Your UK teaching contract has landed. You’ve probably read the salary first, checked the school’s name, and started thinking about flights, accommodation and when you can finally make the move.
Hold up for a minute.
Before you sign, there are a few lines in that contract that deserve more attention than the headline salary. Your pay scale, working hours and contract type can affect what your new job actually looks like once you arrive.
Then there’s visa sponsorship.
That section can raise questions about your start date, your family and what happens if your circumstances change later.
So before you book the flight or hand in your notice, let’s go through the parts of your UK teaching contract you should check first.
Check Your Contract for Pay, Working Hours and Holiday
Your contract sets out your teacher pay, directed hours and holiday arrangements in black and white. National rules in England shape all three, so your employer has less freedom than you might expect. Start with your salary, then work through your hours and holiday arrangements before you reply to the offer.
Teacher Pay and Your Salary Scale
Your contract of employment should state your annual salary as a specific figure. So before you start working out your monthly budget or comparing homes, check that figure against the pay scale that applies to your role.
For teachers in maintained schools in England, that scale comes from the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, which the Department for Education updates every September. The main pay range for a qualified teacher runs from M1 to M6, with progression normally taking place one point at a time.
Where the school is located can change the figure. Inner London, Outer London and the London fringe each have separate pay ranges, so don’t assume the national figure applies to your offer. A teacher on the fringe, for example, can receive a different salary from someone in Leeds doing a similar job.
The school type is important too. Academies and independent schools can set their own pay arrangements, although some academies follow the national scale closely. They may also offer additional allowances for shortage subjects such as physics.
So don’t stop at the salary figure. Check which pay scale your school uses, which point you’re being offered and whether any allowance is included. Your contract should make those details clear.
Holiday, Term Dates and Annual Leave
Your contract won’t treat holiday in quite the same way as a standard office job. Teachers work 195 days each year, with 190 days for teaching and five days for training and other activities. Your salary is then paid across all 12 months.
The school calendar therefore has a bigger effect on your time off than the annual leave figure you may be used to seeing in other jobs. School holidays generally determine when teachers can take their breaks, while taking leave during term time requires the headteacher’s approval.
That makes the school’s term dates worth checking before you plan flights home or book a longer trip. Councils usually publish their dates well in advance, so you can see when you’ll actually be free to travel.
Your contract should also make clear how your working year and pay are arranged. Supply teachers can have different holiday arrangements, with entitlement generally built up on a pro-rata basis according to the days worked.
Directed Working Hours
Teaching contracts rarely name a weekly hour total in the way other jobs do. For a full-time teacher in a maintained school, directed time is the figure to look for instead. It’s capped at 1,265 hours across 195 days.
That figure covers the time your headteacher can direct you to spend on teaching, meetings, parents’ evenings, training and other scheduled duties. It doesn’t include marking, planning or preparation. Your contract should also account for planning, preparation and assessment time, known as PPA, which must make up at least 10% of your timetabled teaching.
That doesn’t mean 1,265 hours is the amount of time you’ll spend working. Marking, planning and other tasks can sit outside directed time, and your contract may refer to reasonable additional hours without giving you a fixed total.
This is the part worth investigating before you accept the offer. Ask the school for its meeting and events calendar, including parents’ evenings and training days. You can then see how much of your working year is already committed before you start planning your move.
Holiday Pay, Term Dates and Annual Leave in the School Year
Holiday pay arrives inside your salary rather than as a separate payment. As we mentioned before, teachers work a 195-day working year and draw pay across all twelve months. Of those days, 190 put you in front of pupils and five run as training days.
Annual leave works differently here than in most jobs. The English education calendar is fixed; your holidays follow the local authority term dates, and you cannot take leave in term time without written agreement from the headteacher. Most councils publish dates for September 2026 a full year ahead.
Supply teachers sit outside that arrangement. They build holiday entitlement pro rata on the days they actually work. One agency paid a friend of ours weekly, with the holiday element printed as its own line on the payslip.
Check What Type of Teaching Contract You’ve Been Offered
There are three types of contracts: permanent, fixed-term, and supply. Each offers different terms, so the table below compares them side by side.
| Contract type | What it gives you | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent | Continuous service that ends only when one side resigns | Probation of one or two terms |
| Fixed-term | A written end date tied to maternity cover or funding | Renewal is never automatic |
| Supply | Day rate work through agencies, with flexible terms | No pay during school holidays |
As you can see, a permanent contract gives you ongoing employment rather than a fixed end date. That can give you more stability when you’re arranging housing, finances and family plans after moving to the UK. Still, read the probation and notice clauses carefully, as the notice period can differ during probation.
A fixed-term contract is the opposite of a permanent contract. It gives you a specific end date, often because the school is covering maternity leave or funding a temporary position. We often see teachers not checking their terms and conditions in detail and then leaving the school on a bad note. So make sure to check why the role is fixed-term, when the contract ends, and what happens if the school wants to keep you on.
Supply teaching, by contrast, can offer more flexibility but less certainty about future work. You might cover a teacher’s absence for a few days or take on a longer placement, but your next assignment isn’t guaranteed. That can make your workload and income less predictable, particularly when you’re relying on supply work as your main source of employment.
Ultimately, the contract type can affect how confidently you can plan your move. So make sure the arrangement you’re accepting fits your financial plans and how long you intend to stay in the UK.
Teaching Jobs UK: Checking the Support and Visa Links Overseas Teachers Often Miss
Before you start planning flights, accommodation or your first day, check what support your school has actually promised. Some of the most important details sit in contract clauses, appendices or linked policies rather than the job advert.
Four areas deserve your attention first:
- Visa Sponsorship Details: Your visa plans depend on the school having the right sponsor licence and providing the correct sponsorship information for your application. That makes the school’s sponsorship arrangements one of the first things to verify before you make plans around the job. Check its sponsor status and make sure the Certificate of Sponsorship details match the role you’ve accepted.
- Relocation Payment Terms: A flight reimbursement can look like a useful extra until you discover that you’re expected to stay for a set period before receiving it. The same condition may apply to other relocation costs, such as visa fees or accommodation. That’s why you should always check whether you’ll have to repay these costs if you leave the school early.
- Induction and Professional Development: Your first year in a UK school can involve structured induction, mentoring and training, particularly if you’re an early career teacher. The level of support can vary between schools. Your offer should make clear what support you’ll receive and whether any professional development costs come out of your own pocket.
- Data and Privacy Links: Find the school or trust’s privacy policy and check how it handles personal information such as your passport details, qualifications and contact information. If the recruitment process asks for additional information, the policy should explain why it is collected and how it is used.
Having those details before you travel means fewer unanswered questions when you arrive and fewer surprises during your first term.
Read the Notice Period and Other Conditions Before You Sign
Once you’ve worked through the main contract details, pay attention to the clauses that could affect your plans after you start. Your notice period and the employer’s right to change parts of your role are two of the biggest ones.
Notice periods can affect when you’re able to leave. For many teachers in England, resignation dates are tied to specific points in the school year. If you want to leave at the end of August, for example, you’ll generally need to give notice by the end of May. That date can affect when you can accept another job, return home or make longer-term plans, so make sure you know the deadline in your contract.
Your contract can also set out when the school can change your role. A variation clause may allow the school or trust to make reasonable changes to your duties, timetable or place of work. If your contract names a trust or group of schools rather than one specific school, pay particular attention to where you could be required to work.
And don’t sign anything you don’t understand. A clause that seems minor can have practical consequences once you’re thousands of miles from home. If you’re not sure about a term, ask the school to explain it or have the contract reviewed before you commit to the move.
Ready to Sign Your Contract and Book the Flight?
Now, over to you. Which part of your UK teaching contract would you want clarified before making the move? Share it in the comments. Your question could help another overseas teacher spot something they hadn’t thought to ask.
And if you want more plain-English guides to the documents and decisions that come with working in education, visit The Library Fanatic for more practical advice.
