One of the perks of joining the teaching profession has to be the long (and well-deserved) school holidays. Many of us will use them to simply sit back and recharge our batteries, or to start thinking ahead and planning the next term. They can also be a good time to look at supplementing your teaching salary by finding something to fill those weeks away from the classroom. If you’re looking for ways to earn a little income on the side, here are five things you might want to consider…
Private Tutoring
You’ve already got the teaching skills and experience, so why not put them to good use through private tutoring? The school holidays are an ideal time to branch out into private tuition, with parents keen to give their kids a head start before the start of the new term. They’re probably also tearing their hair out trying to think of new ways to keep their children occupied on something other than the games console or smartphone, and private lessons are often seen as a good way of using their free time more productively.
Babysitting and Childcare
Yes, we can hear a collective groan go up at the suggestion that you might want to spend your holidays still surrounded by children, but childcare and babysitting services can prove very lucrative. While you might see the holidays as the ideal time to escape lecturing children on bad behaviour, looking after children at home often pays surprisingly well. Most parents won’t have the luxury of taking time out of work to stay at home and look after kids for the whole length of the holidays, so there’s always a demand for responsible and experienced childminders.
Pet Sitting
You could try swapping the kids for some furry friends over the holidays. With plenty of families jetting off to foreign climes, someone needs to be around to walk Fido and give the cat some dinner. Pet sitting is a great way of making a little extra cash on the side and often requires very little effort beyond popping in now and then to top up food bowls and empty litter trays. If you like animals then taking a neighbour’s dog for a stroll round the park won’t feel like much of a chore, and it staves off the cabin fever you can start to feel after the initial joy of school holidays commencing.
Become a Local Tour Guide
Standing up and talking in front of large groups of people is tough, but you’ve already aced it. Put your public speaking skills to good use by becoming a local tour guide and you could earn a nice little income over the school holidays. If you brush up on your local knowledge, there are always cathedrals, churches, walking tour companies and big tourist attractions on the lookout for guides over those busier holiday months.
Join a Temping Agency
Temping agencies are great for finding those short-term contracts you need over the school holidays. Some will be specialist agencies and others will place people in more general roles, so it very much depends where your interests lie. Whether it’s the long summer break or the Christmas holidays, there’s always plenty of seasonal work up for grabs and you’ll easily be able to pick up a position lasting a couple of weeks or months.
You’ve already got some pretty valuable experience and life skills, so why not put them to good use? Use the holidays to find something short-term and you could earn a pretty penny for your work outside the classroom.
Lizzie Exton writes for Inspiring Teaching, who specialise in providing a simple, straightforward, inexpensive solution to recruitment for Schools and Nurseries.