'Worst thing I ever did': Survey reveals teachers' despair

Official figures show a huge decline in newly qualified primary teachers securing permanent employment. In Glasgow City in 2017, 73% of primary teachers went straight from probation onto a permanent contract. By 2023, this had plummeted to just 10%.

The Educational Institute of Scotland says the Scottish Government is to blame for this, noting that the 2021 SNP election manifesto promised to hire an additional 3500 teachers and support staff, but that overall numbers have actually fallen since then.

The Scottish Government rejected the criticism, saying that the number of teachers in Scotland had risen by 8% since 2014, and that “record levels of investment are being made in the education system."

We recently reported on Lauren Shepherd, a primary teacher from East Kilbride who has struggled to find work after spending years in training, and finds herself on the ‘supply list’ - a list of teachers waiting to be offered zero hours temporary work.

After speaking out about the issue, Lauren received so many messages from people experiencing the same thing that she conducted a survey of Scottish teachers currently ‘on supply,’ the results of which she shared with Glasgow Times.

Lauren Shepherd, a primary teacher who conducted the survey (Image: Supplied)

Of the 320 responses so far, one of the most common was that supply work had put people’s lives “on hold.”

“My whole life feels on hold,” said one respondent. “I am unable to move out of my family home, get married or start a family. Last year I went five months without a single penny of income.”

“My whole life is on hold because of this,” said another respondent. “I have an honours and a masters degree in primary teaching. It’s humiliating.

“I want to get married and have children but I can’t afford it. Six years I have been teaching. I feel utterly hopeless.”

Understandably, many said the inconsistency of work had caused serious financial concerns.

“Returning from maternity leave, I now have a young baby and a mortgage with no income from August,” said one teacher. “I am extremely anxious about getting into debt.”

“It has destroyed my passion for teaching, my health and wellbeing, confidence, belief in myself and ruined my family life,” said another. “I’ve hardly been able to pay our mortgage and support my two children.”

Another responded: “I have a mortgage and three children. My husband is about to lose his job and me being on supply with no sign of a contract is dire. I am worried about affording the basics for my family.”

“I spent months working in McDonald’s as I had no supply work,” said another teacher. “There were weeks I would skip meals to feed my kids.”

Another common theme was the detrimental effect on mental health.

One respondent said: “I have two young children and spend every summer holiday in a permanent state of anxiety, worried how I will make ends meet come August.”

“I'm a single mum,” another said. “I feel utterly worthless. I've been teaching for seven years. I have singing references, loads of experience and still I'm stuck on supply. It is destroying my mental health. I don't sleep. I just worry about how I'll stay afloat.”

“I’m so worried and so stressed,” one teacher wrote. “I wish I knew how bad it was before getting into teaching. I feel sick at the thought of not being able to pay my mortgage.”

A number of respondents questioned their decision to get into education, with one saying even saying “it’s made me resent my choice of becoming a teacher.”

One wrote: “Being on supply has ruined my love for teaching. The behaviour of pupils towards supply teachers is disgusting.”

“It has really made me question whether teaching is for me,” said another. "It is soul destroying not working, and then when you do work, you can be treated terribly by both children and staff.”

“Becoming a teacher was by far the worst thing I ever did,” said another.