When you hear substitute teachers discussing their most urgent concerns, you would be hard-pressed to know they were subs--the words so closely echo those of their full-time teacher colleagues. Substitutes want improved training, better pay and benefits, and more recognition for the work they do. Sound familiar?

"We've conducted focus groups with substitutes, and the need for such things as professional development opportunities and liability insurance come up time and time again," says Tom Lander, a teacher specialist for the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) in Miami.

Even though substitutes have a lot in common with full-time teachers, paraprofessionals, school secretaries and other UTD members, few chose to join the union--until recently. Last spring, when UTD held its first annual conference for substitute teachers, more than 100 of the 325 participants signed on to become members of the union. "Once substitutes find out about some of the benefits that are available through the union, it's not unusual for them to join," Lander says.

Unions, he adds, miss a golden opportunity when they fail to reach out to substitute teachers and help them to organize. "Improving the availability and quality of substitutes is important to our members and to their students," he says. Regular classroom teachers want to know that the sub hired to pinch-hit "has the skills and training that will make them effective in the classroom."

Banding together

On any given day, an estimated 8 percent to 13 percent of all U.S. schoolchildren are being taught by a substitute, according to the Substitute Teaching Institute at Utah State University.

Recognizing the need to form an alliance, last year a small group of substitute teachers organized the First National Conference for Substitute Teachers. Held in Washington, D.C., the meeting attracted about 60 subs from 16 states. The two-day conference led to the creation of the National Substitute Teachers Alliance. NSTA seeks to improve the quality and pay of substitute teachers as well as to secure basic benefits, such as health insurance, sick leave and a due-process procedure that would protect substitutes from unfair dismissal. The alliance would also like to see school districts establish standards for substitutes, says NSTA president Shirley Kirsten, including the minimum requirement of a bachelor of arts degree.

"We are very interested in the support of the teacher unions," Kirsten says. The founder of the Fresno (Calif.) Area Substitute Teachers Association, Kirsten estimates that there are 400,000 substitute teachers nationwide.

Teacher absenteeism, the attrition rate and the retirement of baby boom teachers has forced some districts to pay closer attention to how they recruit and train substitutes. "You have some subs who aspire to be full-time credentialed teachers, so they are valuable to districts" faced with a shortage of teachers, Kirsten notes.

Still, the way most school districts recruit and train substitutes leaves much to be desired. "[Districts] still don't respect them and the work they do," she says.

Many school districts, Lander points out, also are facing a shortage of substitutes. "As bad as the teacher shortage is, the shortage of substitute teachers is just as bad or worse," he laments. When there are not enough substitutes, class sizes increase because schools are forced to split up classes among existing teachers, he adds.

An article in the January 2001 issue of The School Administrator notes that "school districts large and small are being hit by serious shortages of substitutes. Frustrated by low wages and difficult working conditions, some substitute teachers are even joining unions."

Given the dearth of substitutes, one of the challenges confronting districts is how to keep them happy and contented in a job that typically pays little and includes almost no benefits, says Kirsten. "Subs are a prized commodity in the current low-supply, high-demand climate."

Negotiating for substitutes

As a founder and president of the Southern Adirondack Substitute Teachers Alliance in upstate New York, Linda Abels has plenty of experience organizing and representing substitute teachers. An affiliate of the New York State United Teachers/AFT (NYSUT), the alliance represents more than 1,000 teachers, nurses and teacher assistants--all are substitutes--in 14 school districts.

Abels says that when the alliance was chartered in 1986, average pay for substitute teachers was $30 a day. "Subs in most of these districts hadn't received a wage increase in over 10 years" when the alliance was chartered, she says. Since its formation and affiliation with NYSUT, the alliance has used the collective bargaining process to increase substitute pay to an average that's closer to $100 a day.

Although there's a shortage of substitute teachers in many of the region's schools, there's little or no shortage in districts where the alliance bargains for substitutes, she notes. "There's less of a shortage problem in the districts with a collective bargaining agreement; those districts are most attractive to substitutes because they get paid more, and they're treated with dignity," says Abels, a substitute teacher for close to 20 years.

The contract the alliance negotiated requires that the school district first call substitute teachers certified in the area of the vacancy. "This way, parents, students and school administrators know that, for the most part, the substitute who's hired is certified to teach in that area," Abels says.

During its last round of contract talks with the district, UTD negotiated the establishment of the Enhancing Achievement through Substitute Teacher Training task force. This group is charged with studying everything from the recruitment and professional treatment of substitutes to their pay and training.

In late March, UTD held its second annual conference for substitutes; the meeting featured training and presentations on classroom management, contract rights and UTD's liability insurance plan, among other topics. The Miami union is also trying to get full-time teachers to recognize that substitutes are a crucial link in the education process. Substitutes have an often thankless and challenging job, and they need the professional assistance and support of everyone, Lander asserts.

As the demand for substitute teachers has grown, so has the number of private companies seeking to place substitutes in schools. Kelly Services, a well-known temporary agency, is just one example. The firm has entered the substitute market through an offshoot called Kelly Educational Staffing. NSTA's Kirsten is concerned about the screening and quality of the substitutes being placed by some temp agencies. "It's the job and responsibility of school districts--not some for-profit agency--to place education professionals in the classroom," she argues.

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001