A comprehensive school is employing its sixth formers as occasional cover in place of supply teachers.
Two dozen A-level students at Chalfonts Community College in Buckinghamshire are being paid £5 for each lesson they cover.
The school believes it is better than employing temporary teachers who are unfamiliar with its ways and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) confirmed that such arrangements were not illegal.
The school's principal, Sue Tanner, said: "The quality of some of the supply teachers that come here is less than we would expect.
"They are not teaching, it is more like babysitting, they are just coming in and sitting there to cover," she told the Bucks Free Press newspaper.
"Sometimes they don't understand the expectations here, that we have a behaviour policy we expect teachers to follow."
A spokeswoman for the DCSF said schools had a certain amount of flexibility which could include occasionally using non-teachers to take lessons provided they were supervised by a qualified teacher.
But it was not something the department was keen to encourage.
"We do not micro manage schools and they have certain flexibilities within the law - this includes occasionally using non-teachers to take lessons if they are supervised by a qualified teacher."
Two dozen A-level students at Chalfonts Community College in Buckinghamshire are being paid £5 for each lesson they cover.
The school believes it is better than employing temporary teachers who are unfamiliar with its ways and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) confirmed that such arrangements were not illegal.
The school's principal, Sue Tanner, said: "The quality of some of the supply teachers that come here is less than we would expect.
"They are not teaching, it is more like babysitting, they are just coming in and sitting there to cover," she told the Bucks Free Press newspaper.
"Sometimes they don't understand the expectations here, that we have a behaviour policy we expect teachers to follow."
A spokeswoman for the DCSF said schools had a certain amount of flexibility which could include occasionally using non-teachers to take lessons provided they were supervised by a qualified teacher.
But it was not something the department was keen to encourage.
"We do not micro manage schools and they have certain flexibilities within the law - this includes occasionally using non-teachers to take lessons if they are supervised by a qualified teacher."
