Selling resources on TES

[DakotaFanny]

My mentee at work has asked if she would be within her 'rights' to sell her resources on TES. They are lessons and resources she has created in her own time and shared with our faculty. Would she be on dodgy ground to then sell them? I guess the question is could the school object? (I know we could just ask someone higher up, but it seems to be one of those situations where she might be damned if she does)

Any experience anyone? Thanks

[BlessYourCottonSocks]

I would think she can sell them. Actually, technically I believe that any resources you create 'belong' to the school that employs you - which is ridiculous when you know you've slaved over them in your evenings. However, there are plenty of other people selling resources they've created on TES - and presumably these are not all HT/governors who have seized them from their staff and are filling the black hole of finance...

As a teacher I am personally sad that TES now let people sell their resources. One of the joys about teaching is how generous we all were with sharing our time/work freely with others. I have had many a PP with grateful, heartfelt thanks from TES - and shared my own too. I will not sell anything I produce - but will happily let anyone use it for free. I do know that often hours of work has gone into making resources...but I still think it is a shame to want to sell it to another teacher when you know how stressed, overworked and hugely grateful for a helping hand we all are. Just my personal opinion.

[DakotaFanny]

It's a very fair point...I agree too, being an older teacher. The good old days....

[BizzyFizzy]

I would never pay for resources on TES. There is no quality control.

[Rosieposy4]

So agree BizzyFizzy
Majority of the free ones i have downloaded over the years have not been that great, no intention of paying.

[BlessYourCottonSocks]

Well that's the other thing, of course. I'm with you all on having no intention of paying for resources. I've had some good stuff, and some pretty blah stuff which I've tweaked/adapted/abandoned depending on how relevant it was to what I was intending to do. Occasionally I've thought, 'oh that was a pretty good lesson'....but I'm certainly not forking out cash for the privilege of teaching bottom set Y9 on a Friday afternoon, perhaps.

[EvilTwins]

I do some freelance work for a theatre company and was asked to create some resources, which I did. Then they asked me to send my invoice. After I'd picked myself up off the floor, I spoke to the head and he said that of course I was able to invoice for work I had done myself. So yes, she can sell her resources to TES.

The theatre company doesn't charge for resources to be downloaded, by the way, but they did pay me for my time

[FannyWincham]

She needs to check her contract. I have worked in schools where it is explicitly stated in the teachers' contracts that any planning or resources created by staff are the intellectual property of the school.

[MaybeDoctor]

I looked into this a little while ago - as an ex-teacher with files of resources that I happily shared with my colleagues of the time.

It is true to say that the resources created while you are employed are considered to be the intellectual property of the school/employer.
www.copyrightsandwrongs.nen.gov.uk/schools-a-copyright/teacher-the-workforce-the-school-and-copyright

However, I think that this would actually be very difficult to enforce as the school would have to demonstrate that they have suffered a loss in order to be awarded any sum in recompense - Mrs Smith, a highly valued teacher from Reading makes £100 a year selling resources. Are the school really going to take her to court for that?

When I looked into this it also quickly became apparent that the resources published for sale on TES have some fairly significant changes made prior to publication, over and above what you might use in the classroom. For example, all images need to be copyright free, the resources tend to be produced with lots of graphics/DTP features and they tend to be 'bundled' along particular themes - so really not the same as the sheets or resources you might have produced under time pressure in your PPA time. So if you have thought a up a nice way of teaching a particular topic, used it successfully in the classroom, then put in additional time and energy into making it ready for publication - then is there really anything wrong with being rewarded for that? The requirements were certainly enough additional work to make me shelve the idea for now, once I realised that I couldn't just upload a few sheets and watch the pounds pennies roll in!

Remember too that there are hordes of freelance trainers, advisers and consultants going around the country selling INSET sessions to schools on the basis of the training, experience and development they received when they were employed by schools and LAs. Or should that be cracked down upon too?

It might be too late, but I would tell your mentee that you really value her resources and if she wants to also sell them online, then although the IP really belongs to the school, you are happy to turn a blind eye.