Cover teaching advice issued to school staff

School staff who are covering lessons outside their subject in a supply role should keep calm, focused and confident, it has been noted.

Newly-qualified teacher Mike Lamb, who works at Hurstpierpoint College in West Sussex, told the Times Educational Supplement Magazine that the key is to utilise the general skills that have been harnessed during training.

He added that a good starting point is to ask pupils what they did in their last lesson, which could in turn stimulate debate about the subject.

Meanwhile, cognitive behavioural therapy expert Helen Whitten told the paper that using mind maps can help remind teachers of the facts they know about a particular subject.

And Louise Everist, graduate training programme teacher at St John's primary School in Walsall Wood, was quoted by the news source as saying that supply teaching can actually be a good learning process for school staff.

Details about covering for absent colleagues under the National Agreement on Raising Standards and Tackling Workload were this week distributed to local authorities.

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