PART-TIME teachers in Swindon could soon benefit from a boost to their pay after three councils set up their own job agency.

The new agency, GWIST, results from the collaboration between Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire and Gloucestershire county councils and aims to bypass profit-making teaching agencies.

Schools in Swindon are suffering from a lack of teachers a legacy of the town's soaring house prices.

In recent months, schools like Hreod Parkway and Headlands have been forced to send pupils home because of a crippling shortage of staff.

The new service is based on an idea first piloted by Devon County Council which has proved highly successful in retaining a workable pool of supply teachers in the area.

Starting this month, it will be advertising for primary and secondary teachers who will enjoy the same pay as their full-time colleagues.

The key to the scheme is in the agency's status as a not-for-profit body which removes a traditional layer of cost to the school and enables supply teachers to receive benefits on a par with full-time members of staff.

It also means that the cost to schools of employing supply teachers is also reduced.

All teachers recruited by GWIST will be paid in accordance with the industry's common pay scale, as opposed to the rates negotiated by conventional agencies.

They will also be eligible for professional development training and the same pension rights as their full time colleagues.

GWIST Recruitment Strategy manager Tony Murch, said: "It is important to point out that under this scheme, supply teachers are employed by the school, not the agency. This is why they are now able to claim a professional deal for a professional job.

"Some schools depend on supply teachers just to keep going and if the profession as a whole is going to hold on to this skills base, the way we treat them is a vital consideration."

Hreod Parkway employed Bristol-based Hays Education Personnel in June to stage a recruitment evening at Swindon's Hilton Hotel. It managed to find 17 new staff from the evening.

Supply teachers wishing to register with GWIST should call 01225 323435.

Internet Links: www.hants.gov.uk