Regarding your excellent article last week, “One in five stuck in the supply pool”, teachers on supply contracts do indeed have a very demanding job - not least because of our horrendous conditions of service compared with permanent members of staff.
On September 6, I discovered that Fife Council were trying a rather novel “solution” to our problem of low morale, and their problem of inadequate supply of supply teachers.
From August 30 they have slightly improved our sick pay arrangements, delayed the payment of our “holiday pay” entitlement by up to three months and changed their method of calculating our wages in an attempt to get their headteachers to cut some of our pro rata salaries by 33 per cent compared with August 29.
Robin Ward
(supply teacher at Auchmuty High School, Fife)
Lindsay Gardens, St Andrews
