Teachers work incredibly hard throughout the year and sometimes they need breaks or have family emergencies where they need to take time away from class. When teachers inform the school in advance that they will be gone, a substitute teacher is automatically contacted to cover the classroom. Substitute teachers play key roles in the school system because they keep the classrooms organized while the teachers are gone. They have to temporarily play the role of the teacher and deal with troublesome students; therefore they should be paid more for their efforts.
If substitute teachers are fully trained and have experience, they need to be compensated for their temporary role. If not, then they can be easily driven away to other school districts or retail jobs. It has been shown that some retail stores pay more than some districts. The National Council on Teacher Quality, which is a reliable website that evaluates teacher and substitute pay, reveals that “districts nationally are struggling to build strong pools of substitute teachers. Yet in 40% of the large districts we analyzed, entry-level substitute teachers are paid less than what they would earn hourly if they worked in retail.” Without enough pay and support from schools, the amount of substitute teachers could decrease and teachers would not get as many days off for vacation or emergencies.
Another reason why substitute teachers should be paid more is because students, especially in high school, can be very rowdy and not behave well when the teacher is gone. A website called Vocal.media allows former teachers and substitutes to post about their thoughts and experiences and one woman named Haley Peterson describes one of her classrooms as “incredibly disorganized.” But she made a plan to get there early and form a plan for the day, which allowed her and the students to feel more comfortable in the classroom. So, substitute teachers help keep order in the classroom.
Substitutes can also be very welcoming and fun. One example of a funny substitute that regularly visits Thunderbird High School is “Imput student quote here” Being able to engage with the students and built relationships with them will make them more comfortable in the classroom.
Some may say that substitute teachers should not be paid more or not at all. They do not have to perform certain actions that teachers do, like teaching the class the subject that they are learning about. Most substitutes read the agenda that the teachers wrote out for them and go to the teacher’s desk and sit quietly and do not engage with the students.
This could be the case for many substitutes, but what could fix this problem is assigning substitutes to certain classes with subjects that they have experience in. Many substitutes were teachers in the past and so, for example, if a retired science teacher looks after a science class, they can understand what they are learning and might even be able to help students if they are struggling.
In the end, some substitute teachers need to be appreciated for their efforts in trying to liven up the classroom and therefore they should get paid more so that they will continue coming back to help and fix disorganized classrooms
