Desperate supply teachers in Scotland are planning to withhold their services for one week to push local authorities into overturning a controversial pay deal, which cut temporary teachers' daily wage by up to 40 per cent.

Last August, the daily rate for a supply teacher was reduced for the first five days to a lower rate of £70 a day, to help fund an estimated saving of £60 million.

Now temporary teachers have started organising themselves through a Facebook site to withdraw supply cover for schools when their services will be most in demand, to force education authorities to rethink the wage cut.

Already anecdotal evidence suggests teachers are either leaving the profession or not accepting short-term contracts, which is putting pressure on cover for absent teachers in Scottish classrooms.

Sumera Tabard, a maths teacher from Glasgow and one of the founders of the Scottish Supply Teachers website and Facebook page, likens the current situation to that of labourers in a poor developing country, where they are powerless to affect their wage as someone else will simply fill in.

"It feels like we are in one of those poorer countries where the desperate labour waits at the side of the road and a pick-up truck comes to hire two or three of them from a pool of labour – it's just not fair on the supply teacher," she said.

Ms Tabard added that she, like many users of the social media site that has been getting 400 hits a day, has decided to stop working for any contracts of less than five days: "If someone called me before offering a day's work I would have jumped at the chance, because I love teaching maths. But now I feel devalued as I am only going to be paid half.

"And if the children find out I am only being paid half then they might think I am only half a teacher."

Another supply teacher, who asked not to be named, added that already 100 supply teachers have agreed to take action by withholding their labour collectively, although a lot more will be needed to make the action worthwhile. The group plan to strike at a critical moment when cover is most needed.

She explains: "When schools are desperate for emergency cover and do their usual thing of phoning supply teachers at 10 past nine and nobody answers their phone it would put schools into crisis.

"We basically feel that this would be the only way to apply pressure on headteachers to make them complain upwards, which they are not going to do if they have a regular supply of emergency cover."

She added that parent pressure could help return pay to last year's rates: "If this campaign worked, if classes had to be doubled up, pupils taught in assembly halls or sent home then parents would find out about it and want something done."

She admitted she was considering leaving the profession to become a classroom assistant, a lower paid educational position with lesser responsibilities: "I am looking at any other alternative job which will offer me stability and peace of mind, the ability to plan financial commitments like booking a holiday and all the things that have gone out of the window because of the deal.

"I am thinking of going back to being a classroom assistant because it might be a fairly low wage but at least I will stay in education since I love the working environment, and then just wait out the crisis in education."

But the teacher, who has been teaching for six years, still feels bitter about her situation, which is at odds with the message delivered by schools that educational attainment will help you succeed.

She said: "We swallowed the advertising campaign lie and followed the recruitment drive spin, that the Scottish education system needs teachers. The irony I feel is that working as an educationalist, we are pushing attainment for young people but when you work hard and go to university, then get the correct qualifications, you find your pay gets cut in half."

Ken Cunningham, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland (formerly the Headteachers Association Scotland), believes the lower rates of pay for supply teachers has added to a period of uncertainty for Scotland's schools, causing increased pressure to the cover system which could become critical if supply teachers withdraw labour.

He said: "In the Central Belt, you have a bit of choice of supply cover in almost every subject. Outside of the Central Belt, is it very difficult in virtually all subjects, so it has put an extra pressure on schools getting cover staff.

"There are several pressure points during the winter time and staff training for moderation [when teachers meet to discuss educational standards] will require cover, creating another pressure point, so who knows what will happen if supply teachers band together."

Mr Cunningham added that the deal agreed in March was short-sighted in not taking into account all of the repercussions: "Quite often we do things because we think it is a smart move and will save money but we don't think of the consequences.

"You can start to see the consequences just now with supply teachers banding together and people leaving teaching because they feel it is just not worth it."

Some supply teachers have claimed their contracts have been deliberately ended after four days to stop them getting onto the higher pay threshold. One teacher working in Inverclyde has taught in the same secondary school for three weeks consecutively but has had his position changed between subjects to stop moving onto the salary band he earned last year, a situation School Leaders' Scotland are aware of.

Mr Cunningham said: "We are hearing that anecdotally and if it is a fact, it is a pretty immoral way to deal with a valued section of the profession. It is no way to treat people who are both waiting to come into the profession at one level or who are around in a way that allows the profession to operate. I think it is disgraceful. I know we are under financial pressure but that is not the smartest way to deal with the problem."

A Cosla spokesman said: "Despite the financial hardships that they face, councils are absolutely driven by a desire to protect education services and jobs from the cuts in budgets they have been hit with. That is why they have already built high levels of protection into their education budgets. However, with workforce costs accounting for over half of the education budget, their number one priority has been to protect vital jobs and services.

"Following months of painstaking negotiations between the trade unions, councils and the Scottish Government, earlier this year teachers voted to accept a deal that included changes to the way short-term supply teachers are employed.

"These changes recognised that teachers providing very short term supply cover do not have the same responsibilities as their colleagues, and are not required to work the same number of hours. Scotland's councils are by law required to set a balanced budget and this deal was pivotal in achieving this.

"In return councils have been able to protect teacher jobs, guarantee opportunities for new and future teachers, and safeguard educational outcomes for children and young people."

www.scottishsupplyteachers.com

''