FAQs - Supply Teachers

If you are receiving a ‘Connection Timed Out message’ at various points when using NISTR, this is likely due to issues with the Users internet connectivity and will appear if a request on NISTR takes too long.  It is recommended to refresh the page or try again later. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, please contact the NISTR team for further advice.

Please see steps below that may help you gain access depending on the error message you are receiving.

Password reset– ‘invalid Username or Password error message’

• Log in to NISTR : https://login.nistr.org.uk/ and select ‘Teacher User’.
• Enter username (email address) and your password.
• You will see a red pop-up message ‘Invalid username or password’ displayed.
• Click the ‘Problems logging in?’ link - this will take you to the account recovery page.
• Enter your email address* where prompted and click ‘Reset password’.
• A blue pop-up message saying ‘If your email is registered, you will receive and email with a link to reset your password’ will appear at the top of the screen.
• Navigate to your email inbox (outlook, hotmail, yahoo etc).
• Find the email from NISTR and click on the email verification link or copy and paste the link into your web browser (Safari, Edge, Chrome etc.).
• Set your new password (the password should have a minimum of 8 characters, with at least 1 uppercase letter, 1 lowercase letter, 1 number, and 1 special character).
• Click ‘confirm’ - a green pop-up bar will appear at the top of your screen saying ‘Your account settings have been updated’.
• Navigate back to https://login.nistr.org.uk/ enter your email and new password (click on the eye icon to ensure it is correct) and click the ‘Log in’ button.
• You will be given access to your NISTR account.

Email verification Process - ‘connection time out error message’

• Log in to NISTR : https://login.nistr.org.uk/
• Enter username (email address) and your password.
• You will see a red pop-up message ‘the connection has timed out, you will need to verify your email to activate your login’.
• Click the ‘Problems logging in?’ link, which will take you to the account recovery page.
• Enter your email*, click resend verification email.
• Receive blue pop up - ‘If your email is registered, you will receive and email with a link to reset your password’.
• Navigate to your inbox (outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo etc).
• Click the link in the email from NISTR.
• This will open a new log in page, you will see a green pop-up message will ‘email verified’.
• Navigate back to https://login.nistr.org.uk/, enter your email and password (hover over the eye/mask icon to ensure it is correct) then click ‘log in.’
• You will be provided access to your NISTR account. 

*Please note that the email address used must match exactly – if you are unsure of the email that you should be using, please contact the NISTR Administration Team to confirm.

If your account is currently marked as ‘Pending’ in the NISTR solution, or you have contacted the NISTR Administration Team requesting an update on your Pending status, please be reassured that we are working hard in the background to validate all compliance checks (AccessNI/ GTCNI/ Right to Work checks/ Health Questionnaires). Delays at the start of the academic year can be expected due to the high quantity of new registrations at this time of the year and we endeavour to complete this necessary requirement as quickly as possible.

Please be advised that any identification that has been uploaded on to your profile, will require an Identity Validation check.  This will be organised by the NISTR Administration team once your account is moved to ‘Pending Checks’.

Once our compliance checks have been completed, you will receive an email notification that your account has moved from ‘Pending Checks’ to ‘Live.’

Once you have been made ‘Live’ you will be given access to the wider features of NISTR and MUST complete the following steps to ensure you can be booked by a school and/or EA Service:

• Set your availability - Teachers MUST ensure they have updated their availability calendar. 
  Please navigate to: Menu – Dashboard – Working Availability – View; and populate as necessary. 
• Update ‘My Schools’ list – Teachers MUST ensure they have set their travel willingness from their NISTR-registered home address, and review school preferences. Please follow the below steps: 
  • • Click the Hamburger/NISTR menu icon at the top left of your screen
    • Click Teacher Info 
    • Click Personal Info 
    • Click on Use address lookup 
    • Confirm postcode and house number 
    • Click Find address 
    • Select address | click Save and Continue 
    • Click Hamburger/NISTR menu icon
    • Click Dashboard 
    • Click View beside schools' availability 
    • Select Distance willing to travel  
    • ‘My Schools’ list will populate with schools you are willing to work in 
• Set your core teaching subject -Teachers MUST ensure they have set AT LEAST one teaching subject ‘core’ 
  Please navigate to: Menu – Teacher Info – Teaching Subjects and edit your main subject(s) as a ‘Core Subject’ using the slider (blue) 
• Set your education settings - Teachers MUST tailor their educational settings. Please navigate to: Menu – Teaching Experience – Review Educational Settings 

Full instructions on how to update your availability, ‘My Schools’ list, core subject and educational settings can be accessed in our Managing Availability and School Selection & Day 1 Logging into NISTR Quick Reference Guides .  

If you require a refund for a AccessNI overpayment, please contact the NISTR administration team who will process the refund as soon as possible.

If you are experiencing any issues in the My School list, populating with the list of schools you are willing to work, please follow the steps below:

• Log In
• Click the Hamburger/NISTR menu icon at the top left of your screen
• Click Teacher Info
• Click Personal Info
• Click on Use address lookup
• Confirm postcode and house number
• Click Find address
• Select address | click Save and Continue
• Click Hamburger/NISTR menu icon
• Click Dashboard
• Click View beside schools availability
• Select Distance willing to travel
• ‘My Schools’ list will populate with schools you are willing to work in

Please be aware, if you update/change your radius, the full ‘My Schools’ list will overwrite any previously curated list of schools. Thanks to teacher feedback, we will continue to improve the Schools Availability widget. Please keep an eye on future updates and developments. 

The ‘Exclude All’ button will remove ALL schools found in the ‘My Schools’ list (based on the selection of the distance willing to travel).  This is a useful feature for teachers that only wish to create a ‘My Schools’ list of one, or a few, schools.

For most teachers that wish to have a fuller ‘My Schools’ list, we would recommend taking the time to review all the schools within the area you have selected and removing each one if it is not of interest or too difficult to get to.  If a mistake has been made, please locate the removed school in the ‘Other Schools’ list and re-add it using the ‘+’ symbol next to the school name.

The filters in the ‘My Schools’ section should only be used to highlight if a school is there, or bring it up in order to remove it e.g. if you filter all nursery schools then you can remove ones that are not of interest.

If you have any issues with this process, please contact the NISTR Administration Team.

For teacher users with TR numbers which start with 0, the GTCNI validation of your registration number (at Step 5 of the Teacher Registration steps) will only validate without the prefix 0 at the start. NISTR will prompt you to remove any unnecessary 0 digits.

It has been reported that some users are facing issues with screen resolution, and the ability to access certain buttons within NISTR. This is due to your desktop resolution, meaning that some buttons are not visible on the screen, it is recommended that your desktop resolution should be set to 1280 x 1024 for NISTR.

The zoom of the web browser may also help.

The NISTR Newsfeed section is currently not displaying items on the NISTR Dashboard.  It is expected that this functionality will be available in the near future and we will communicate updates closer to the time.

If you are experiencing screen rendering issues (i.e the screen does not display correctly) when accessing the system via mobile phone, please log out of NISTR and log back in again to see if this is corrected.  

Another option is to refresh your screen.  If issues persist, it is recommended to move to a desktop version of NISTR and report the issue (including details of the mobile device you are using) to the NISTR Administration Team. 

Please be aware that NISTR mobile is only accessible using Edge, Chrome, and Safari mobile web browsers.  These can be downloaded from the relevant App/Play Store on your phone. Please ensure your mobile operating system has been updated to the latest version available.

Users must refresh NISTR to get an updated Short Notice Supply post appearing within the short notice supply tile.

Short Notice Supply notifications (email and within the NISTR dashboard) happen in real time.

We are continuing to develop this functionality in the near future and we will communicate updates closer to the time.

Supply Teachers who apply for a Short Notice Supply post who are then unsuccessful are not currently receiving outbound notifications (e.g. Emails) alerting them to the fact that they’ve been unsuccessful.

Users will receive an ‘unsuccessful’ notification currently on their dashboard only.  When a Supply Teacher sets their ‘preferred method of contact’ it is only used for information purposes for the school and not the NISTR solution.

We continue to welcome your feedback on this service and will update and improve as necessary.

If you are new to NISTR, you will be ‘NOT SUBMITTED’ until you have successfully completed the necessary registration steps then you will move to ‘PENDING CHECKS’ - as soon as your compliance requirements have been met, you will be changed to ‘LIVE’ and at this point, you will be able to work as a supply teacher in schools in Northern Ireland.

If you were previously on the ‘old’ NISTR - prior to the 25th August 2022 - you will be required to complete a specific set of steps to log into NISTR depending on your shown status. Please see definitions below:

IF YOU SHOW AS ‘ARCHIVED’: Please contact the NISTR Administration Team if you need to be made Live on NISTR – they will support you through this process.

IF YOU SHOW AS ‘PENDING CHECKS’: Pending supply teachers have migrated across from the old NISTR solution to the new solution, and may have outstanding elements of compliance to complete before they can be considered LIVE and able to commence work as a supply teacher.  The NISTR Administration Team will contact you directly if they have any issues before making you Live on NISTR.

IF YOU SHOW AS ‘LIVE’: ‘Live’ supply teachers are currently on the NISTR solution and are only required to complete Steps 1-4 of the registration process when they log in to the new NISTR.

Please refer to the Day 1 logging into NISTR account Pending status Quick Reference Guide for the steps you are required to complete for a Supply Teacher marked as Pending Checks.

Please refer to the Quick Reference Guide for logging into NISTR for steps you are required to complete for a Supply Teacher marked as Live.

Being LIVE on NISTR is only a representation of the fact that your compliance checks have been completed and are not necessary as part of the registration process. Supply teachers were requested to complete a set of actions to ensure their profile was ready for bookings. (see https://www.eani.org.uk/news/new-nistr-solution-now-live-for-supply-teachers) 

All supply teachers who had used the previous NISTR system will have a status of either LIVE, PENDING CHECKS or NOT SUBMITTED when they login to the new NISTR system for the first time. 

LIVE 

Supply Teachers with a status of LIVE should only review Registration steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 when they log in to the new system. All other Registration steps (even if they’re marked as Amber/ incomplete) do not need to be reviewed, this is because you were previously LIVE in the old NISTR system and this data has been migrated across. 

It is vital that ‘Live’ users also complete the required steps outlined below to ensure they can be booked by schools.  

• Update your Availability  -  Your availability is automatically set to ‘unavailable’, therefore it is vital that you update your availability on your calendar.  
• Update your My Schools List  - Please check your ‘My Schools’ list to set your travel radius and edit the schools you would like to work with.   

Full instructions on how to update your availability and schools list can be accessed in our Managing Availability and School Selection Quick Reference Guide

Once you have completed steps 1-4, updated your availability and My Schools list, and confirmed that your account status says ‘Live’ you are available for bookings for schools (regardless if you are seeing Amber/ incomplete status for GTCNI/ AccessNI checks) 

PENDING CHECKS and NOT SUBMITTED:  

Supply teachers with a status of PENDING CHECKS or NOT SUBMITTED may have outstanding elements of compliance to complete before they can be considered LIVE and able to commence work as a supply teacher. They will be required to review and complete/update steps 1-12 of the registration process when they log into NISTR for the first time. Any outstanding information required to be completed in their profiles will show amber indicators, which must be completed. 

If you are unsure of what you need to do to make your account Live, please contact the NISTR Administration Team.

You will be missing key information required to finalise your profile that will negatively impact the supply teacher opportunities being offered to you. Furthermore, it is extremely important that you update your availability as your default availability status will default to show you as ‘unavailable’ to schools until you do this.  If you do not indicate on your availability calendar which days you are available for work, you will not be included in search results and will not be offered available roles by schools. 

NISTR will support teachers via notifications and prompts as reminders to update their profiles, maximising employment opportunities.  

No, previously submitted documentation, certificates or evidence will migrate to the new NISTR solution

If your NISTR profile is currently 'Live', your AccessNI check will migrate to the new system, you will not be required to complete a new AccessNI check when logging into the new system.

NISTR will contact you when you are required to renew your AccessNI.

If you have forgotten your NISTR password, you will be required to re-set your password.  You will not be able to re-use a previous password.

1) Navigate to the NISTR ‘Log in’ screen.

2) Click the link ‘Problems logging in’ button

3) Input the email address linked to your account and select reset password

4) Check your emails and follow the password reset instructions

Please note: the verification email for your new password will be sent to the email address you previously used to register with NISTR

Your NISTR username is your registered email address, if you have forgotten your registered email address, please contact the NISTR Administration team.

If you no longer have access to your email account that you registered with NISTR and you are unable to reset your password or receive notifications, you will need to contact the NISTR Administration team.

You can update your username/email address in the Account Settings section within your NISTR profile. 

You can update your password in the Account Settings section within your NISTR profile.

NISTR can be accessed as a Progressive Web Application (PWA) , that will take the teacher to a login page. PWAs look and feel like a "normal" app that you would download to your phone or tablet, but they are accessed through your browser (e.g Chrome, Safari, and Edge). When you click on the link (PWA) the NISTR solution will adapt to any device (iPad/ iPhone, Galaxy tablet etc) you are accessing it from. If you are experiencing any issues, please ensure your mobile operating system is the latest version available.

NISTR cannot be ‘downloaded’ as you would do for other device applications (apps). You can add the PWA link to your device home screen or save it to your internet favourites for easy access see Device Bookmarking Quick Reference Guide.

Please see below a list of compatible devices, through which the new NISTR solution can be accessed.  

• Apple devices (iOS) – iPad, iPhone, Mac 
• Android devices - Samsung, Google, Huawei etc 
• Desktop devices (Windows) 

• Please ensure that your device is operating on the latest 2 software updates.
• Please ensure you are connected to Wi-fi.
• Please use Edge, Chrome or Safari to access NISTR

Note: Huawei Internet Browser does not support NISTR

If you are still having difficulties, and have consulted all the FAQs, please complete a NISTR Contact form or call the NISTR Support Desk.

The EA Website (which hosts the NISTR Website) has incorporated ReachDeck - a web accessibility tool allowing you to customise the website in the way that works best for you, with the aim to reduce barriers experienced by people with disabilities.

If you wish to use the ReachDeck feature, please click the logo at the top of the page which looks like this:

For more information on ReachDeck please visit the EA Page: Accessibility

Before a Supply Teacher can become 'LIVE' on the NISTR booking system you must complete the 12-step registration process.

The following information is required for NISTR registration:

• Valid email address
• Phone Number
• Teacher Reference (TR) number (as provided by the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI), see questions below for further information)
• Teaching qualifications
• Teaching experience
• Health declaration
• Right to work documentation (e.g birth certificate, Passport etc)
• Enhanced Disclosure check confirmation (as provided by AccessNI, see questions below for further information)

You can access the link to register through the NISTR Website.

Please see the New Users First time Registration Quick Reference guide on how to complete the 12 registration steps.

Either a school or personal email address can be used to register with NISTR. You will require constant long term access to this email address inbox (to receive NISTR system notifications and communications) so please ensure you select the most appropriate email account.

Yes, you can register with a UK or Irish telephone number.

There is no cost to register on NISTR. There is a cost of £32 to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure check, this should be paid to the AccessNI unit within the Education Authority. There is also a cost of £44 for registration with GTCNI, this is paid directly to GTCNI.

The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI) is professional body for teachers in Northern Ireland.

To be a 'LIVE' user on the NISTR system you must be registered with GTCNI (this is part of the 12 step NISTR registration process). Teachers seeking to register with GTCNI can obtain application forms directly from their website www.gtcni.org.uk.

Receiving certification from GTCNI is a mandatory part of the NISTR registration process and must be completed before you can commence work as a Supply Teacher. Registration with GTCNI has a yearly cost of £44.

GTCNI office contact details:

Telephone: 028 9033 3390 

Email: [email protected]  & [email protected]  

Office Hours: Monday - Thursday 08.30am to 16.45pm, Friday 0830-1630 

Website: https://gtcni.org.uk/  

Please use the Education Authority Pin code 424645 when applying for an enhanced NI Check online.

A TR number is your Teacher Reference Number. You will be provided with a TR number by GTCNI once your registration with them is complete. Teachers who have not yet qualified or who are awaiting GTCNI registration cannot be paid through NISTR. Schools must contact their Employing Authority to seek guidance on the payment of unqualified teachers.

For Users with a 5 digit TR number, please only enter the 5 digits into the relevant section in the NISTR registration process. Please do not enter a 0 prefix.

As part of the 12-step registration process, you will be required to provide your TR Number. If you are registering for the first them and you are still awaiting your TR number, you should select “I don’t have a Teacher Reference Number yet!” option within the registration process and continue through the rest of the registration steps.

Once you have received your TR number you will need to add this to your profile to complete this compliance check.   You should also ensure that the personal information that you provide is correct and matches the details on your GTCNI registration.  

There are several reasons that your TR number may not be working, please ensure that you have checked all the following:

• The TR number should be 6-digits only (in a small number cases it is 5 digits). When you are provided with you TR number you will also be provided with a GTCNI reference number, ensure that this is not the number you have added to your profile.
• Ensure that all the personal information you have provided on your profile, matches your GTCNI registration ie. full name, date of birth and NI Insurance number.
• This section can only accept TR numbers provided by the General Teaching Council  for Northern Ireland. If you have a Teacher Reference number issued to you in a different country, you will need to apply for a new TR number through GTCNI.

If you continue to have problems submitting your TR number, contacting the NISTR Administration team.

AccessNI is a branch within the Department of Justice. Its role is to process applications for those who require a criminal record check for employment purposes. The Education Authority is a registered umbrella body of AccessNI. This means that the Education Authority is authorised to send the relevant applications to Access NI for applicants applying through the EA for employment purposes. The Education Authority’s Access NI application procedure must be followed to ensure that the correct checks are completed, Supply Teachers cannot apply for their Enhanced Disclosure check through AccessNI directly. All Supply Teachers are required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure check prior to engaging in regulated activity. The Enhanced check for Supply Teachers includes a check of the children’s barred list. Supply Teachers are responsible for the payment of this check. An Enhanced Disclosure check costs £32 from 1st April 2024 (£33 prior to this date) and must be paid before your application can be processed. The AccessNI check is a compulsory compliance measure and must be completed as part of your NISTR registration. Please be advised that any identification that has been uploaded on to your profile, will require an Identity Validation check.  Your NISTR profile will not be set to ‘LIVE’ until this check has been completed and you have been cleared to work in regulated activity. If your application has been processed by the NISTR Administration team and you need to contact AccessNI directly, you can use the contact details below.

AccessNI contact details:

Telephone: 0300 200 7888 

Email: [email protected]

NI Direct website: Apply for an AccessNI Check  

Evidence of the Access NI payment is required as part of the NISTR registration process, to confirm this check has been completed.

Accepted forms of evidence include:

1. Photograph of the receipt
2. Screen shot of the electronic receipt
3. Copy of the electronic receipt

Please note: If your AccessNI payment has been completed via the phone or via Cheque, the NISTR Administration Team will have copies of these receipts internally, please click on the box that indicates you have not paid online. Once all steps of the NISTR registration process have been completed, your submission will be validated by the NISTR Administration team.

For NISTR if someone has an Access NI check done within last 3 years by the Education Authority (as per guidance from the Department of Education) we are able to accept this as current and they should not need to complete one. Unfortunately if we do not have a record of this on file or this is out of the 3 year time frame we may need to request a new one to be completed. This is completely standard procedure in order to follow the correct safe guarding protocol ensuring children are protected in schools.  The NISTR administration team can help you with any queries around this. 

As part of the 12-step registration process you can provide evidence of an Enhanced Disclosure certificate that you have already obtained. This certificate will only be accepted by NISTR if it has been issued to you within the last 3-months for a role within an education setting. A copy of this certificate should be submitted for review by the NISTR administration team. If this certificate is acceptable, the NISTR Administration team will require proof of your right to work in the UK to accompany this certificate (this is part of the NISTR Registration process). Providing proof of your right to work in the UK is a legal requirement and your account will not go ‘LIVE’ until this has been received.

If you do not currently hold a valid Enhanced Disclosure check you can complete the AccessNI application process by completing steps 9 to 12 during your first registration. Each step will detail the required documents, i.e. The EA’s AccessNI application form, ID documents, proof of your Right to Work in the UK and proof of the £32 payment.

No. We can no longer accept your Access NI that was completed during your university placement. You must complete the full registration process as normal, as well as the Access NI check on steps 10 to 12.

If you have received an Enhanced Disclosure certificate for a post within an education setting in Northern Ireland, which was issued within 3 months prior to your date of registration on NISTR, this certificate may be accepted for your registration. You will need to provide the NISTR Admin team with a copy of this certificate for review.  If you have done an AccessNI through the Education Authority within the last 3 years we should be able to accept this and you should not need to complete a new one. Unfortunately if we do not have a record of this on file or this is out of the 3 year time frame we may need to request a new one to be completed.

Once the NISTR admin team have assessed your certificate, they will provide you with confirmation on if your current certificate is acceptable or if a new Enhanced Disclosure check is required.

If your certificate is acceptable, NISTR admin will also request proof of your right to work in the UK (as part of the 12-step registration process) which will also need to have been verified through the ID Validation process. This is a legal requirement and your account will not go ‘LIVE’ until this has been received.

The health questions are a mandatory requirement for your NISTR registration and must be completed before you can work as a Supply teacher.

To ensure compliance with Teacher’s Eligibility Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 the Education Authority carries out health checks on newly registered Supply Teacher’s prior to their NISTR account being made ‘LIVE’ to ensure suitability for the role of Supply Teacher.  

In instances where a Supply Teacher has disclosed a medical condition or a required adjustment, a referral to the Education Authority’s Occupational Health provider will be made for a full assessment to be completed.

Yes, if you have uploaded a document by mistake, this can now be easily deleted and uploaded again.

Your NISTR registration is immediate, however, your account will not go ‘LIVE’ and you will be unable to be booked, until all the compliance checks are complete. This includes your GTCNI registration which can take between 3 weeks.

Your Enhanced Disclosure check can take between 1-4 weeks. 

As part of the NISTR 12-step registration process, you will be required to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Acceptable documentation includes:

• UK & Irish Nationals – A valid British or Irish Passport OR Birth Certificate AND an official document showing National Insurance Number.
• EU, EEA & Swiss - Date of Birth AND EU Settlement Scheme Right to Work Share Code
• Frontier Licence - A Frontier Licence will be required for all EU, EEA & Swiss citizens who have been residing in the Republic of Ireland on or before 31 December 2021 and who are new employee’s.
• Sponsorship Licence - A Sponsorship Licence will be required for all new employees who do not hold a valid UK or Irish Passport and have not been residing in the UK or the Republic of Ireland from 1 January 2021.

Yes, there is now an additional question within step 5 (further information) regarding Part Time Permanent Teachers.  If you select yes/yes this will then allow you to bypass the AccessNI stage as you do not need to complete one if you are only doing extra hours within your own school.  If you select yes/no, which means you are a Part Time Permanent Teacher but you wish to work in other schools you may be required to complete a new AccessNI if we do not have one on file completed within the last 3 years.  As per DE Guidance, only part time permanent teachers wishing to work in their own school only can bypass an Access NI check.

New Supply Teachers that are completing the registration process will be asked to supply details for 2 references from professional bodies or teaching practices. It is a mandatory regulation that any person working in regulated activity requires 2 references.

New Supply Teachers that are completing the registration process are required to submit 2 references from professional bodies or teaching practices as part of NISTR registration, examples of who this can be obtained from are as follows:

• Teachers
• Principals (including retired principals)
• School Staff (Administrative teams, vice principals, head of year etc)
• professional Mentors
• University Tutors

At least one reference must refer to your teaching experience. Only where you are unable to find a suitable professional reference, will a character reference be acceptable.

Please note: NISTR will not be verifying references, this is up to the schools to action.

If you were previously on NISTR and you are coming back from maternity/paternity leave within the last 12 months please let us know as you may not need to complete certain compliance checks again. You will be asked to send your childs birth certificate or your MATB1 form confirming your childs expected due date to confirm this. Please give the NISTR Administration team a ring or email to let them know.

You can update your contact number in the personal information section of your NISTR profile. This can be found in the ‘Teacher’s Info’ menu. Please refer to the Managing Account Settings Quick Reference guide for more information.

You can update your email address in the personal information section of your NISTR profile. This can be found in the ‘Teacher’s Info’ menu. Please note, your username for logging into NISTR is the current email address on your account. Please refer to the Managing Account Settings Quick Reference guide for more information.

When registering on NISTR your preferred contact method will automatically be set to ‘Email’. Once you are registered you can change these preferences in the personal information section of your NISTR profile. This can be found in the ‘Teacher’s Info’ menu.

Please review the Managing Account Settings  - Quick Reference Guide to find out how to upload your photograph. Once uploaded, the photograph is not visible to schools or other Users.

You can manage your current CV, delete, or upload a new CV to the ‘Teaching Experience’ section of your profile. This can be found within the ‘Teacher’s Info’ menu.

You can view your account status on your ‘Dashboard’. This will show just below your name.

An account with ‘LIVE’ status means that all your compliance checks for your NISTR registration are complete and Schools will now be able to find you when creating a booking. Please make sure that you have updated your availability, distance willing to travel as this populates the School’s into your ‘My Schools List’ and Core Subjects/Key Stages.  You will also be able to apply for any ‘Short Notice Supply’ bookings within your preferred area.  

When your account is showing the ‘INACTIVE’ status, this means that you are outstanding at least one of the mandatory compliance checks. You should review your account and complete the outstanding checks for your account to be made ‘LIVE’. Schools will not be able to find you in their searches until your account is ‘LIVE’ and your availability and preferred area/schools has been updated.

Your account may be Archived due to inactivity, if you have not logged in within 90 days or updated your availability this can stop this from happening. The ‘ARCHIVED’ status means that schools are unable to find you in their searches and you will be unable to apply for ‘Short Notice Supply’ bookings. If you wish for your account to be made ‘LIVE’ again you will need to contact the NISTR Administration team and complete the required compliance checks.

A ‘core subject’ is one that a supply teacher can label to indicate their subject specialism(s)/cover preferences as part of ‘Step 4 – Teaching Subjects’ in their NISTR account.  

Any subject(s) added at KS2 level or below will be given a ‘core subject’ status automatically.  However, this feature is particularly useful for Post-Primary teachers that may have a plethora of subjects to offer to a school but need a chance to highlight their particular specialism(s)/cover preferences.  A supply teacher can label any subject(s) as a NISTR ‘Core Subject’ at any time by clicking on the label marked ‘CORE SUBJECT?’ in Step 4. 

When a school searches for a supply teacher in NISTR, it will need to select at least one subject to be added to the ‘Core Subject’ search box as shown in the screenshot below;

Only teachers that have ‘Core Subject(s)’ in Step 4 that MATCH EXACTLY with the one(s) used by the school when creating a booking will appear in the schools search results.

Other subjects (not labelled as a ‘Core Subject’) added by a supply teacher can be used by a school to refine a booking search by entering it into the 2nd Subject box.

Please note that non-subject specific cover options can also be included with ‘Core Subject’ matches e.g. nursery (for nursery level general cover), foundation (for foundation level general cover), Primary/General (for KS1 & KS2 level cover), and General Cover (for KS3-KS5 level cover).

You can update, amend and add to your teaching experience within ‘Teaching Experience’, which can be found in the ‘Teacher’s Info’ menu. Here, you can also upload a copy of your most recent CV.

You will also find the ‘Qualifications’ section within the ‘Teacher’s Info’ menu, where you can update, amend and add to your qualifications.

Within the ‘Teaching Experience’ section, which you will find in the ‘Teacher’s Info’ menu, there is an option to add other relevant work experience. This is where you can input any relevant non-teaching experience that you have and would like to include on your NISTR profile.

If you are logged into NISTR on a desktop PC, the log out button can be found by clicking your username in the top right-hand corner of your screen.

If you are logged into NISTR on a mobile device, select the menu button on the top left of your screen and the log out button can be found at the bottom of the menu.

The ‘Remove Account’ option can be found within your Account Settings. By clicking the menu option in the top left-hand corner of your screen, ‘Account Settings’ can be found within the main menu. Please refer to the Managing Account Settings Quick Reference guide for more information.

If you need to change your details and your account is LIVE this will place your account into Pending Checks.  Depending on what you change on your profile, you will get a notification that will inform you, your account is going to be moved to Pending Checks.  The NISTR Administration Team will contact you within due course and inform you what you need to supply to us to get your account back to LIVE.

To understand more about how to update your availability within NISTR, please follow our Managing availability and Schools Selection Quick Reference Guide.

The default availability status in NISTR is ‘unavailable’, therefore it is important to review and update your availability on a regular basis to ensure you show up in search results on the days you specifically indicate you are available to work. Schools will then only contact teachers who have changed their status to “Available”. If you do not update your availability you will not show up in search results and therefore not able to obtain supply opportunities.

Please note, if you do not log in within 90 days and update your availability a notification will be sent.  If availability has not been updated in 120 days, your NISTR account will be archived.

How frequent you update your availability is your own preference. It is recommended that you review and update your availability every school term. Individuals that maintain their availability correctly and include more relevant information (e.g. experience details) in their profile, are likely to be matched to more bookings that suit their parameters.

When you login to your NISTR profile you will have the ability to set a preferred radius of distance you are willing to travel to work from your home. You will also be able to select individual schools that you are willing to work in which do not appear in this radius.

please follow our Managing availability and Schools Selection Quick Reference Guide.

You will have the ability, within the Schools section to remove Schools that you do not want to contact you from your preferred Schools list.

Please follow our Managing availability and Schools Selection Quick Reference Guide.

A Supply Teacher will have the ability to set a preferred radius of distance they are willing to travel to work from home, these schools will show under the Users ‘My Schools’ list. In this instance is it suggested the User sets their radius to include Derry/ Strabane, then manually remove any schools from your ‘My Schools’ list that they do not want to work with.

Please follow our Managing availability and Schools Selection Quick Reference Guide.

Unfortunately, the NISTR system only offers the ability to set your parameters to 1 location. If you know the schools that you will be working in, you can add/remove each school from your ‘my schools’ list to enable these Schools to find you on the system. Please follow our Managing availability and Schools Selection Quick Reference Guide.

To make this school appear in your ‘My Schools’ list again, amend your ‘Distance willing to travel’ to 5 miles greater or less than it currently is. This will refresh your ‘My Schools’ list and the school you deleted should now appear in this list when you scroll/search for it. You can then change your ‘Distance willing to travel’ back to what it was previously and the school will remain in your list.   You can also type the school name into ‘Other Schools’ list and click on the + button to add this into your ‘My Schools’ list.  If this doesn’t work for you, please get in touch using the NISTR Contact Form.

Once a school offers you a booking you will receive a notification through the NISTR dashboard as well as via your preferred method of contact. Within your dashboard you can access offered bookings via the ‘unconfirmed bookings’ screen. Here you can review the booking and accept the offer made by the school.

Please see our Managing a Booking Quick Reference Guide for more information on accepting a booking.

There are several reasons a school may not be able to locate you on NISTR. Please note, for a school to ‘locate’ you, they must first create a booking.

Please check:

• Your account status is set to LIVE (i.e your registration process has been fully completed)
• Your availability is updated to reflect available for the time of the booking (i.e you are not booked by another school, you are available for the full amount of time required for the booking)
• Your distance willing to travel is within the radius of the school
• Make sure that the school is in your ‘My Schools’ list.  If it does not appear please search in ‘Other Schools’ list and select the + to add this. 
• You have set your core subject as well as including the key stages you are willing to work (and this aligns with the booking request)
• You have set all other subjects that you teach and at what key stage (and this aligns with the booking request)

Once these have been updated, the school can refresh their search results and you should appear on their search list.

If the school can still not find you, please contact the NISTR Administration team.

Currently, a school can offer a booking if you have more than 75% availability for the duration of the booking. The school may ring you to discuss directly. If you have already confirmed a booking that overlaps with a new offer, the booking must be adjusted accordingly (e.g. the teacher can cancel the existing booking, or the new booking must exclude the dates of the existing booking).

The system currently does not allow you to confirm a new booking that overlaps with another previously confirmed booking. If you wish to accept the new booking, please cancel the conflicting booking to allow you to confirm.

The system has been designed like this to provide Teachers the option to benefit from longer term bookings, even if they have confirmed bookings in the system. However, it is vital that any bookings that the teacher is no longer interested in are removed so that can accept the longer booking.

Please see an example of this in practice below:

• Jane has a confirmed booking for 1 full day in NISTR at St Patrick’s school on Monday 14th November.
• St Mary’s School has completed a search in NISTR for a teacher for a 5 day booking from the dates of 14th November to the 18th November. They would like to book Jane for these days, as her details have been returned in the search results, however she is only a 75% match because she is only available for 4 out of the 5 days the booking requires. The school  sends out an offer to Jane.
• Jane receives a notification that she has an offer for St Mary’s.
• Jane can see the offered booking in her dashboard but cannot confirm the booking, as it is overlapping. This is because she is currently booked by St Patrick’s on the 14th of November - which overlaps with the dates offered by St Mary’s.
• There are 2 options available at this point:
  • Jane can cancel the existing booking on the 14th with St Patrick’s, and St Mary’s school can re-issue the booking for the 14th – 18th, which Jane can accept
  • St Mary’s can adjust their original booking search dates, for only the 15th – 18th November, locate Jane by using the teacher Search functionality, and offer Jane the booking. Please note: St Mary’s will then need to create a new booking for the 14th November if this date still needs to be covered.
• It is recommended that the Supply Teacher and School(s) should discuss how they are going to proceed so everyone is aware how the booking will be processed.

Supply Teachers can decline a booking which has an ‘offered’ status within the booking system.

A reason must be provided and the school will have access to view this. The status of the booking will be updated to ‘declined’. Please take time to review any bookings offered on your account and ‘accept’ bookings that you have worked or intend to work, or ‘decline’ bookings that were not worked or are not suitable. It is requested that supply teachers decline unsuitable bookings in a timely manner to allow schools to make alternative arrangements with another teacher as soon as possible.

Please note, your profile will appear in school searches if you meet 75% or more of their search criteria, which may mean some dates in the booking overlap with dates you are not available. The newly added ‘decline booking’ function will support you to manage your offered and accepted bookings effectively to ensure your potential for employment opportunity is maximised.

Please see our updated ‘Managing Bookings’ quick reference guide.

Once a booking has been confirmed in NISTR (i.e. the teacher has accepted an offered booking), the Teachers calendar will update, an ‘availability dot’ will no longer be present and a coloured line will indicate where a teacher is booked (Pink  = ALL DAY, Green  = PM, blue =  AM).  

The example below shows the following:

• 7th -  Booked ALL DAY post with a school
• 8th -  Booked for PM post with a school
• 14th -  AM availability showing
• 15th -  AM availability showing

If a booking is cancelled, the booking line will be removed and the ‘availability dot’ will be seen to indicate the teacher is available for work again.

The booking line will now remain when the booking has been completed and is about to be signed off.

You can review your full list of bookings by visiting the booking screen, and selecting the relevant drop-down filter to view the various bookings statuses (e.g. offered, confirmed, to be signed off, signed off).

As the supply teacher, you are required to contact the school directly to inform them you will not be attending as soon as possible. You will be required to send a cancelation request to the school within the NISTR solution, which the school can accept, and this will cancel the booking. As a professional courtesy, teachers are encouraged to call the school in advance. 

Steps for submitting a cancelation request can be found within the Managing a Booking Quick Reference Guide

All supply teacher bookings should be created and offered within the NISTR solution at the point of verbal agreement with the teacher (if such agreement has been made). This is to ensure that the availability status of all teachers in the solution is accurate and up to date. Schools are not able to create retrospective bookings (i.e add bookings into the solution once a date has passed). Therefore it is vital that NISTR is updated at the point of verbal offering to ensure your booking is in the solution and you are able to be paid through NISTR.

As the supply teacher, you are required to contact the school directly to inform them you are not available to work as soon as possible. You will be required to send a cancellation request to the school within the NISTR solution, once the school have accepted this request, the booking will be cancelled. Note, this will cancel the full booking, if you are cancelling only part of the booking you should add this into the comments of your cancellation request. As a professional courtesy, teachers are encouraged to call the school in advance.

Please see our Managing a Booking Quick Reference Guide for more information on cancelling a booking.

If a school needs to withdraw a booking the teacher will receive a notification to inform them of the withdrawn booking, which will return their availability to be booked by other schools.

If a school needs to amend a confirmed booking (i.e. remove a date, extend or shorten the booking), the Teacher receives a notification of the booking amendment. If teachers have any further queries about the booking, please contact the school directly. As a professional curtesy, schools are encouraged to call the teacher in advance.  

There are no restrictions on how far in advance bookings are made in NISTR.

Schools will have access to teachers preferred method of contact and contact times, recorded within their personal information of the teacher profile. You will need to ensure that your contact information is correct for schools to contact you about bookings.

You will find contact details for each School within your ‘Schools Availability’ section. If you know which School you would like to contact, you can search by School name. A contact telephone number and email address for the School can be found when you click the School name.

Please navigate to Menu – Bookings - History to access any historical bookings in NISTR that are pre- July 2022.

Please note: this was previous located in the main booking search, but has been moved to improve search response times.

An ‘Offered’ booking status is where a Supply Teacher booking has been offered to a teacher, however the booking has not yet been accepted by the teacher in NISTR.  Note: there is currently no option to ‘reject’ an offered booking within NISTR. If the booking is not required, the school must withdraw this booking from the system.

A ‘Confirmed’ booking status is where an offered booking has been accepted by a Supply Teacher. It indicates that not ALL the individual days within the booking are signed off (this includes bookings that span over more than one Payroll month)

A ‘Cancelled’ booking status is where all the booking has been cancelled by the teacher (and the school has accepted the teacher's cancellation request).

A ‘Cancellation Requested’ Status is where a teacher has requested to cancel the entire booking. The booking will remain as confirmed until the school agrees to cancel.

A ‘To be signed off’ booking status indicates that a booking has been fully completed by the supply teacher and is now ready to be signed off by a school user for that specific payroll period. This booking status will only be visible for the duration of the sign off window.  

A ‘Signed Off’ booking status is where all days within the booking have been worked by the teacher and signed off in the current month.

An ‘Exported to Payroll’ status is where the payroll file containing that booking has been sent to the Department of Education Teachers Pay and Pensions Team for processing.  No changes can be made by NISTR once the booking has been passed to DE.

A ‘Withdrawn’ status identifies any booking which has been cancelled by a school.

A ‘Declined’ status identifies any booking which has been declined by a teacher.

The School User should set up the maternity booking within NISTR. When the school is creating a long-term booking in the system such as for Maternity cover, the school user will not have the option of inputting the reason for cover at the point of ‘creating the booking’. However, when the booking is signed off each month the school will need to ensure that ‘Maternity’ is included as the reason for cover and the name of the permanent teacher that it is covering.

If a school wishes to make a booking and the start date of that booking is less than 24 hours away, instead of searching for teachers in the usual manner, the school can instead opt to post the details of the booking on a Short Notice Supply feed. The booking details are viewed by all teachers who have indicated that they are available to work in that school. Additionally, an email will be sent to those Supply Teachers whose availability and skillset matches the booking details.  

Each teacher will then be able to view the details of the booking and apply for it if they wish. The school will be notified each time a Supply Teacher applies for the booking they have posted on Short Notice Supply. The school will then review all applicants and select the Supply Teacher that is most suitable for the role. Once the school selects a Supply Teacher, that booking will be automatically confirmed and will be populated in the Supply Teacher’s availability calendar as a confirmed booking.  

The successful teacher will be notified by email and SMS (in this case regardless of their preferred method of contact due to the short time to the start of the booking) that they have been accepted for the role. 

One important thing to note about Short Notice Supply is that it operates on a “first come, first served” basis. This means that when a teacher is accepted by a school for a role, they will be removed from the application process for all other roles that they may have applied for, regardless of whether another role may have been more suitable or advantageous to them.  

Lastly, within the solution there is an intelligent search that allows for Teacher who partially meet the Short Notice Supply booking to be considered for the job. When searching for a teacher, School Users will receive a list of teachers who meet the full criteria (100%) and also teachers who partially meet the criteria (from 99% to 75%). The criteria is based on the following: School selection, Key stage type, Teaching subject and availability.

For more information on how to complete short notice supply bookings, please review our Short Notice Supply Quick Reference Guide

Yes, within the solution there is an intelligent search and you can be considered for jobs as described. When schools are searching for a teacher, they will receive a list of teachers who meet the full criteria (100%) and also teachers who partially meet the criteria (99% to 75%).  The criteria is based on the following: School selection, Key stage type, Teaching subject and availability.

Depending on your notification settings you will receive alerts on recently advertised Short Notice Supply Teacher jobs that are posted on the short notice job board. We would encourage you to check the short notice job board regularly to ensure you are aware of immediate vacancies, once these positions are filled they will no longer appear on the short notice board.  

Please refer to the Short Notice Supply Quick Reference Guide for more information.

If you have received a Short Notice Supply posting notification, however you are unable to view this posting in your dashboard when you log in, it will be for one of the below three reasons.

1. It has already been offered to and accepted by another teacher.
2. It has been cancelled by the school.
3. The posting has expired.

The school will need to set up a long-term booking on NISTR and book the appointed teacher for the dates of the fixed-term post. The Supply Teacher must ensure that all booking parameters (availability, type of school etc) is aligned with the fixed term post details to ensure that the Teacher is included in the schools booking search results. These bookings can be set up by the schools primary, level 1 and level 2 users.

If your fixed-term contract is for a full-time post: one the booking has been confirmed in the system, you will no longer appear on the search results for other schools.

If your fixed-term contract is for a part-time post: you should ensure you set yourself to unavailable for times outside of your contracted hours. Once the school have booked you for your contracted hours you will no longer appear on the search results for all other schools.

If you do not want to be available for other schools for bookings, you can manage this in My Schools section, by deleting all Schools except the one you are contracted to.

As NISTR is the booking system only for Supply Teachers, the system does not determine, or manager teachers’ pay. This is dealt with through the Department of Educations, Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team (TPPT). For all queries relating to salary and pay please contact the TPPT using the contact details below:

Telephone number: 028 7131 9000

Email address: [email protected]  

Please see the following steps for how a Supply Teacher is paid:

1. School user creates a booking in NISTR.
2. Booking is accepted by a supply teacher (status moves to confirmed in the system).
3. Supply teacher works the booking.
4. School user signs off worked days before the next Department of Education (DE) payroll cut off date.  The cut off date is the 3rd working day of the next month to allow end of month days to be signed off. 
5. Payment for all approved periods of substitute teaching is made on a monthly basis by DE Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team (TPPT).  Days signed off in time are paid on the 12th working day of the month following the days worked.

Bank Details

As part of a teacher’s professional registration with the GTCNI, DE will receive a request for the creation of TR number.  This will instigate DE action to email the relevant teachers requesting submission of a TR25 form providing bank details to [email protected] .  Forms should be completed and returned without delay and prior to commencing work.  If bank details are not held, salary cannot be processed.  Individuals returning to teaching or returning to Northern Ireland, should also ensure that the Payroll Team hold up-to-date bank details by requesting and submitting a TR25 form.  Teachers moving from post to post (or from contracted employment to NISTR) do not need to resubmit a TR25 unless their bank details have changed. For more information on the TR25 form please see the DE website: TR25 Form – Teachers’ Personal and Bank Details | Department of Education (education-ni.gov.uk)

The main Teachers’ Payroll System is administered by the Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team (TPPT) within the Department of Education (DE) on behalf of, and under instruction from, all grant-aided schools with the exception of Voluntary Grammar Schools.  There are two separate payrolls which run at different times of the month, the need for which is driven by legislation around teachers’ pay.

‘Permanent’ Payroll

Permanent teachers and teachers on fixed-term contracts of 12 months or more are paid through the ‘permanent’ payroll on the last working day of the month at a daily rate equivalent to 1/365 (pro-rated for part-time staff) and are paid throughout the year including holiday periods i.e. teachers receive 1/12th of their annual salary each month throughout the entire year.

‘Temporary’ Payroll

Teachers engaged through NISTR on a non-contractual basis or booked through NISTR as a payment mechanism for engagement on a fixed-term contract of less than 12 months are paid through the ‘temporary’ payroll on the 12th working day of the month.  Payment is for individual days worked at a daily rate of 1/195 of annual salary which includes for holiday pay.

The NISTR system is the data source for the temporary payroll.  A file of approved bookings is transferred to DE on the 3rd working day of the month.  The sign-off of a booking by the school as the employer provides the approval and the instruction to pay.  If a teacher has not accepted the booking on NISTR, the school cannot sign-off.  If a school has not signed-off a booking, it will not be transferred in the file for payment and will not be processed until after sign-off as part of the next payroll run.

Voluntary Grammar School Payrolls

Voluntary Grammar Schools administer their own payrolls and therefore salary payment for NISTR bookings (at a daily rate of 1/195 of personal pay point) will be paid to the teacher directly by the school.  However, it is vital that the bookings are offered, accepted and signed-off on NISTR to ensure that accurate service details are available to the NI Teachers’ Pension Scheme and to ensure that teacher availability on the system is accurate.

Payment for all approved periods of substitute teaching are made on a monthly basis by DE Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team. The only exception relates to those teachers working in a Voluntary Grammar school, who are paid directly by the school and not the DE Teachers Pay Team.

Prior to the 1 May 2022, in order to have substitute teaching days paid, schools/teachers would have been required to submit a TR23 form for approval to their appropriate employing authority or school for onward submission to DE Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team.  This process has now changed.

As of 1 May 2022, all newly registered GTCNI teachers will be contacted directly by the DE Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team and will be requested to complete and return a TR25 form.

The purpose of the TR25 form will be to obtain all of the required personal information from the teacher directly in order for DE Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team to be prepared for payment should the teacher get booked via NISTR for substitute cover days. For more information on the TR25 form please see the DE website: TR25 Form – Teachers’ Personal and Bank Details | Department of Education (education-ni.gov.uk)

For full details on the new process and useful contact details, please clink the below link to read the new guidance for Principals, Line Managers and Teachers for engaging substitute teachers via NISTR.

https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/publications/important-change-nistr-bookings-wef-1-may-2022

DE Teachers Pay & Pension Team (TPPT)

Email: [email protected] .

Phone: 02871 319000

The Payroll deadline (whereby all bookings must be ‘signed off; in NISTR is the 3rd working day of the next month). The pay date for Supply Teacher’s is the 12th working day of each month.

Voluntary Grammar schools submit monthly returns to the Department of Education’s Teachers Pay team detailing employee and employer scheme contributions as well as service details for all substitute teachers.  Substitute teachers working in a Voluntary Grammar school are paid directly by the school and not the DE Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team. For details on how to contact the DE Teacher pay team, please see the methods below:

Telephone 028 71 319000 

Fax: 028 71 319291 

Email: [email protected]  

Website: https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/contacts/teachers-pay-team  

If you have not been paid for the days working, please contact the school at the first instance to check if your booking has been signed off.  If there are further issues, please contact the DE Teachers’ Pay and Pensions Team on 028 7131 9000.

Your bank details are held by the paying authority, which is the Department of Education. To amend these details, you will need to contact the Teacher’s Pay team in DE.

Telephone number: 028 7131 9000

Email address: [email protected]

If you think you are experiencing a technical issue within NISTR, or it is not functioning as expected, please go to our Contact page on the NISTR website and complete a NISTR Contact Form  

This form will capture all the relevant information, to support further investigation by our NISTR Support Desk.

Please visit our NISTR Contact Page for more information on how to contact the NISTR Administration team. You can contact the team through:

• Contact Form
• Email
• Phone

Please follow the steps in the Device Bookmarking Quick Reference Guide. To understand how to add the NISTR log in link to your Browser favourites. This will ensure you have quick access to NISTR in the future.

Please follow the steps in the Device Bookmarking Quick Reference Guide, to understand how to add the NISTR log in link to your device home screen (Android/ iOS). This will ensure you have quick access to NISTR in the future.