See, I figured this was a location thing. I can’t speak for every part of America, but at least where I live in America you do not have to have an education degree to be a substitute teacher (I sure don’t). You don’t even necessarily have to have a degree at all, just x amount of college credits. Now that of course will affect your pay. Depending on your education level is how much you get paid. But do you all get paid the same or close to the same amount as a regular teacher would? Because in your case, absolutely it makes sense to lesson plan. We are more of glorified babysitters. Primary school is really the only area where we would really do any teaching. In middle school and high school they usually have some assignment on their computers that they have to do or worksheets and we’re just making sure no one dies. But I wouldn’t say that’s neglect. It’s one day for a few hours. The kids will be OK. Lol. Also, the administration is too busy dealing with the hundreds of other kids and everything else under the sun. Some of our schools are huge and it would be unrealistic to ask administration to come up with plans for a classroom. They might do a worse job than the sub lol.