Unlike other teachers with permanent jobs, supply teachers needs to regularly reassess their options and find new career opportunities. While this might be difficult at times, it also presents many amazing opportunities and will give you the chance to explore different schools and teaching opportunities. Supply teaching in Bedford is popular amongst some of the best teachers in the area, especially before moving into a permanent position, or if cutting back on hours to pursue other interests, or study for higher teaching qualifications. Whatever your reasons are, supply teaching in Bedford can present you with many new and exciting chances to progress in your career and move forward with your life.
When you are working as a supply teacher, roles might become available for extended periods, such as several weeks or months, or they might just be available on an ad hoc basis. This will depend on the needs the school has for a supply teacher – for example, if they have a teacher who is off sick, or if they need additional support for a particular class or year group for certain subjects, then their requirements will be very different. They will need to manage their resourcing carefully and work out how to handle supply teaching vs permanent teachers. This can mean opportunities for you as a supply teacher might not come in regularly, or might come in all at once. One of the more difficult parts of supply teaching to manage is that roles will not always be predictable. They might also come up in different parts of Bedford, which can make it harder for you to commute, or might make it impossible to get to the school altogether.
There are several ways that you can make supply teaching a more manageable option, though, especially if you are going to pursue it long term. One of the best steps to take is to register with a supply teaching agency that specialises in positions in Bedford. This will give you access to many positions you might not otherwise have come across, so that you can see which ones suit you and find out about them faster. It also takes a lot of the difficult admin and management tasks out of supply teaching for you, because the agency will contact you when new positions become available. This saves you having to spend time contacting schools and looking for positions in a variety of places – with the schools directly, or on various teaching job boards .
Signing up with a supply teaching agency has the power to change your career trajectory. You will still need to be highly organised – one of the other important steps to take is to make sure your job history is up to date, and your interview skills are polished, as you never know when your ideal Bedford based role might become available. But in general, by signing up to a supply teaching agency, you will remove a lot of the work for yourself, allowing you to concentrate on being the best teacher possible and driving your career forward.