Shadow teacher roles and responsibilities: what to agree in writing

A shadow teacher works inside a school that does not employ them, for a family they do not live with, beside a class teacher who did not choose them. That is three sets of expectations, often with nothing on paper but a phone number and a monthly figure. By the first unit test, sick day or school trip, the gaps have become disagreements, and the child feels them first.

Two or three pages in plain language are enough, signed by the family and the shadow teacher, with the school confirming its part by email if it will not sign. Where the school has a policy for external shadow teachers, the agreement follows it and fills the gaps. How to hire a shadow teacher in India covers the steps before this one.

In class, the shadow teacher makes the lesson reachable for one child, with the least help that works. Outside class, they make the rest of the day manageable, from arrival and assembly to lunch, play and dispersal. Listing the duties plainly tells everyone what the shadow teacher is accountable for.

• Helping the child follow instructions, start tasks and finish them, without doing the work for them.
• Breaking tasks into steps, and adapting worksheets where the class teacher agrees.
• Preparing the child for transitions: assembly, lessons in other rooms, the PT period, lunch and dispersal.
• Carrying the therapists' strategies into the school day, and telling the therapists what works.
• Helping the child join group work and play, and stepping back when classmates come forward.
• Keeping a daily note for the family and a record for school reviews, and attending the IEP meeting where invited.
• Handing the child over at dispersal to the agreed adult: a parent, the driver or the school van attendant.

Work outside school hours, such as an hour at home or the trip to therapy, needs its own hours in the agreement. A school day with a shadow teacher walks through a typical day.

The limits matter as much as the duties. A child who is always helped stops trying, and a child corrected by several adults in several ways stops trusting any of them. Write the limits down, and back the shadow teacher when they refuse a request that crosses one.

• Do the child's classwork, homework or tests, or supply answers.
• Answer for the child, or sit between the child and their classmates.
• Punish, shout at, threaten or physically restrain the child, or withhold food or play.
• Give any medicine not agreed in writing by the parents and the prescribing doctor, and allowed by the school.
• Offer views on diagnosis, therapy or medication.
• Photograph or film the child, or discuss them with other parents, online or at the gate.
• Support other children as a regular part of the day, unless the school and the family have agreed it.
• Do housework, run errands or mind siblings in the hours set aside for the child.

Safeguarding a child in a private home sets out the wider rules on photographs, medicine and being alone with a child, which apply whenever the shadow teacher also works in the home.

The agreement lists the family's duties too. A shadow teacher can only work with what they are told; if the latest report stays in a drawer, or the plan at home changes without a word, they are left guessing in front of forty children.

• Information: the current reports, a one-page profile, and news of changes such as a new therapy plan or a house move.
• Written consent for the shadow teacher to speak to the school and the therapists, saying what may be shared with whom.
• Pay on the agreed date, including the trial period and, as agreed, the holidays.
• Notice before ending the arrangement, except where there is a safeguarding concern.
• One named family contact for messages, so that the shadow teacher is not answering to several relatives.
• Respect for the role, backed by the whole household, grandparents included: no cooking, cleaning, errands or minding siblings, and no staying late unless agreed.

Settle pay first, in writing, with the holidays included. Who pays when a school has made support a condition of the child's place is covered in the school has asked for a shadow teacher: who pays?

A shadow teacher works in a school with the school's agreement, so settle the school's part before anyone is hired and ask the inclusion coordinator to confirm it by email. Questions left vague now get settled by accident later, in the middle of a difficult week.

• A named contact on school days, usually the coordinator or the class teacher, and who stands in for them.
• Where the shadow teacher sits, where they wait when the child is in a lesson alone, and where they eat.
• The timetable, lesson plans and worksheets in advance, so that work is adapted before the lesson.
• Whether the shadow teacher attends the IEP meeting and the termly reviews.
• Unit tests and exams: whether the shadow teacher is in the room, and in what role, as the school and the board allow.
• Trips, sports day, annual day and after-school events: whether the shadow teacher goes, and who pays their travel.
• Emergencies: who is in charge, who gives first aid, how the family is called, and what the shadow teacher does.
• Rules for visiting staff: identity card, police verification, phones, dress and which gate to use.

Settle one more question that schools often leave open: what the shadow teacher does if asked to watch the class or help other children.

Much of the friction in a placement is about messages, not teaching. The daily note goes from the shadow teacher to the family after school: what went well, what was hard, what the teacher said, what is needed tomorrow. Questions about marks and homework go to the class teacher; concerns about the placement go to whoever supervises it.

Agree hours for messages too. A shadow teacher answering WhatsApp at midnight about tomorrow's craft material will not last the year. Set a window, perhaps until eight in the evening, a way to flag something urgent, and a rule that the shadow teacher is not added to the class parents' group.

Confidentiality needs its own clause: what the shadow teacher learns about the child, the family, the teachers and other children stays within the family, the school and the clinicians, during the placement and after it. Photographs need one as well: none on the shadow teacher's phone without the family's written agreement for a named purpose, deleted afterwards, and never of other children.

The school calendar and the shadow teacher's leave rarely line up on their own. Write down the leave, the notice for planned leave, and whether it falls in school holidays where possible. Agree what happens in the Diwali break, the summer holidays and study leave: whether the shadow teacher is paid, and whether they work with the child at home instead.

Illness is the harder clause. Some schools will not let a child attend without support once a shadow teacher is part of the plan, so a sick shadow teacher can mean a child at home. Agree how early the family is told, whether the school can help for a day, and who provides a briefed substitute for longer absences. Temporary shadow teacher cover explains one way to arrange it in advance.

The family's own absences belong here too: when the child misses school for illness, travel or a family wedding, say whether the shadow teacher is paid and how much notice they get.

Disagreements are normal and usually small: a strategy the family dislikes, a school rule the shadow teacher finds unworkable, a message that landed badly. A concern goes first to the person concerned, privately and soon, not to the class group or the principal. If that fails, it goes to a meeting with the coordinator, then to whoever supervises the placement. The shadow teacher needs the same route for concerns about the family.

Agree a notice period on both sides, the exception for a safeguarding concern, and a handover: a written note on the child and what works, time to brief anyone taking over, and a proper goodbye. The best endings are planned because the child needs less support; when should a shadow teacher step back? explains how.

Use these headings as the skeleton of your own agreement, filled in with what your family, school and shadow teacher have actually agreed. It is a starting point, not a legal document; if you want it to be binding, or a dispute has begun, have it reviewed by your own adviser.

• The parties, the child, the start date, the trial period and the review dates.
• Hours and days in school and at home, including half days, exam days and events.
• The shadow teacher's duties, and what they will not do.
• The family's part: information, consent, pay, notice and the named contact.
• The school's part: contact, seating, plans, IEP meetings, exams, trips and emergencies.
• Messages: the daily note, the hours for messages and what counts as urgent.
• Confidentiality, photographs, phones and records, during the placement and after it.
• Leave, illness, cover, school holidays and the family's own absences.
• Pay: the amount, date and method, and what is paid in the trial and the holidays.
• Concerns, notice periods, the handover and how the arrangement ends.

Special Minds places a shadow teacher only with the school's agreement and reviews each placement at one week, thirty days and ninety days, with daily notes and a monthly report between reviews. Families hiring directly can use the same list; the clauses matter more than who drafts them.