It’s heading in to spring and if you’re a student then you probably have assignments and exams on your mind with the long summer holidays glinting brightly in the not too distant future. As a teacher you might be cursing the wet play days and the endless snotty noses this time of year brings and longing for warmer weather whilst planning what to do in your holidays. Both of these scenarios have two things in common; a long expanse of time off in the summer months and a need for money to fund your interesting adventures and there is the crux: money! So how can you earn some decent money doing a short stint of work and still have time off to go on an amazing holiday?
Easy – you take a job at one of the many, many summer schools that operate every year across the country. So what can you expect and what are the benefits? Here are our top 10 reasons for applying for a UK summer school job today TODAY:
1. You can usually work in blocks of weeks – quite often a block is 2 or 3 weeks and you can generally work as many or as few as you want. The majority of summer schools operate for 4-8 weeks over July and August. So as a teacher you could work an extra 3 weeks and still have 3 weeks off with money in your pocket! As a student you could work 6+ weeks and probably still have 6+ weeks off for plenty of adventures after that.
2. The money is pretty good – depending on the role you could expect to receive anywhere from £250 – £500 a week; yes the hours are sometimes long but the work is usually great fun!
3. On top of your salary, most summer schools offer full accommodation and food, so essentially, as well as earning money you won’t need to spend any during this time. The evenings can be very social and your day off can be great fun too as you’ll be in a new city or area and can explore like a tourist!
4. You will meet loads of interesting kids and amazing work colleagues. Often the children come from around the world and have lots of cool stories to tell, they are looking to do some work over the summer but also to have fun and so the environment is pretty chilled out with a focus on fun and activities during the down time.
5. You can get extra CPD and qualifications. Many summer schools will pay for your DBS check which you need to add to the update service asap and then it can be used for other jobs you might take in teaching or back at uni. Lots of summer schools offer first aid training, safeguarding training and even lifeguarding courses for the right people. It is certainly worth letting them know you are happy to do training – and you could come away with a lot more than just extra money.
6. The roles do depend on your experience but generally there are teaching roles and there are pastoral role. Often teachers will take on pastoral duties during the evenings and weekends too. The pastoral roles are fun, you get to do lots of sports, go on trips and visit loads of new places with the kids.
7. The teaching roles are usually a dream compared to mainstream teaching in a UK classroom – small classes of kids that are interested to learn and quite often you get scope to do whatever interests you within the remit of a broad scheme of work. You often get great resources and opportunities to plan exciting and hands on lessons for your learners.
8. You gain experience of working with EAL kids. With over 1.1 million EAL learners in UK schools there is a growing need for mainstream teachers to broaden their experience of working with children new to English or at advanced levels. Build up a great toolkit of ideas by working with lots of other teachers in fully bilingual classrooms. If you’re a student and have an interest in potentially teaching abroad in the future then it is also a fantastic opportunity and can give you experience in preparation for a TESOL course down the line.
9. You can expect to work 6 days a week with chunks of time off throughout the days and during evenings – your day off usually has the night before too so it’s often enough to pop home to see family, meet friends or just go off campus and enjoy some free time. It may seem a lot to work 6 days but the work is not usually taxing – quite often you will be paid to just hang out with kids and organise activities.
10. You can often come back to summer schools year after year and many will pay you slightly more each year that you return or you can get a more senior role which obviously pays more. In addition, it is a great way to acquire references if you need them for future jobs that you might apply for whilst at, or after, university.
Overall, summer schools jobs are great fun, bring in much needed money and come with a whole host of benefits that you’ be mad to miss out on! If you are interested in looking for a summer school job then check out the Summer School Directory Jobs Board – if nothing takes your fancy there then browse our site for a course you like and get in touch with them directly to ask about jobs.
Now is the time when almost all summer schools recruit in preparation for the summer season!
