Schools spend ?293m on supply teachers

February 24 2011

Non-academy secondary schools in England spent more than £293 million on supply teachers during the 2009-10 academic year, new figures have revealed.

According to the TaxPayers' Alliance, this amounts to over £100,000 per school, with schools in deprived areas using supply teachers more frequently than those in affluent parts of the country.

Schools where over 40 per cent of pupils receive free school meals spent an average of £140,000 on temporary staff.

Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayer's Alliance, commented: "Many parents are very concerned when they see their children being taught by a series of different supply teachers, rather than enjoying a stable learning environment with a regular teacher. At the same time, we have just seen a decade in which Britain has spent more and more on education but slid down international league tables for performance."

Simon Cook, the author of the report, said the figures provide an important insight into how the English education system is functioning.

Posted by Andrew Jones

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