Student AbsencesYou must follow proper notification procedures when you become ill or have an emergency that necessitates an absence. Notify your cooperating teacher, the school office, and your university supervisor any time you are absent from a placement. If your assignment is interrupted by an extended absence, you may have to make up time lost through an appropriate extension of your assignment. Consult with your supervisor and faculty program chair regarding extenuating circumstances. Extended absences, personal leaves, or any deviation from the participation dates listed in your assignment letter MUST be approved in writing by your cooperating teacher, university supervisor, and faculty program chair. Student teachers in their final semester of student teaching may request to be absent for educational recruitment fairs and job interviews.

Cooperating Teacher AbsencesA student teacher MAY NOT serve as a substitute teacher at any time. A certified teacher must be assigned to the classroom, either the cooperating teacher, another teacher on the staff, or a substitute teacher. Although cooperating teachers are not required to be physically present in the classroom during the times that the student teacher is taking a lead in the instruction, the cooperating teacher is responsible for the classroom and should be available to the student teacher if necessary. A cooperating teacher may not just “look in” on a student teacher. Assigning an aide to the classroom in place of a certified teacher is not acceptable and a student teacher may not work under the supervision of a classroom aide. If a student teacher’s cooperating teacher is absent, a substitute teacher must be hired. If a student teacher’s cooperating teacher is asked to substitute for another teacher or is assigned to a different classroom for a day or half-day, the student teacher may not remain in the cooperating teacher’s room as a substitute teacher.