Anyone experience to be a Relief teacher with Interac? How was it? What were you doing exactly?

5 comments

1. A relief teacher typically fills three roles.

   They cover a position that the previous teacher quit.
   They cover a position that the previous was asked to resign from.
   They cover a position that the current teacher was unable to cover all the contractually assigned workdays.

2. It was fine. I was a combo relief teacher / head teacher, so I was keeping busy, but in theory, you’re just on call a lot. You never know where or when you might need to go into. On the other hand, (in thory) you get a bunch of days at home.

   There’s a lot more driving, or just travel, and it is possible you’ll be loaned out to another prefecture. I had to go to a neighboring prefecture three times. If they want you to stay overnight or longer than a day they’re supposed to pay for your hotel.

   Idk. It was a great position for me. I loved it, but the uncertainty of scheduling and lesson plans could stress you out.

3. Its a lot of traveling and a lot of early disruption. You need to be on call from like 6am and be in the office to receive assignments from 7am.

   Some times you’ll have to temporarily replace someone who quit or just fill in for a long-term absence. (With Covid this has increased a lot. If your absence is longer than 5 days they are required by the BOE to send a sub.)

   You really need to be experienced though. You are basically being thrown into the deep-end every single day, so you’ll need to be comfortable throwing out lesson ideas and plans at very short notice.

   It is good if you’re looking to switch and want something more flexible. For most days, if there are no assignments you’re basically done by 10.30.

4. There’s a lot more potential downtime, but keep in mind you need to have stuff prepared for basically any situation. If you’ve been doing ALT work for a couple of years it’d be no issue, as you should be keeping all your old stuff so it can be reused/altered as needed.

   I didn’t do this with Interac, but another of these shady companies. I once had to stay in a hotel for a week so I could be on hand if need be for a… flaky teacher, because the area was way out there. I didn’t need to be and just enjoyed taking in the local sights.

5. Best case scenario is downtime, and subbing at various schools.

   Worst case scenario is becoming the main teacher at a school where somebody up, and left. So, it’s basically the same ALT job you were trying to avoid by adventuring around, and sipping on booze.