This article provides guidance on how to free up teachers for class cover by assigning them to cover lessons while managing their existing timetable conflicts. It includes steps for selecting unavailable staff for cover and ensuring that cover requirements are generated for their original lessons.
You might need to make certain staff available so they can be selected for covering other classes. We'll show you how to do this below. For further guidance on assigning cover, please see this article: How do I assign cover?
Top Tip: Want to free up staff and the room? Try suspending the lessons.
Permissions
You'll need either the Staff Profile: All Staff: Basic HR Administration or Staff Profile: Cover: Administer permission to carry out the actions shown below. If you don't have the permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to give you permission using these instructions.
Assigning cover to unavailable staff members
In this example, Cameron is absent and you want Melissa to cover Cameron's lesson, but she is timetabled to teach her form students. So how can she be assigned to cover lessons during that time?
Go to School > All Staff > Cover.
When clicking on the event that requires cover, Melissa Hunter is shown on the cover list as Unavailable. However, she is still able to be selected to cover Cameron's lesson, even though she is marked as unavailable.
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If we want to generate cover requirements for the lesson that Melissa Hunter (the unavailable staff member) would normally be teaching while she covers Cameron's lesson we need to make sure we tick the Arrange cover for clashing events? tick box in this slide over.
If you don't tick the box then no cover requirements will be generated for the unavailable staff member's lesson and the staff member will have a clash of lessons on their timetable.
Once this process is complete you will see that cover will be arranged for Cameron. You'll then be able to assign cover for the unavailable teacher's usual lesson as normal.
Comments
Some classes double up. Can you assign an unavailable teacher to another class and still keep their class assigned to them. i.e. a PE teacher taking two PE classes?
Hi Victoria, yes you can do this. When assigning cover you can select unavailable teachers. However, if this is long-term, it may be best to assign the teacher as the academic lead of both classes.
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