NISTR Functionality Update May 2023

Expressions of Interest 

Supply teachers are encouraged to apply immediately for any vacancies of interest on the Short Notice Supply. Teachers can express an interest to more than one post. Once a short notice supply position is filled, all other expressions of interest from the successful candidate will automatically be deleted from NISTR and will not be visible to other schools.

User relevant Short Notice Supply posts

Latest upgrades allow NISTR to automatically filter short notice supply posts based on attributes in the supply teacher’s profile. Short notice supply posts now match the criteria a teacher sets in their user profile: 

• within the distance selected in a teacher’s ‘MySchools’ list. 
• from schools in a teacher’s ‘MySchools’ list. 
• from match preferences in the teacher’s Educational Settings, with the exception of Irish Medium Educational Settings Preferences. For example, if a supply teacher has indicated that they do not want to work in SEN settings, then they will not receive advertisements from schools with SEN roles. 
• the required Core Subject(s) matches a subject in a teacher’s Core Subject list.

Short Notice Supply posts can be arranged by user preference

Using various criteria, users can now order short notice supply posts to access those of the most interest to them. SNS posts can be ordered by date posted, best match based on availability, core subject, second subject and shortest distance, and if the user has previously worked at the school. 

Users have access to hyperlinks that the school provides as part of a booking. The hyperlinks can be accessed directly from the booking details which will open in a new tab or window. It is important to note, selecting the hyperlink will not end the NISTR session.  

Teachers on part-time permanent contracts can indicate their working availability on non-contracted days. Teachers can record contracted days within NISTR by selecting the toggles on the daily planner. This will automatically prevent selection for bookings which include their contracted teaching days. 

Teachers can run a report on all historical archived bookings and export this report for their own records.  

Supply teachers can filter their search for schools and EA services from the bookings view. The latest update filters the dropdown list to feature schools in which the user has at least one booking with.  

Schools can add hyperlinks when creating a booking which direct users to further resources for example the school website or a file server containing policy documentation. Users can access relevant information about the school by clicking on the hyperlink within the booking details. 

Users can view and export a list of Supply Teachers that had a booking (or bookings) within the school or EA service. The list will include the teachers TR Number, forename, surname, and the number of previous bookings worked. A new ‘star’ functionality is developed for schools to bookmark the teacher.  

Additional enhancements have been made to ensure NISTR is mobile responsive for users to access, view and interact with their preferred devices. The menu icon and action buttons have been streamlined to improve user experience.