Current policy means that teachers are not required to cover for absent colleagues unless there is an absolute emergency or they are specifically employed to do so.
Providing cover for absent colleagues is not a good use of teachers’ time – and the inappropriate use of support staff to provide that cover is a major and growing problem in schools.
“Teachers should be required to provide cover only rarely, and only in circumstances that are not foreseeable (this does not apply to teachers who are employed wholly or mainly for the purpose of providing such cover).”