good they have offices in Cork and were really helpful. The company who put me forward for my current job was http://www.impactteachers.com/impact/ they have a really interesting set up whereby they donate money to charity when someone is hired through them- not sure how it works but it’s all on their site. There are lots of jobs but this might not be the best time of year as almost all posts for sept will be filled already. You should certainly get onto the agencies and get working on CRB checks etc and keep an eye on http://www.tes.co.uk/ . I found the job I eventually got on tes as well as through the agency. Over here teachers have to give at least half a terms notice so the jobs come up a well in advance very different to home. If your girl friend lives here you could always come over and sub until you find something. If you have some patience you’ll def find something though and there are jobs coming up all through the year. I started looking around October which wasn’t a great time but I got a job at the end of November and was over here in a permanent position on Jan 2nd! I live in south London and teach in surrey you would be surprised how many places are easily accessible from here so you need not necessarily limit your search too much. If I can help let me know, Good luck!

maynooth_rules

Thanks again for the second message shtopthelights. Also thanks Sunflower, some very helpful info there. My girlfriend is in Kingston University, and living near Wimbeldon so my base will be Wimbeldon. Great transport links from there so I guess I have a wide area where I could teach in. I guess as you say i could sub until something more stable comes up. I am used to be put into classrooms at very short notice though so hopefully that will help me

Tigerandahalf

As the job situation is pretty grim here and looks like the next few years could be worse, I'm thinking about London as an option. When do schools start recruiting for September? Is it best to go through an agency or go through the school directly. Will this affect my pay or will that only happen if I am doing supply work? If I was to move it would be for a year position.
Thanks in advance.

Super Split

I am in the process of preparing my CAO application and I'm thinking seriously about secondary teaching. My subjects will more than likely be History and Geography. I'm 26 and planning ahead and as is apparent in this country, jobs are very scarce. Has anybody any experience of Secondary teaching in the UK and how the degrees or the syllabus would differ between Ireland and the UK??
For instance if I do a BA in History and Geography in Ireland would it entitle me to teach in the UK? Also would there be many jobs in these subjects choices in the UK?