As people try to get a better work life balance taking on a job share as a teacher could be the answer for many teachers. It is a good idea if this is something you are interested in approaching the Head teacher to see whether they are open to such a job arrangement especially if you are struggling to keep up with working full time but do not want to give up teaching.

Job sharing is common in schools and usually means that one class of pupils is taught by two teachers whose hours of work are either divided equally or split according to the teacher’s contract or the school needs.

Mutual respect and an equal workload are essential for a job share to work successfully and for each party to benefit by the arrangement. Often the teachers agree between them which subjects they will be responsible for planning and teaching and how the workload will be divided. This way of working rather than being detrimental to the pupils actually benefits them as they are tapping into the expertise of two teachers rather than one. It always works well if both parties have similar teaching styles and are committed to spending time at the end of the school day discussing future planning and assessments.