Public holidays and mandatory school closures integrated into calendar (excluding contingency dates) - allows offers to be sent further into the future
Teacher availability set to 'Not Available' until teacher updates availability - ensures availability is accurate
Removal of ambiguous ‘Unknown’ status
More accurate location required - teacher will be prompted to update their details if invalid
Teacher contact details visible to school after teacher has accepted an offer of work
Sub Seeker is a service within EducationPosts.ie which facilitates the short-term recruitment of Teaching Council-registered teachers by Department of Education primary and post primary schools, or any teacher with a registered Teaching Council number (Routes 1-5).
Key Features:
•Immediate sub vacancies for up to ten days
•Automatic registration for schools that have advertised on EducationPosts.ie
•Free service to all DE schools – primary & post-primary
•Mobile compatible
•Validation of Teaching Council Registration Number
•View profile of available subs – availability, experience & qualifications and distance from school
•Send offers and receive responses via the portal – emails created automatically
2. How do I register for Sub Seeker? I have an EducationPosts.ie account.
On your EducationPosts.ie Advertiser Dashboard, click ‘Sub Seeker’ and the school (Roll Number) for which you are seeking a substitute teacher.
3. How do I register for Sub Seeker? I do not have an EducationPosts.ie account.
To use Sub Seeker, you must be a DE school and have an account on EducationPosts.ie. If you have not placed an EducationPosts.ie advert previously, your account needs to be verified by the EducationPosts.ie Support Team. Job Advertisers can create an account by either clicking the ‘Register as a Job Advertiser’ button on the home page or by clicking ‘Register’ in the search bar, and follow the steps to create a Job Advertiser account.
4. What if I've forgotten my EducationPosts.ie password?
Click on the 'Forgot Password' link on EducationPosts.ie. This is located directly below the log-in registration section. Enter your email address and click submit. An email will be sent to you to enable you to reset your password. Please check your junk/spam folder as this email may sometimes be redirected.
5. How do I search for a substitute teacher for my school?
Log in to your EducationPosts.ie Advertiser Dashboard > access Sub Seeker on the right hand side of the screen > click 'Find a Sub' > enter the county/counties, school level, number of vacancies, relevant subjects and required dates.
Job Seekers with availability and relevant experience is displayed in the 'Available Subs' results. To view details of the users’ profile, click their name or anywhere on their profile box.
To help find a substitute teacher most suited to a school, substitute teachers themselves can provide their most recent subbing experience under ‘Experience’ tab and any additional information that may be of benefit to the school leader in the "Other Relevant Information" tab. Substitute teachers contact details are visible once they have accepted an offer of work.
Please note: Public holidays and mandatory school closures are visible in white boxes. Teachers cannot set their availability for these dates, and schools cannot send offers for these dates.
6. How do I offer a substitute teaching position to a Job Seeker?
To make an offer to a teacher, check the circle to the right of their profile. This shows a green tick. You can offer one or more vacancies to multiple teachers by checking the boxes next to the users’ profile. Click ‘Send Offer’ at the end of the page > set expiration time and include Additional Text if required > Confirm Terms and Conditions > click ‘Send Now’.
To send an offer to all teachers listed, you can check ‘Select all X’ as shown in the images below.
Teachers receive emails about the offers. It is the teachers' responsibility to accept or decline the offer. The first teacher to accept the position will be successful. SMS messages are not sent to teachers.
When an offer is accepted or declined, the status of the offer will be updated, and you will receive email updates. Substitute teachers contact details are visible once they have accepted an offer of work.
To protect the accuracy and integrity of Sub Seeker information, it is essential that Job Advertisers send offer emails, and Job Seekers accept job offers through Sub Seeker. This also ensures Job Advertisers’ search history is accurate.
7. I have a temporary vacancy for more than ten days. How can I find a substitute teacher for this?
To advertise substitute vacancies longer than ten days’ duration, please use EducationPosts.ie.
8. I offered two vacancies but only have one vacancy available. Can I remove a vacancy?
If you have offered multiple vacancies and need to reduce the number of vacancies offered, select ‘Remove’ and follow the steps. If the vacancy has already been filled, the substitute teacher will be notified by email.
9. I no longer need a substitute teacher. Can I delete an accepted offer?
To delete the entire substitute position, click ‘Delete’ and follow the steps. If the vacancy was filled, all teachers that accepted the position will be notified. If the vacancy was not entirely filled, all teachers who were offered the position and did not decline will be notified by email. Please note, teachers can also withdraw an accepted offer until midnight before the first day of placement. You will be notified by email if this occurs. It is essential the offer is deleted via the system so the teacher can find work again.
10. I need to modify the dates that I require a substitute teacher.
Click ‘Modify Dates’ to remove dates from the vacancy. Teachers will be notified of these changes by email.
11. How will I know if there are no substitute teachers available?
If there are no substitute teachers available for your chosen date(s), you will be advised to widen your search options. If you fail to find a suitable Job Seeker for the position, please let us know by choosing an option from the dropdown menu under ‘No Suitable Subs’ at the end of the page.
12. Is Sub Seeker available to Special Needs Assistants (SNAs)?
Phase 1 of Sub Seeker is designed for substitute teachers at primary and post primary levels. Once Garda vetting arrangements for SNAs have been resolved such that vetting is valid across all schools, Phase 2 will extend Sub Seeker to SNAs. SNAs and schools will be notified when that functionality is available.
13. What is the Geolocation slider?
Recent updates to Sub Seeker have improved the accuracy of the geolocation slider. The Geolocation slider on Sub Seeker can be used to filter the substitute teachers based on their distance from your school. The teachers' general location is taken from their inputted address on Sub Seeker. If there are no results when the filter is used, the slider distance should be increased to find suitable teachers (i.e. 5km up to 15km or above).
14. What do the colours on teacher availability mean?
If the teacher has marked themselves as available for a specific day on their teacher profile, the day will be green and 'Available'. If the teacher is not available, or has not set their availability, the day will be red and marked as 'Not Available'. If a day is yellow, the teacher has received an offer of substitute work that they have not yet responded to.
15. How can I get assistance with Sub Seeker?
Sub Seeker is an online service with online support. For help, email [email protected]. Emails are answered in order of receipt between 9:00am and 5:00pm Monday to Friday. Queries submitted outside of these times, or during public holidays, will be reviewed the next working day.
16. What documentation should a substitute teacher provide?
Substitute teachers may be required to provide the necessary evidence for verification and suitability checking, including:
A copy of their teaching qualification certificate(s)
Teaching Council registration number
Vetting Disclosure (Circular 31/2016)
Statutory Declaration Form & signed Form of Undertaking (Circular 31/2016)
Photo identification e.g. driving licence or passport
PPS Number
Contact details of relevant recent employers for independent reference checking
