Cover Supervisors

Phase 2 of the National Agreement brought about a change to teachers' contract with regards to cover and took effect on 1 September 2004. From now on, there will be limit on the amount of cover for absence that a teacher can be required to undertake. This will initially be 38 hours per year and to achieve this, schools will need to decide upon a strategy to find new ways of managing cover.

What is cover supervision?

Cover supervision is one of the strategies that are used by school to deliver an "effective and tailored school policy for dealing with cover".

• Cover supervision takes place when there is no active teaching taking place. Pupils continue their learning by carrying out a pre-prepared exercise under supervision.


• The term "cover" refers to any occasion where the teacher normally responsible for teaching a particular class is absent from the classroom during the time that they have been timetabled to teach. One of the aims of the National Agreement on "Raising Standards and Tackling Workload" is to reduce the amount of cover for absent colleagues which teachers at a school are required to carry out. Cover is not an effective use of their time.

Cover supervision duties include the following core elements:

• Supervision of work that has been set in accordance with school policy


• Managing the behaviour of pupils whilst they are undertaking work to ensure a constructive environment


• Responding to any questions from pupils about process and procedure


• Dealing with any immediate problems or emergencies according to the school's policies and procedures


• Collecting any completed work after the lesson and returning it to the appropriate teacher


• Reporting back as appropriate using the school's agreed referral procedures on the behaviour of pupils during the class, and any issues arising

Cover supervision is only used for short term absence.

The role is a responsible one, involving taking sole charge of a group of pupils. therefore the school takes care to ensure that staff have the necessary skills and knowledge before being given charge of a class.