Supply teachers have a vital role to play in raising and maintaining high educational standards in schools. Campaigning to secure professional entitlements for supply teachers is a key priority of the NASUWT, together with securing decent pay and working conditions for all supply teachers.

The NASUWT is committed to ensuring that all individual members, including supply teachers, have the information they need to help them stay safe. In England and Wales, this applies to the responsibilities of local authorities, employers and employment businesses, e.g. supply agencies.

The purpose of these checklists is to assist supply teachers to stay safe and to ensure you are aware of your health and safety responsibilities in terms of keeping yourself and others safe.

Schools and employers remain obliged to risk assess and take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all staff and pupils.

Where supply teachers undertake work, they should ensure that they are fully informed about any health and safety issues with each assignment, provided with access to appropriate information on the safety arrangements, i.e. risk assessments, and that these are provided as soon as possible after a supply teacher is booked for an assignment.

A checklist for each of the four UK jurisdictions is available on the right/below.