Are you looking to get into teaching? Thinking about completing your PGCE year? Want to find out if a career as a teacher is for you? Then one route you can take to gain experience in the classroom is by becoming a cover supervisor.

As a cover supervisor your main job is to manage the classroom and ensure your pupils are staying on task with the work set by their teacher. However, you may also be required at times to manage behaviour, answer questions around the set work, discuss and debate texts, assist with spelling and grammar queries and allocate extension work when necessary.

Working as a cover supervisor also gives you the freedom to experience a number of different schools and decide for yourself which location, type of school or age range is best suited to you. Each school will also often have their own behaviour management techniques, policies (including marking) and their own way of running the school, so by becoming a cover supervisor, you’ll get a direct insight into all of these elements.

If you’re thinking of completing your teacher training and gaining your postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) and qualified teacher status (QTS), more often than not you’re required to have relevant classroom experience before applying for your teacher training. Becoming a cover supervisor through Athona, you’ll gain appropriate teaching skills and earn a salary at the same time.

Other benefits of becoming a cover supervisor:

  • Your working day will have plenty of variety, meaning you’ll learn on the job and gain an abundance of useful classroom management skills
  • The opportunity to lead a whole class prior to achieving QTS
  • Flexibility in choosing when you work
  • Better work-life balance
  • Excellent daily rate of pay

To be considered as a cover supervisor, you will need to ensure you have a DBS (this can be applied for through Athona), previous experience working with children (desirable), a minimum of A-C in English GCSE or equivalent and proof of eligibility to work in the UK.

Interested in finding out more about becoming a cover supervisor and all of our current job opportunities? Get in touch with the team today.