Relievers - how schools can help
All teachers can remember how difficult it can be to go into a new class and school for the first time.
For relief teachers it can be difficult to obtain any respect from your students, when they have never seen you before and may never see you again.
Teamwork is imperative to this working – schools don’t want to have to nurse a relief teacher through the day, likewise, teachers don’t want to feel they have been abandoned. One of the fundamentals of effective behaviour management is being consistent and always carrying out the action you initiate – this is where teachers and schools need to work together to support each other.
Below are some tips we give to both our schools, to ensure the day for everyone, runs as smoothly as humanly possible!
Preparing for Relievers
As time in the morning is limited, it is important that all information is available to the teacher so they can behave in accordance to the individual policy of the school. Each school, no matter how similar, has very different expectations, and we need to ensure these are clear. We recommend a clear, concise, written outline of your schools expectations for teachers that they can use for the day.
In providing teachers for you, TRS only wants to send suitable, well prepared teachers to you – if you can let us know any special expectations your school has, we would greatly appreciate them. We like to visit all our schools too, so that we can actually match teachers to schools. By visiting, we can then better prepare supply teachers for their day ahead.
Welcome
This merely means a point of contact they can report to upon arrival – someone who knows where the relief teacher should be. Cover the following
Support
A quick glance through the window during the first period will give you a pretty good idea about the teacher and how they will cope – it will also give you a chance to enter the room if the teacher is having problems straight away, which can then be dealt with!
If there are known difficult students in the class, please have a fellow member of staff keep an eye on the class. Some schools have a neighbouring class ‘buddy’ system. Again, teamwork is important.
End of Day
For relief teachers it can be difficult to obtain any respect from your students, when they have never seen you before and may never see you again.
Teamwork is imperative to this working – schools don’t want to have to nurse a relief teacher through the day, likewise, teachers don’t want to feel they have been abandoned. One of the fundamentals of effective behaviour management is being consistent and always carrying out the action you initiate – this is where teachers and schools need to work together to support each other.
Below are some tips we give to both our schools, to ensure the day for everyone, runs as smoothly as humanly possible!
Preparing for Relievers
As time in the morning is limited, it is important that all information is available to the teacher so they can behave in accordance to the individual policy of the school. Each school, no matter how similar, has very different expectations, and we need to ensure these are clear. We recommend a clear, concise, written outline of your schools expectations for teachers that they can use for the day.
In providing teachers for you, TRS only wants to send suitable, well prepared teachers to you – if you can let us know any special expectations your school has, we would greatly appreciate them. We like to visit all our schools too, so that we can actually match teachers to schools. By visiting, we can then better prepare supply teachers for their day ahead.
Welcome
This merely means a point of contact they can report to upon arrival – someone who knows where the relief teacher should be. Cover the following
- Outline all Rules that the teacher needs to enforce; uniform, out of bounds areas, conduct etc.
- Expectations; Marking of work, lunchtime duty, sports coaching etc.
- Timetables, bells, keys, staff room, toilets.
Support
A quick glance through the window during the first period will give you a pretty good idea about the teacher and how they will cope – it will also give you a chance to enter the room if the teacher is having problems straight away, which can then be dealt with!
If there are known difficult students in the class, please have a fellow member of staff keep an eye on the class. Some schools have a neighbouring class ‘buddy’ system. Again, teamwork is important.
End of Day
- Ask them how the teacher how the day went and let them know how you thought they went and what you were and were not happy with.
- Sign their time sheet
- If it is a new teacher, let TRS know how the day went – we’ll call. Please tell us if you thought the teacher was unsuitable for your school, or if any incidences occurred. That way we can try to fix the issue to avoid it happening again.
- Be organised for your relief teachers and equip them with the knowledge about your school, so they can teach effectively throughout the day.
- Support and back them up as one of your team.
- Tell us just what type of teacher you are looking for, and let us know if they were not suitable
- Don’t accept incompetent teachers! You pay good money to have good teachers in your school, if you are not receiving a good service, then don’t accept it!