In recent decades, involvement of the private sector in the provision of educational goods and services has reached unprecedented levels. One form of private sector involvement in education that has emerged in various contexts consists of the private sector practice of providing teaching services to public education. The alleged increase of temporary teachers that are sourced by private employment agencies has generated a heated debate about its benefits and pitfalls. At the same time, little is known about the scope of the private teacher employment industry and the composition of the temporary teacher workforce. Using a large and representative labor survey administered by the Central Bureau of Statistics Netherlands, we provide context for the discussion and examine the scale and development of temporary teaching in the Netherlands. We furthermore depict characteristics of temporary teachers and their jobs. We find that the amount and share of temporary teachers in primary and secondary education more than doubled during the last decade. Moreover, we show that teachers who are relatively young, male and have a migration background are more likely to take up temporary teaching. Our study also shows that temporary teachers work less hours and, on average, earn less. Based on these findings, policy implications and promising future lines of inquiry are formulated.
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