Australia's Science Forum

Good Morning,
Can anyone point me in the direction of finding guidelines/policy of Science teachers setting a practical lesson for a casual teacher who is not science trained?
I have found something for NT but really need NSW information?

Lorrae

I thought I had read it in the CSIS manual, that unless you had science subjects in your degree, you could not conduct the practical lesson. But after a quick peruse, I'm sorry I can't find it. But that is our policy here. Certainly with chemicals, the level 1,2,3, etc you have to be trained to use each chemical is written in CSIS. Sorry not much help really.

Check with the your Principal, he says its insurance. Our Principal will NOT let a Casual teacher do practicals AT ALL.

http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/teach ... -abridged/

Subject requirement, page 5 relates to science (who can teach science)

You still have to be careful even if they were previously trained in that area. We have a casual teacher for science who used to be the HOD until he left in 2007. Last week he tried to organise a prac for a Yr 7 class that involved concentrated nitric acid and copper wire pieces. I had to inform him that it could only be done as a teacher demonstration. The prac hadn't even been left by the teacher he was relieving. The casual took it upon himself to turn the lesson into a prac

i think our rule here is no regular teacher, no prac....(thinking of the dry ice 'prac')

Yes! Narelle
That was the first thing that come to my mind when I started to read this

Thanks everyone. Bit of a problem when the teacher doing it is the HOD and I don't think she has taught high school science. Our other teachers wouldn't even contemplate this. They thought it WAS a rule. I was trying to find something written somewhere to back this up!