Why is Referring a Supply Teacher, TA or Cover Supervisor to 4myschools Worth it?

Referring a Supply Teacher, TA or Cover Supervisor – Good supply teachers and support staff are highly sort after and should be paid well and treated fairly – that must be the bottom line. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case – we often hear of many uncomfortable experiences where candidates are treated as commodities rather than valued customers.  

That can’t be a sustainable approach for any people-based business. Treating candidates as a commodity is typically born of getting a short-term deal for the recruitment consultant to benefit from commission rather than finding the best-qualified supply teacher, cover supervisor or TA to fit the school. 

The best approach is to focus on the client and 4myschools see the “client” as the school and the candidate without one the other cannot work.  We know this and treat our customers with the utmost respect in all our dealings, this feels right from our perspective and our clients seem to like it too.   

“The staff I have dealt with at 4myschools have always gone above and beyond to help me as a Supply Teacher. They are friendly and professional.”

Gillian Secondary teacher

Referring Supply Teachers and support staff

By treating our schools and candidates well 4myschools often receive referrals from our clients and typically the supply teachers that are referred are of very high quality and keen to take on opportunities with local schools. In fact, we receive more referrals than any other way we recruit which says a lot for our service.

Part of our marketing effort is to encourage supply teachers and schools that work with 4myschools to refer colleagues or other schools. This benefits them and it benefits the teacher or school who is referred as they get paid well and charged fairly.  

Sometimes schools or existing candidates are uncomfortable recommending a new agency to a supply teacher; this is a natural hesitation, however, not mentioning a better route for potential work to a supply teacher doesn’t do anybody any favours.  We know teachers and schools are able to choose who they work with from a very wide variety of agencies and we are enthusiastic about free markets and are keen to offer greater choice for schools and teachers.  This is where existing schools and teachers that we deal with can help by simply spreading the word about alternatives to supply teachers and schools. This enables them to simply try out an alternative agency and if it works everybody benefits.

“I like the friendly and helpful team. I’m offered the type of placements that I want to do and the hours that I wish to work.”

Fiona Primary Teacher

What do schools and candidates get out of referring others?

Knowing that your colleague or friend is going to be looked after well is enough for some people, the gift of giving a recommendation is powerful. However, 4myschools run a referral scheme so that a school will gain a free day of supply and a candidate will earn £150 once the referred candidate has worked 10 days. On top of this 4myschools also contributes by giving a donation to our charity to build wells in Ethiopia so girls can go to school. 

“I really like the fact that every day I work with 4myschools, people who need it are getting drinking water. I think the whole ethos of giving back is really positive and reflects in the work you do. Staff have always been professional, friendly and honest about the work offered, trying to match the jobs to my needs. Pay has always been fair and I have really felt 4myschools try to meet the needs of schools and teachers working for them.”

Stephanie Primary Teacher

Restriction of Trade

Free markets are well established offering choice and competition, removing the super profits monopolies enjoy.  So should we be encouraging great choice for schools and teachers? 4myschools certainly think so and that is why we actively encourage teachers and schools to refer others to try the 4myschools service.  

We find the best marketing is marketing that we don’t do, when our clients speak on our behalf recommending 4myschools to other potential clients – these recommendations are a testament to the quality of service we provide to schools, academies and candidates.  If we weren’t getting referrals on a regular basis we would know we needed to double our efforts to sharpen up the quality of service we already provide to our valued customers. 

There are some agencies that attempt to restrict where a teacher can work or which agency a school takes a supply teacher or perm teacher through.  At the end of the day the school is able to choose who they take a teacher through, it is the schools choice. There may be certain circumstances where a school has signed a contractual undertaking with a particular agency, however, this is typically rare and why would a school or supply teacher restrict themselves to a particular agency when there is so much choice. 

4myschools encourage schools and supply teachers to try 4myschools and suggest that supply teachers have at least a couple of other agencies they are registered with, so they get greater choice of work too, this way everybody benefits. 

Schools and teachers want greater choice and to help this what better way than through referrals, spreading useful information, including recommendations; just what a free market needs. 

So yes referrals are an excellent mechanism to enhance choice and everybody benefits.  

“Excellent supply agency. I have been with them for over eleven years and have never felt the need to register with any other agency….I would recommend them without any hesitation at all.”

We are always looking for good teachers and cover supervisors in Essex, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, and the South East of England, to fill our wide range of vacancies, and we would like to provide our services to more schools. We contact them and send you your referral fee – you don’t need to do anything else!

Email referral@4myschools.org with the name of the contact you are referring to, their email and contact number of the person you are referring. For more information on Referring a Supply Teacher, TA or Cover Supervisor, check out our ‘refer a teacher page.