Employment Policies

Working in schools while in the MEdT Program

Because the Partnership School Model is a integral component of the MEdT Program, it is preferred that candidates be placed in our partner schools whenever possible. Our partnerships allow the candidate to be fully immersed in the school community and assignments for the core courses will be based on candidate experiences there. That said, the MEdT program understands that some of our candidates may already be teaching in a public, private or charter school before starting the program. In order to enable these candidates to retain their employment and support the school, the MEdT program may allow the candidate to use their position to meet the field requirements if all of the conditions in the School of Teacher Education On the Job Training (OJT) policy are met (see below).

Substitute Teaching

A teacher candidate may work as a substitute teacher while they are actively completing and fulfilling their practicum requirements at their assigned school. Review the guidelines for substitute teaching below.

Note: Teacher candidates working as substitute teachers must meet all substitute teacher requirements as required by their employer and must follow their employment policies. Compensation for such work is subject to the employer's policies. It is the candidate's responsibility to familiarize and comply with the hiring agency's policies. The College of Education, and MEdT faculty and staff are not responsible to provide information and support about the employment processes of the hiring agency. 

Substitute Teaching Expectations by Semester 

• During semesters 1 & 2 (non-student teaching semesters), teacher candidates may sub in any school on non-field days at their discretion. 

• If a teacher candidate substitutes more than five days during a non-student teaching semester on a designated field placement day, they must make up the field days on other non-field/clinical or days during which their Program classes are not held.

• During the student teaching practicum semester, it is at the coordinatorʻs discretion if a teacher candidate may substitute for their mentor teacher. If allowed, approval must come from the mentor teacher and coordinator. The teacher candidate may substitute only for their mentor teacher, and there are no exceptions. 

The decision to allow a student teacher to substitute for their mentor teacher should be made collectively by the student teacher, mentor teacher, and coordinator. School administrators are not obligated to ask a student teacher to serve as a substitute and may choose to hire someone else to serve as a substitute teacher. The substitute teacher then becomes the teacher-of-record.

OJT Application Form

Please discuss your placement with your cohort coordinator and submit an On the Job Training (OJT) Application Form.

Problems Accessing the OJT Form

The OJT Form is only accessible to individuals with a UH username and password. If you are viewing this page while logged in with a non-UH Google Account, you will receive an error message that you need permission to view the form. If you receive this message, log out from your non-UH Google Account and log in with your UH username and password before trying to access the form. If you need to complete the OJT form and do not have a UH username and password yet, please contact our office.