Side hustles for teachers: check time, rights and real fees

A side hustle for a teacher has an awkward test to pass: it must still work during reports, parents’ evenings and a difficult school week. Tutoring can use your strongest skill but extend the same working day. Selling resources can avoid appointments but create unpaid production and support. An unrelated task can give you a change of activity, provided it does not introduce a daily deadline you cannot meet.

This guide concentrates on England, with AQA’s own examiner requirements and the English school conditions document. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different school employment arrangements. Check your own contract before treating an English rule as applicable. For the broader set of home-based options, there is an existing UK side-hustle comparison.

Which option survives a week with parents’ evening? #

Choose according to the interruption you can tolerate. A booked lesson is difficult to move at short notice. Resource creation can often pause, but a paying buyer may still need a missing file or correction. Parcels have a physical endpoint: the correct carrier needs to accept them. Before choosing an activity, write down what happens when school work consumes the afternoon you expected to have free.

Does the 1,265-hour rule leave spare earning time? #

For the teachers it covers, the 2026 English School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document sets 195 available working days, including 190 teaching days, and 1,265 directed hours for a full-time teacher. It also requires reasonable additional hours for duties such as preparation and assessment. Leadership roles and some other posts have different provisions. The document relates to maintained schools; do not assume every academy contract follows it. DfE’s current document.

The practical consequence is simple: subtract your actual school work before advertising another service. A timetable with no pupils after a certain time does not show marking, planning or meetings. Keep a record through an ordinary week and a demanding one. Offer a tutoring slot only if it exists in both, or make the limited period explicit before the learner books.

School holidays also need a separate check. A temporary project might fit a holiday better than a recurring service, but first establish its delivery date and payment terms. Avoid spreading an exceptional holiday workload across the year to produce an attractive monthly average. A one-off burst of earnings and a repeatable term-time service solve different needs.

Can you start examining with the experience and kit you have? #

AQA’s current vacancies page typically requires three full teaching terms in the relevant subject and qualification level within the last five years. It asks for a senior professional referee and says private tutors are not currently accepted. It lists limited subject-specific exceptions for trainees and ECTs. Read the vacancy rather than assuming your general teaching qualification is enough. AQA eligibility.

The equipment requirement matters too. AQA normally specifies a Windows PC with a currently supported operating system, while a limited pilot accepts some Mac users in named subjects. Its page also lists a UK bank account, National Insurance number or application, and data-security requirements. Check the live wording when applying: neither a school laptop nor a household tablet is automatically suitable.

Ask about the full assignment before comparing it with tutoring. You need to know the marking window, standardisation commitments, payment basis and what happens if you cannot finish. A quoted payment per script is not an hourly rate until you have included the time needed to read, decide and record marks. We have no verified universal AQA earnings figure to substitute for that information.

Do you own the worksheets you want to sell? #

The Intellectual Property Office says an employer is normally the first copyright owner of relevant work made by an employee in the course of employment, unless an agreement says otherwise. Creating a worksheet yourself does not settle ownership. Nor does using your own laptop automatically decide whether it was made in the course of your employment. Official copyright ownership guidance.

Before listing a resource, separate the questions. Who owns the text you wrote? What licence covers the illustrations, photographs and fonts? Does the file contain school branding, pupil work or personal information? A fresh cover and a PDF export do not answer those questions. Resolve uncertain rights with the owner before including the material in a product.

Then price the production work honestly. A digital file can be sold more than once, but repeat sales are a possibility rather than a fact. Count your initial creation time and the work needed for each customer. If you are testing the idea, start with one resource whose rights and intended learner are clear. Buying a catalogue of design assets before establishing demand adds another cost to recover.

What would a small parcel commitment add to your week? #

With AirPost, a shop sends products and packaging to your home. You hold that stock, pack individual orders, print their labels and hand them to the agreed carrier. The shop pays for the label and you set your fee. On 19 October 2026 the shared suggested small-parcel fee was €2.25, with 3% deducted when you pay yourself out.

A scenario of 12 orders a week means 48 in four weeks and €104.76 after that deduction. If the whole workload takes six hours, that is €17.46 an hour before expenses and tax. If it takes twelve hours, it is €8.73. The hours are explicit comparison assumptions, not measured packing speeds. Amounts are euros; use your actual sterling receipt and conversion costs for a UK comparison.

Do not choose this because you can pack on Sunday if the shop needs weekday dispatch. The product copy says most shops want an order out the next working day, with arrangements made directly. Check the carrier point’s real opening hours against your school day. A convenient point near school only helps if the parcels, labels and carrying capacity fit the journey.

You also remain responsible for stock already in your care. Setting yourself inactive before a busy period is useful for availability, but first agree what happens to existing stock and outstanding orders. The evening and weekend packing guide develops that dispatch question. It is worth resolving before a shop ships you anything.

How can you compare the offers without guessing an hourly wage? #

Put each real offer through three lines: money due for completed work, costs you personally pay, and all hours required. Include preparation and administration. Compare a tutoring quote with an actual examiner assignment or an agreed parcel fee, using the same currency. Keep tax as a further calculation based on your circumstances; gross revenue is not your personal take-home pay.

Finally choose one trial with an end date. Record what you received and what remains unpaid, then assess the effect on your next school week. A modest amount from a dependable commitment can be useful. If the trial repeatedly consumes the time you need for teaching or recovery, the workable decision may be to stop or reduce it, regardless of the advertised rate.