It is very important that leadership teams try to pay extra care and attention to new teachers, whether they are full-time or supply. Most schools have a standard induction programme for new permanent teachers, but can often forget about ways to quickly and simply induct supply teachers. This can be make things very hard for supply teachers.

For a start it can be difficult to know all the rules of a new school and you may find you are required to go through the process of learning them as often as two or three times a week. To try to make things easier, we have provided you with a checklist of things to know or do before, or as soon as you arrive at your new school:

Do your homework

• Have a clear idea of how the lesson is going to go before you step into the classroom.
• Have a set of three or four basic ground rules that you will constantly enforce during the lesson.
• Have the knowledge, skills and understanding to quickly assess the health and safety risk involved with your own or your pupils' actions.
• Be firm, fair and consistent in your use of rewards and sanctions and find out how it is operated by other teachers in the school.
• Have the knowledge, skills and understanding to apply the rules of assertive discipline in the classroom (see the below information on traditional rules of good classroom management).
• Keep accurate records of any instance of challenging behaviour exhibited by pupils.
• Be able to employ preventative strategies to diffuse conflict in the classroom.
• Be able to take effective action to defend yourself and your pupils from directed abuse (physical or otherwise).
• Use the support systems operated by the school.
• Actively seek opportunities to use public and private praise for the whole class and individuals.
• Demonstrate that you value the school and its pupils.
• Keep a register of the names of all the pupils in the room for each lesson. If access to the normal class register is restricted, a quick list of names on a sheet of paper is just as effective!
• Make allowances for errors by the pupils, the staff and yourself.
• Avoid any physical contact with pupils unless reasonable force must be employed (as a last resort).
• Display a sense of humour and a caring attitude.

Classroom management

Listed below are some of the traditional rules of good classroom management used by effective teachers:

• Prepare the room before the class arrive, have the work ready to hand out and the lesson objectives on the board.
• Have a structured lesson (starter, middle, plenary) that follows on from the last lesson and fits in with the current scheme of work.
• Make your class sit in accordance with the seating plan.
• Develop a good rapport with your pupils (this may take weeks) and get to know all their names.

Arriving at your new school

The following are quick and simple ways that can help supply teachers arriving in any new school:

• A short description of the school's behaviour policy and how to use it.
• A map of the school.
• A named senior teacher to approach for support.
• An escort to their first lesson or to registration.
• A list of Heads of Department with corresponding room numbers to approach for set work.
• Registers for the classes that they are to teach.
• Merits which can be given out in class.
• Detention slips.
• Incident report forms.
• A warm welcome to the school.

Many schools provide some of these services already. However, for those that don't, it is important to realise that it only takes a very minor adjustment in the working practices of most schools to provide these services to all supply teachers.