Professionalism updated February 23, 2011
What is an Occasional Teacher?
An occasional teacher is a person who replaces a regular teacher when he/she is absent and assumes the duties, and workload of the absent teacher for a limited amount of time. According to the Education Act, the occasional teacher is defined as: (1.1) For the purposes of this Act, a teacher is an occasional teacher if he or she is employed by a board to teach as a substitute for a teacher or temporary teacher who is or was employed by the board in a position that is part of its regular teaching staff including continuing education teachers but,
a) if the teacher substitutes for a teacher who has died during a school year, the teacher's employment as the substitute for him or her shall not extend past the end of the school year in which the death occurred; and
b) if the teacher substitutes for a teacher who is absent from his or her duties for a temporary period, the teacher's employment as the substitute for him or her shall not extend past the end of the second school year after his or her absence begins.
There are many terms used to identify an 'occasional teacher' such as "supply teacher", "substitute teacher" or "replacement teacher". In Dufferin-Peel, we use the term "Occasional Teacher".