Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 21 November 2018.
Cabinet Secretary, we are spending around £40 million a year on supply teachers, with most of that going to agencies, which overcharge schools and underpay staff. We cannot manage without supply teachers, but as Undeb Cenedlaethol Athrawon Cymru have highlighted, supply teachers tend to be treated exceptionally poorly in terms of pay, working conditions and with a general lack of respect. Cabinet Secretary, will you commit today to fund and expand the supply teaching project, which sees clusters of schools share newly qualified teachers to provide cover for absent staff, reducing our over-reliance on teaching agencies?