[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Well, the chances are that Robin is speaking to someone in Europe, otherwise they have a long journey for a coffee later . The system is well established in the UK that when a regular teacher goes sick or for some reason the school needs a temporary teacher to step in at a moment's notice, they hire one instantly from companies which supply teachers on a daily basis, (hence the name, I suppose). It is very well paid, I believe, but must be awful work because they never know in advance what classes they will be confronted with. Perhaps another member here has direct experience.

It's the same concept here ... except that they are very poorly paid, and called "substitute teachers" instead. I have done substitute teaching, and it is the worst part-time job I ever had (including working as a cashier). Ack!