A leading Australian-based substitute teacher booking platform has announced it has expanded its pilot programme to Cork, amid growing demand from schools and substitute teachers.
Having launched in Ireland late last month, with the initial pilot set to take place in Dublin, the ClassCover platform will now extend to Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Galway, Meath, Louth, Wicklow and Kildare.
Irish schools have faced significant challenges accessing substitute teachers on short notice in recent years. According to a recent survey by the Irish National Teacher Organisation (INTO), 60% of schools were unable to source a substitute for an absence, leading to 283 people with no teaching qualification carrying out substitute work. Such difficulties have had real classroom consequences, including 735 days of disrupted learning from class splitting in the first six weeks of the school year alone.
TRANSPARENT BOOKING SYSTEM
The ClassCover platform was built to address this issue, aiming to reduce the impact of teacher absences on children’s primary and secondary school education by enabling school principals to assess the availability of local substitute teachers and SNAs in real time. With a single, transparent booking system, schools can save time, with the platform giving them a clear record of every booking.
Pilot schools will receive standard access free of charge for two months, while schools outside the pilot regions can access the ‘lite’ version at no cost.
Signing up will also be completely free of charge for substitute teachers and SNAs. The platform gives them control over which schools can see their profile, including the option to appear to schools searching for substitutes not yet on their list.
The platform also enables schools to attach lesson plans to booking requests, giving substitute teachers time to assess the needs of the class beforehand. Each school’s profile also includes onboarding information, helping new teachers feel prepared walking into an unfamiliar school and easing any first-day anxiety.
