How to Turn Supply Teaching Into Full-Time Work

You can convert your supply teaching into a permanent role by demonstrating your impact and developing strong professional connections. You can also try expressing your interest clearly when the opportunity arises.

Many schools prefer hiring someone they’ve already worked with over starting a lengthy recruitment process from scratch. But it won’t happen at random. You need to know what gets noticed and when to speak up.

At OTJR Online, we’ve been placing teachers across London since 2006. We’ve seen how the process works.

In this article, we’ll cover what schools look for and why supply work gives you an advantage over others. You’ll also learn how to secure a permanent offer.

Ready? Let’s get started.

What Makes Schools Offer Permanent Roles to Supply Teachers?

Schools offer permanent roles to supply teachers who prove reliability, build relationships, and show genuine commitment to the school community. To do this, headteachers watch how you handle their classrooms, and they remember what they see.

Here’s a list of things that influence a school to offer you a permanent role:

• Classroom Performance: When you step into an unfamiliar room, behaviour management is the first thing senior staff notice. Specifically, if you can keep pupils focused and deliver lessons without needing constant support, that’ll speak for itself.
• Relationships With Staff and Students: It’s one thing to survive a day in a new school, but building genuine rapport with pupils shows actual skill. Getting to know permanent staff helps too, because teachers who make the effort to fit in tend to stick in people’s minds.
• Flexibility Across Settings: You won’t always cover the Year group or subject you prefer. One day you might be in Year 3, but the next in a Year 9 science class. This variety shows you can adapt quickly and manage different situations. Schools love that kind of adaptability.
• Extra Effort Beyond the Basics: It may not seem huge to stay for a staff briefing or volunteer for break duty. However, people at school notice these things. More precisely, senior leadership pays attention to supply teachers who treat placements like they actually want to be there.

In practice, these signals help schools picture you in a permanent role.

Why Supply Work Is a Stepping Stone to Permanent Teaching

Supply work is a stepping stone to permanent teaching because it gives you access to schools, decision-makers, and real classroom experience. You get to test different environments before committing to one.

We’ll explain these elements below.

Schools Prefer Hiring Teachers They Already Know

The truth is, most leadership teams are already stretched thin, and it costs time and money to hire teachers externally. That’s why hiring a supply teacher who’s proven themselves in the building removes that uncertainty (it’s the most practical choice, too).

Not only that, when a supply teacher becomes permanent, schools know what they’re getting: someone familiar with their systems, their pupils, and their expectations. And if you’ve made a decent impression, that familiarity puts you ahead of outside candidates when a vacancy opens up.

Pro tip: Volunteer for something low-effort but visible, like supporting revision sessions. It often reaches senior leadership indirectly.

Long-Term Placements Improve Your Chances

A one-day cover role only shows a small part of what you can do. Longer placements, like maternity cover or term-long roles, give leaders time to see how you manage planning, marking, and the everyday realities of school life.

Many permanent roles start exactly this way as temporary arrangements. They then become something more once the school realises they’d rather keep you than start the recruitment process again.

How to Position Yourself for a Permanent Offer

You position yourself for a permanent offer by expressing interest early and staying visible during hiring cycles. It’s important to do good work, but it’s never a good strategy to hope that someone will notice you.

So, if you want to stay and get an offer, you’ll need to make that clear to the right people.

Here’s a comparison table to help you make the best decision between a supply teacher and a permanent teacher:

It’s worth considering these differences before going for a permanent role. While job security and access to training attract many teachers, supply work also has clear benefits. In particular, the flexibility can be difficult to give up, especially if you have commitments outside of school.

Once you’ve decided permanence is the goal, don’t just sit on it. Let your agency know, and find a natural moment to mention it to the headteacher or head of department. Something casual works fine (even just “I’d love to be considered if anything comes up”).

Useful tip: Most schools lock in staffing between March and May, so timing your conversation around then gives you the best shot.

Does Professional Development Help You Secure Full-Time Work?

Yes, professional development helps you secure full-time work because it shows schools that you invest in your own growth. It also signals that you’re serious about teaching as a career and not just filling gaps.

And when two candidates look similar on paper, an up-to-date Continuing Professional Development (CPD) can be the thing that tips the balance in your favour.

Let’s get into more details about the impact of these developments.

Keep Your CPD Up to Date

Is your safeguarding and behaviour management training up to date? It needs to be, as there’s no room for gaps. Most agencies offer free courses for supply teachers, so there’s no real excuse to let things lapse (it also shows that you take this opportunity seriously).

One more thing. If you’re thinking longer term, national professional qualification courses can strengthen your leadership skills. They also open doors to roles with more responsibility.

Remember: Schools always notice when candidates show extra effort, especially when that effort is consistent.

Use Supply Experience to Build Your Portfolio

Believe it or not, every placement gives you something worth documenting. For instance, feedback from different schools and the range of age groups you’ve covered… all of them demonstrate your capabilities.

Plus, when you write an application, having a wide range of experience makes it easier to give clear, real examples. Hiring panels want evidence rather than vague claims from the applicants. So, the more settings you’ve worked across, the easier it is to show you can adapt to whatever they throw at you.

Take the Next Step in Your Teacher Career Development

Contrary to popular belief, supply teaching isn’t always temporary. If you approach each placement well, it can naturally lead to a permanent role.

You just have to focus on the important things: consistent classroom performance, genuine relationships with staff and students, and making your interest known before hiring season passes. Also, keep your CPD current and document everything useful along the way.

If you’re looking for supply work in London that could lead to a permanent role, we can help. OTJR Online has been placing teachers across London schools since 2006. Get in touch with our team today, and let’s find your next opportunity.