Monthly substitution hours report: what it needs to contain

The short answer: a good substitution hours report is built of two parts. A summary - how many hours each teacher covered in the month. A breakdown - a row for every hour: date, period, class, subject, who covered and in place of whom. The total in the summary equals exactly the number of rows in the breakdown. And after the report was sent, you do not change it. You correct it in a new version with a note.

This report usually passes from the person who arranges the timetable to the secretariat and to whoever handles payroll. Every missing hour is a teacher who was not paid, and every double hour is an unnecessary payment. That is why it needs to be simple to check.

The summary: a row for every teacher

The first part answers the question payroll asks: how many hours for each. A made-up example:

Next to the total it is worth writing the number of rows in the breakdown too. If it says "12 hours" and "12 rows", the checker knows the report is complete.

The breakdown: a row for every hour

The second part is the proof. Every hour that appears in the summary appears here in a row of its own:

An hour that the substitute refused, or that was cancelled, should not appear. Only covers that were approved enter the report.

A mistake after the report was sent: a corrected version, not an edit

This is where many schools get stuck. The report was sent to payroll, and then it turns out that one cover was not recorded. If you simply change the file, there are two different versions of "the same" report, and nobody knows which is right.

The right way:

1. The report that was sent does not change. It is kept as it is.
2. You produce a corrected report, version 2, from the up-to-date data.
3. You write what was corrected, in one sentence. For example: "Added a cover by Michal Cohen on the 12 of the month, period 3, seventh grade 1".
4. The corrected report shows what changed compared with the previous version: which rows were added and which were removed.

That way whoever handles payroll sees exactly what the difference is, without comparing two files row by row.

A five-minute check before passing to payroll

Even when the report is built automatically, it is worth going over it before it goes on:

• Does the total equal the rows? If it says 12 hours, there are 12 rows in the breakdown.
• No double rows? The same teacher, the same date and the same period cannot appear twice.
• Days with no teaching? A row on the date of a holiday or a day off is a sign of a mistake.
• Missing teachers? If someone told you they covered, and they are not in the report, check whether the cover was approved.
• Does the cancelled hour not appear? A cover that was cancelled should not be counted.

If you found a mistake, this is the time for a corrected version, before the report goes to payroll.

What the report does not do

The report counts hours. It does not calculate how much to pay. Rates, position sizes and payroll rules for substitutes are set according to the rules and agreements that apply to the school, and whoever handles payroll applies them. It is worth checking with them in advance in what format they want to receive the report, PDF or Excel.

How Teaching School builds and sends the report

In Teaching School the report is built from the substitution log, so there is nothing to type at the end of the month. How covers are recorded in the log is explained in the guide to managing substitutions.

• On the 1st of every month a report is built for the month that has passed, at the hour set in the settings (Israel time).
• The report includes a summary by teacher and a breakdown of lessons, with the fields in the table above, in PDF and Excel.
• It is sent by email to the timetabler with the files, and saved in the "Substitution reports" screen (under "More").
• The total in the summary equals the breakdown rows. This is a check that runs before every send.
• The report is final. After it is built, it cannot be changed. "Build a corrected version" builds a new version from the up-to-date data, asks you to write what was corrected, and shows what was added and what was removed. The previous version stays.
• A reported month is locked. If you try to record or cancel a cover in a month that already has a report, the system asks for a correction note ("This month was already reported - add a correction note"), and the change enters as a corrected version of the report.

The first report is built on the 1st of the month after a month in which a timetable was published. Until then the screen is empty. The full picture of the work, from the timetable to the report, is in the complete guide to building a timetable.

Written by the Teaching team · Updated on 14 October 2026.