Improving Substitute Teacher Program         

Improving Substitute Teacher Program

Executive Summary

While significant attention, as well as time, has been allocated on initiating improvements in public school teaching and learning over the last 25 years, it is clear that one part of this equation has been highly neglected: the essential roles played by the substitute teachers in public schools of America and how the program can be improved. Indeed, no one can point out the numbers of hours spend by substitute teachers in classrooms. However, the number is considerable. Regular teachers are usually absent in the workplace from time to time for the obvious reasons which employees use to get a leave: medical appointments either personal or family member based, short-term military service and even maternity leave. In other scenarios, teachers have been scheduled to be attending professional development activities or when they have been assigned roles related to school reforms like mentoring, curriculum development and peer review.

Introduction

Substitute teachers usually play a very significant role when it comes to ensuring the quality of education meets the required standard. Coverage of syllabus is one critical role played by substitute teachers among many others. According to research by The National Education Association which was undertaken on 2nd March to April 21st, 2015, it termed substitute teachers as educational bridges when the regular teachers are not available.

For instance, the short-term substitutes who are usually called upon abruptly to take over lessons in the morning are required to ensure quality education is delivered despite the time limitation for preparation. The second category which takes the role for a longer time, long-term substitutes, does not face it smooth also since they are required to take responsibilities of lessons planning and the other responsibilities that go along with classroom and instructional management. No matter the time duration is considered for substitute teaching, however, a substitute teacher has to make sure that classroom time is productive and children receive high-quality lectures. This depicts the need to put extra effort to improve substitute teaching program (Purvis & Garvey, 2013).

Improving substitute teaching program

To enhance substitute teaching programs in public schools, it is important to first embrace and agree on the fact that substitute teaching plays a very important role in ensuring public school education meets the required standards. Below are some few ways to improving substitute teaching program (Purvis & Garvey, 2013).

Providing pre-employment training to substitute teachers

Through training substitute teachers regularly, they become aware of what is expected of them in the teaching career. It should be first recognized that teaching is a career like any other and being equipped for that matter ensures quality in delivering the concepts. An example of the training can be acquired in Wisconsin Education Association Council’s online training course.  Through this training, an aspiring substitute teacher is made aware of his or her duties, the school environment, the classroom management and being professional in general. This makes one aware of what he is expected to do before getting into real practice (Purvis & Garvey, 2013).

Professional learning opportunities for substitutes

Districts should be encouraged to regularly provide professional development opportunities for the already enrolled substitute teachers. Substitutes should, therefore, be invited to attend those instructional meetings conducted as per school systems. This way, the substitutes would stand a chance to upgrade both their skills as well as knowledge. Ultimately this translates to quality delivery of substitute teachers (Purvis & Garvey, 2013).

Development of strategies to ensure quality

Communication between the permanent staff and substitutes should be improved. For instance, after a lesson by a substitute, he or she should can be asked to give a brief report on what was covered as well as what was not covered on the lesson plan to the permanent teacher of the lesson, a list of students who were helpful as well as those who exhibited a behavior which may call upon attention. Evaluation of substitutes to ensure quality delivery is another strategy which can improve the program (Purvis & Garvey, 2013).

Conclusion

Bearing the fact that substitute teaching program is significant in the education sector, the program should be given equal attention just as the permanent sector. This way, it will ensure a balance in content delivery across the education sector whether being initiated by a permanent teacher or a substitute teacher. I recommend the education sector to consider the three approaches proposed above: pre-employment training, professional learning opportunities and quality assurance strategies to improve the program.