The Mistreatment of Substitute Teachers
What it’s Like to Be “Just a Sub”
Substitute teaching seems like the perfect opportunity for an aspiring educator. You have your foot in the door; you get a little practice teaching; you get to talk to and learn from experienced teachers; and you get to be belittled by some of those experienced teachers. Wait, that last part did not sound perfect. Unfortunately, teachers looking down on substitutes is what happens on the job. When you first step into the job, you expect the respect of teachers who not only rely on you when they are absent, but may have been where you were at one point in their lives. Sadly, you do not always get that respect. I have had teachers talk about me behind my back, belittle me in front of me in front of the students, and tell their students I did everything wrong. In other words, this teacher gossiped about me to her students. Worst of all, the teachers are degrading me without even giving me a thank you. There’s a teacher I follow on Instagram who posted about substitute teaching as a job, thanking all substitute teachers for their work and calling it a “thankless job.” This description of substitute teaching stuck with me because it is so accurate. We sub in another teacher’s class without even getting a thank you sometimes, like regular teachers are entitled to have a sub in their room when they are absent.
