How Substitute Teachers Actually Get Booked in Ireland
We surveyed more than 1,000 substitute teachers and SNAs across Ireland about how they currently get booked for work.
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Just released in Ireland
ClassCover is here. Get set up before schools come on board.
The free app for substitute teachers and SNAs is live in Ireland. Download it, create your profile and set your availability, wherever you are in Ireland, so you're ready the moment schools come on board.
You are the first subs and SNAs to join ClassCover Ireland. 💜Set up your profile now and you're ready the moment booking goes live.
A welcome from our founder
Fifteen years ago we started ClassCover in Australia with one belief: finding cover for a class should take minutes, not a morning of phone calls. Today, one in every two Australian schools relies on it.
Ireland's substitute crisis is real, and it is well documented. We can't magic up new teachers. What we can do is make sure the substitute teachers and SNAs who are already here are easy to find, easy to book, and treated like the professionals they are.
That is why you matter so much right now. ClassCover only works when there are enough of you for schools to count on it. So we are building it properly, starting where the need is greatest and growing from there. Every profile created brings full booking closer for your community.
Thank you for being one of the first. You're not just signing up for an app. You're helping build something Irish schools, substitute teachers and SNAs have needed for a long time.
Ben Grozier
Founder & CEO, ClassCover
What you'll be able to do
Built around subs and SNAs
Request to join any school
As schools come on board, you send a request to join the ones you'd like to work with, anywhere in Ireland. You can invite your local schools too. Once you're connected, they can book you for work.
Free for subs and SNAs. Always.
No fees. No agency cut. You're paid directly by the school or the Department of Education. ClassCover never touches your pay.
Built for how you work
Keep your availability up to date so connected schools know when you're free. No CV drops. No calls during class. No re-registering every week.
How the roll-out works
The roll-out, phase by phase
ClassCover is open to every substitute teacher and SNA in Ireland. Here is how it rolls out over the coming weeks.
Step 1
Create your profile
Download the app, complete your profile and set your availability.
Step 2
Schools come on board
The first schools sign up and build their profiles, with more joining all year.
Step 3
Get on their lists
Request to join the schools you want, or invite the local schools you already work with.
Step 4
Bookings go live
Schools start sending booking requests to the subs and SNAs on their lists.
Step 5
More to come
In-app messaging and more features roll out.
Bear with us while we build out your school networkSchools come on board over the new school year, some early in the term and some later. Keep an eye out for the ones you want to work with and request to join as soon as they're on.
How you get on a school's list
Request to join the schools you want, and invite your local ones. Same everywhere in Ireland.
Schools can find you too
Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth. Schools accept your request to join their list, and can also search the network and add you themselves.
Schools accept your request to join
The rest of Ireland. Schools accept as many requests to join their list as they get, they just can't search the network yet.
Both are free for schools during the Ireland pilot. The more subs and SNAs who sign up in an area, the sooner its schools move to Full Access, so joining now brings that closer for your community. See how it works for schools →
Why it rolls out this way
We build the network first, then switch schools on
Searching the network only works when there are enough subs and SNAs nearby to make it worth a school's while. So we build the network in an area first, then switch its schools on. It means when schools near you get Full Access, they find a ready network, not an empty one.
Being early is the advantage. Your profile is live from day one, and every sub and SNA who joins brings Full Access closer for your area.
Get ready
Have these handy for when you set up your profile:
- Your Teaching Council registration number (substitute teachers)
- The days and hours you're available
- A short note on your experience, and the year groups or roles you're comfortable with
- OptionalA short video CV or intro, if you'd like to record one so schools can get to know you
Questions you might have
Good to know
Four things. Download the app, create your profile, complete it, and set your availability. That's everything. As schools come on board you can start requesting to join the ones you want to work with.
Yes. ClassCover is open to every substitute teacher and SNA in Ireland, and requesting to join schools works the same wherever you are, so send your requests as soon as the schools you want come on board. The difference is what a school can do at its end. In the pilot areas of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth, schools have Full Access, so they can also search the network and add you to their list themselves. Everywhere else, schools start on ClassCover Lite: they can accept as many requests to join as they receive, they just can't search the network yet.
In the app. Once a school is on ClassCover, you send it a request to join and the school accepts, and this works the same anywhere in Ireland. You can also invite the local schools you already work with, and schools on Full Access can find you on the network and add you themselves. Once you're connected, the school can book you for work.
The first schools come on board in the coming weeks, and more will keep joining right through the new school year. Some will be on early in the term and others later, so keep an eye out for the schools you want to work with and send your request to join as soon as they're on.
EducationPosts.ie is a jobs board, where you find schools advertising for SNAs, apply and wait to be picked. ClassCover is a booking platform, where local schools send booking requests straight to you and you accept with a tap. A jobs board waits. A booking platform confirms.
You can use the EducationPosts.ie job board to find schools advertising for SNAs, but it is a noticeboard, not a booking system: you apply and wait. Its booking tool, Sub Seeker, is open only to registered teachers, so it does not book SNAs. ClassCover books SNAs directly, the same as substitute teachers.
In most cases, yes. A Garda vetting disclosure is issued to the specific organisation that requested it and is not transferable between organisations by default, so an SNA usually has to be vetted again by each school or patron body that employs them. Registered teachers are the exception: they are vetted once through the Teaching Council and recognised nationally.
No. ClassCover does not carry out or verify Garda vetting; the school and the National Vetting Bureau stay responsible, exactly as now. What it does is organise everything around the vetting: a school can hold you on its list before your vetting is confirmed, request your certificate and documents through the app, and it gets a reminder before any vetting it holds is due to expire.
Yes. ClassCover is free forever for substitute teachers and SNAs.
Directly by the school or the Department of Education. ClassCover never touches your pay.
ClassCover is EU-hosted and GDPR-accredited, so your information is stored and handled to European data-protection standards.
Proven where it counts
This already works
1 in 2
Australian schools rely on ClassCover
200,000+
Educators on the Australian platform
1 in 2 Australian schools rely on ClassCover, and more than 200,000 educators use it. Now it's built for Ireland.
From the blog
Worth a read while you set up
Guides for substitute teachers and SNAs on getting booked, building a career, and how ClassCover fits in.
9 Hidden Costs of Booking Substitute Teachers Through WhatsApp
WhatsApp groups became the default way schools find subs. The hidden costs are now showing, from exposed phone numbers to scammers.
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ClassCover vs EducationPosts.ie: What SNAs Should Know
One is a jobs board you apply to and wait on. The other is a booking platform that actually books SNAs.
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Garda Vetting for SNAs: Where the Reform Stands
Ireland has proposed centralised, vetted-once Garda vetting for SNAs, but it is not yet agreed. Here is what it means right now.
Read more →Stay in the loop
The app is ready to download now. Grab it below, then follow ClassCover on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for roll-out updates.
See you in the app. 💜