How to hire a shadow teacher in India: a step-by-step guide for families

Before you speak to anyone, write one page. The child's age and class. What the school has actually said, in its own words, and whether it has been put in writing. Any report from a developmental paediatrician, child psychologist, speech-language pathologist or occupational therapist. The hardest part of the school day, as the teacher describes it. What a good term would look like for your child.

Special Minds calls this the child-support profile and writes it with the family, and with the school and the clinicians when the family wishes. It is not a diagnosis and it is not an assessment. It is the plain document every later decision follows from, including which candidates are even relevant.

A shadow teacher enters a school at the school's invitation. That sentence decides everything. Some CBSE and ICSE schools have a written inclusion policy and a coordinator who will tell you exactly what they expect: the hours, whether the shadow teacher sits inside the classroom or in the resource room, what the school will share, and what it will not allow. Some IB and IGCSE schools have their own special educator on staff and want an external shadow teacher to work under that person.

Ask for the terms in writing. Ask who the shadow teacher reports to on a school day, whether they may attend the IEP meeting, and what happens during exams, sports day and school trips. A school that answers these clearly can support your child. A school that says 'just send someone' has not thought about it yet, and the placement will pay for that later.

School hours only, usually eight to two. School hours plus the afternoon at home, so that the same person carries the classroom strategies into homework. Five days or fewer. The commute: a shadow teacher who lives in Thane and a school in South Mumbai is a daily hour and a half each way, and that commute decides who will stay a full academic year.

Language matters more than families expect. A child in an English-medium school whose home runs in another language is living in two languages, and a shadow teacher who can work in both is easier for the child and for the household. Write the languages into the brief rather than hoping.

A referral from another parent or a therapy centre is how most families find a shadow teacher, and it is the least reliable route, because nobody has checked anything. A direct hire from an online listing is cheaper and riskier: you do the vetting, or nobody does. A specialist agency finds candidates, verifies their qualifications and references, presents a shortlist with full files, coordinates with the school, and stays in the placement afterwards.

What you are paying an agency for is the verification and the supervision. The question to ask any agency, including us, is what exactly was verified, by whom, and whether you can see the trail. Fees are set out in writing before anything is signed, and nothing should be payable before you have met a shortlist.

Meet two or three candidates, not one. Ask each how they would handle the hardest part of the school day as the teacher described it, and what they would do if that did not work. Ask what they would tell you at the end of the day, and how. Introduce the child briefly, on a video call, once you have narrowed to two.

Then run a paid trial period inside the school, with a clear end date and a review at the end that includes the class teacher. A shadow teacher who is good with your child at home and lost in a full classroom is not the right shadow teacher, and only a trial in the real classroom shows that.

Hours, days, the school calendar, leave, what happens on exam days and holidays, who the shadow teacher reports to at school and at home, what they may and may not do, and how the placement ends if it must. A replacement guarantee, named and dated. Fees, quoted on the brief and written down before signing.

Then the part families skip: a first-week review, a thirty-day review and a review at the end of the first term, with the school's coordinator included where the school agrees. A monthly report. A route for the shadow teacher to raise a concern that goes to the agency, not only to the family. A placement without supervision is a hope; a placement with supervision is a plan that can be corrected.