Teacher pay and their number of holidays seem to be a source of debate and question around the world.
When an individual decides to enter the teaching profession, they are often ready to hear the comments about their pay and the vacations they receive annually.
True, there are some perks to being a teacher, including time away from school when students are not present, but there are many things that are not understood by the general population.
Are teacher’s holidays paid in the UK? Teachers in the UK do receive paid holidays if they are employed by local authorities, a school, or another local agency. They will typically receive 5.6 weeks of paid holiday time. If you are not a full-time teacher or are considered a supply teacher, also known as a substitute teacher, you may not qualify for paid vacation time.
In this article, you will learn about how teachers in the UK are given holidays and how they are paid for them.
Do Teachers Get Paid Holidays?
In a sense, teachers do get paid holidays, but it is not like a normal profession. Typically, teachers are only paid for their contract period of ten months. However, they can spread the payment out over twelve months.
Because the payment is spread out over twelve months, it seems that teachers are getting paid for vacation time, when in fact they are receiving their normal salary, not additional payment for vacation. In fact, it is not referred to as holiday pay. It is referred to as directed and non-directed time.
- Directed Time: Directed time is the time that teachers are required to be at work or available to work. The headteacher at the school typically dictates this. This directed time is not exclusively related to classroom teaching, but rather to all the components that make up the profession of teaching that are not fully understood by the public. (Source: neu.org)
- Non-directed Time: This time is defined as time away from school that does not have any requirements from the headteacher. During this time, teachers are not required to partake in any school-related activities or functions, nor can they be directed to do so.
What Activities are Considered Directed Time?
If you are a teacher, you know the demands put on you in the classroom during the year are quite significant and fill up the entire contractual school year. During school, many activities constitute directed time.
Some of the time takes place during the regular school day, but there is also a portion that takes place outside the normal school day, which includes:
- Parent conferences
- After school meetings
- Break times during the day
- Teaching time
- Any form of staff development that is required
This list is not an exclusive list of directed activities, but it does contain some examples of what teachers are directed to do within the school year.
It is also important to understand the directed time required of teachers does not always integrate the hours of planning required to teach a class successfully.
Part of the directed time can also include mandated training days that teachers are required to be in school during the student break period.
Typically, these are 1-2-day sessions over the break. Most schools provide a calendar with required dates for teachers so they can plan around them.
How Many Hours do Teachers Work Under Directed Time?
There will be many different answers when you ask teachers how much time they spend working during an average school year. In a survey that was completed by the Teachers’ Union, the hours worked by classroom teachers were staggering, to say the least.
The following chart gives the average time that teachers at various grade levels spend working each week:
| Grade Level | Hours Worked |
|---|---|
| Primary classroom teachers | 59.3 hours each week |
| Secondary classroom teachers | 55.7 hours each week |
| Secondary Academy teachers | 55.2 hours each week |
(Source: Metro)
When looking at the breakdown of hours worked, you must understand that these hours are not just in classroom teaching; these hours include all the above-mentioned directed time activities. Often, these activities take place outside of normal school hours.
What Holidays do Teachers Get?
Now that you know how many hours teachers put in for their directed time, you may be wondering just what holidays teachers are entitled to. It is important to remember that not all schools are the same when it comes to determining holidays.
The most common holidays provided to teachers are:
- Christmas
- Easter
- Summer
- Half term breaks
These breaks are remarkably like US teacher breaks; however, the school year is broken apart differently in the UK. The school year is comprised of three different terms: Autumn (Fall) Term, Spring Term, and Summer Term.
- Autumn Term: The Autumn term begins in September and ends in December. This term also includes a two-week Christmas break
- Spring Term: The Spring term runs from early January until April and includes a two-week Easter break.
- Summer Term: The Summer term runs from after Easter until mid-July. A six-week summer break is included in this term.
Each of the terms also includes a one-week half-term break for students and teachers. Although these breaks may be referred to as holidays, many teachers continue to work during this time in preparation for the upcoming term.
Often, the time teachers spend working over breaks is non-directed, but there are also directed time days included that are required by the headteacher.
What Teachers Might do in The Summer
This question can be quite a dangerous one to ask many teachers, because, for some, the summer is time spent planning for the upcoming school year, with limited time for relaxing or turning the school switch off.
Many teachers enjoy their summer vacation, but they often find themselves looking toward the upcoming school year and reflecting on the year that has passed.
For some, it is a time spent reading, vacationing, and just recharging their batteries in preparation for the upcoming year.
For other teachers, they spend their time seeking out and participating in professional development opportunities that they may not be able to take part in during the school year.
Sadly, some teachers are forced to take extra work in the summer, to compensate for their low pay,
While professional development is relaxing for some people, it is still school-related and not necessarily a vacation.
What Summer Vacation Really Looks Like
While many teachers spend their time relaxing over the summer break, frequently, teachers look at summer break as a time to get work done when there are no students in the picture.
This work obviously does not involve teaching, but it does involve preparation for the upcoming school year.
Some things teachers may do over the summer holiday that they never talk about are:
- Packing and changing classrooms
- Updating displays in the room
- Updating and creating lesson plans
- Labeling and laminating things
- Learning about how to reach their new students best
- Catching up on personal appointments that cannot be made during the school year
As you can see, teachers may get “paid” for their holidays, but after seeing all the work that goes into the profession of teaching, it is quite understandable. (Source: Hull Live)
Final Thoughts
Teachers in the UK do get paid for holidays, but not in the sense of other professions.
They are paid for a ten-month contract that most choose to spread out over the year. While they do not have students with them during the holidays, they often have work-related commitments that must be followed through during their time off.
No matter how busy a teacher’s schedule is, they do find some time to relax during their holidays.
Whilst the claim can be made that part of the summer break is taken up preparing for the next term. The curriculum does not change that much so an established teacher does not need to re-organise that much from one year to another. Let’s be honest the really good and dedicated teachers are not in abundance and the vast majority take up the career because of the fantastic paid holiday time. 6 to 8 weeks in summer, 2 weeks Christmas, 2 weeks Easter, and further 2 to 3 weeks half term breaks which can add up to almost 4 months, not bad compared to other professions. Also the average salary is way above that of the nurses who really do work b****y hard week in week out and do not get 15 weeks paid holiday a year.
You clearly didn’t read the article properly, or at least understand it. Teachers absolutely work as hard as NHS staff – I can attest to this as a primary teacher. Teachers also work many evenings each week and will also work for at least several hours every weekend, as they are not able to compete the extreme amount of paperwork that they have whilst they are in class with the children.
As this article has pointed out, while a teacher salary looks good on paper it is actually less than you think, as it is spread across those holiday periods to make it up to 12 months.
As for your comment on curriculums not changing – I am an established teacher and in my experience our curriculum planning has indeed changed every year, sometimes considerably.
Instead of ragging on teachers constantly, why don’t you go volunteer to support a teacher in school so you can actually see what its like!
Erm, pls get facts correct teachers receive no salary for holidays. 43 weeks is spread out over 52.
Although I am not saying anyone deserves to be paid more, I very much appreciate and support the NHS.
The curriculum does not change? Are you joking?! 😆
Anyone who goes into teaching for the holidays will not last. I have never met one single teacher who has “gone in it for the holidays.”
And those teachers you’re describing don’t last once they find out that the average teacher in the UK works 8 weeks longer than the average full time employee outside teaching, factoring in all their ‘holidays’. Try working 8am until 2am, for 50% of that time under stressful full-on conditions ehere youre not sat your backside all the time, and you’ll understand why the average new teacher lasts just 4 years before getting out to work at a job that allows them a life.
Read what it says. Teachers pay includes 28 days paid holiday. A teacher is actually contracted to work 1265 hours per year, many work much more than this. Their annual salary is calculated on this plus 28 days holiday pay. The salary is then split into 12 equal parts, so the wage a teacher gets paid in the summer holiday is money they earned over the previous September to July. The average teachers Salary quoted in the press is often not the mean average (add up all the peoples wages and divide by the number of people), it is the median average (write out the numbers in descending order and find the middle of you list. The median average is always higher than the mean average and in the case of teaching the median average is higher than the wage of a Head of Department.
Let’s be honest, the idea that teachers don’t need to reorganize much because the curriculum doesn’t change is oversimplified. Sure, the curriculum might not get a complete overhaul every year, but teaching isn’t just about copying and pasting old lesson plans. Every class is different—new students, new challenges. Teachers have to adjust their methods, tailor their lessons, and prepare new materials to meet the needs of their students, including those who struggle to keep up or excel beyond the norm. And let’s not forget, changes in policies and assessments mean there’s always something to adapt to.
Now, about this claim that most teachers take up the job for the “fantastic paid holiday time”—come on. People don’t choose a profession like teaching just to lounge around. Spending 8 hours a day in a room full of children takes patience, composure, and resilience. Many classrooms include kids with a wide range of needs, including those who are less able, violent, or downright disrespectful. Managing this while delivering high-quality lessons is no walk in the park. Teachers do it because they care, not for the so-called “holidays.”
And this myth about “4 months off a year”—let’s get real. Students might have breaks, but teachers don’t. A big part of that time is spent preparing for the next term, marking work, and attending training sessions. They’re constantly working to improve their teaching and support their students. They don’t just disappear for weeks on end.
As for the comparison to nurses—yes, nurses work incredibly hard, and they deserve recognition for that. But let’s not dismiss the effort teachers put in. Spending 50-60 hours a week preparing lessons, managing classrooms, marking papers, and dealing with emotional and behavioral challenges isn’t easy. The qualifications, responsibilities, and emotional toll of both professions are different, so comparing them in a vacuum is unfair.
So, let’s be honest here: teaching is an incredibly demanding job, and the myths about “fantastic paid holiday time” and an “easy career” are far from the truth. Teachers deserve more respect for the patience, skill, and dedication they bring to shaping the next generation (of nurses?!) …
Why do you have to compare teachers to nurses? Both work hard, but both are very different jobs. Unfortunately, the curriculum does change year on year. So even if you have lessons planned for one topic, you might be teaching that to a different year group, so the lesson will still need adapting. I guarantee you, minimal people in teacher training right now are there because of the holidays. Surely we live in a world where we can say there is a problem with one public sector profession without having to compare it to another. They’ve both been given a raw deal by the government and don’t need people putting down their claims.
If I leave my teaching job at the end of summer term would I get paid any outstanding holiday pay I am owed or would I just be paid through the 6 weeks summer holidays?
I work as a early years practitioner at a pre school.
Thank you in advance for your assistance
Teachers are paid for 52 weeks of the year, 5.6 weeks of which is paid holiday. They do not get paid for “10 months of the year spread over 12 months”. This is not a commentary on how hard they were or what hours they work during contact time and non contact time, just a comment that they are paid the full year, as they will see stated in their contracts of employment. Most non teaching school staff only get paid for the weeks they work “term time only”, plus holiday and their salaries are pro-rated accordingly. Thus, these jobs are advertised with a salary and usually a full time equivalent (FTE) salary. Teachers’ salaries are not pro-rated (unless they are part time) as they are paid the full year. It is surprising that many teachers do not seem to know this.