Term time working

[KatieBell77]

Hello. I'm mum of 2 (currently 11 and 8 years) looking to get back to work after being either part time or self employed since they were born. I want to get back into a workplace and feel I have lots to offer but can't find a suitable childcare option for the holidays. Therefore I am currently struggling to find term time only employment.
I am interested to hear from other parents in similar situations - are employers being short sighted here? Is there anything we can do to encourage employers to consider more term time working options? There must be a wealth of well educated hard working parents who could be great value for 36 weeks of the year??

There probably are, but from an employers point of view it’s no good you being great for 39 weeks of the year if their business is completely knackered for the 13 weeks you’re off...

I have a term-time job (plus a bit extra) in a school. The pay is pretty crappy but the jobs are in such demand that they have no need to pay more. I was incredibly lucky to have been in the right place at the right time to stumble across this job, vacancies rarely come up. But schools and colleges are your best bet if you want termtime working.

I'm trying the school/education route but my background isn't in education or admin - I've a degree in Chemistry and years if experience in labs and in pharmaceuticals. It's a tough one to crack - I was recently offered a job in a lab but they wouldn't consider term time only working and I feel we have both lost out as a result.

I get that but there are opportunities for possibly having undergraduates cover holidays at a lower rate maybe as a job share type arrangement? I'm just thinking out loud here...

Honestly, I struggle with this one. I can see the argument for more part-time/job-share roles. But it is hard to see how a business model can really function with term time working.

There used to lots of it in the civil service but it seems to have started to die out as it just became unworkable. It felt like EVERYONE wanted it and the offices couldn't run in the summer.

I suppose maybe if it's the type of industry where lots of students could come and fill the gaps in the holidays? But that's unlikely to be well-spoken work.

Have you considered teaching?

Does teaching appeal?
Start as a cover teacher and if you like it do teach first?
I know people are very negative about teaching, but dh and I are very happy in our work and we have had never had to use school holiday childcare.
Dh is a head of faculty and I am a term time only English intervention tutor. My work is stress free because I work with very small groups or 1:1 with children with a variety of SEN or that need a boost with GCSE. I went back to work when our 3 kids started school, part time so I could do school runs and full time now they're teens.

I am considering teaching but it's a huge commitment and the fees to train are quite prohibitive (probably should have done a PGCE when uni tuition was free....). Secondary school teachers I know work almost as hard in the holidays as they do during the term time so although it can be at home it is still a burden I'm not sure my kids are ready for. It's certainly not a career choice to be taken lightly.
In a few years when the kids are able to be home alone/independant it will all be different. I was hoping to find some term time only work that I could perhaps expand into full time in a few years.....not asking much eh?!😉

What about a lab technician in a secondary school?

Lab technician in a school. They'll bite your hand off. You're still doing chem stuff, they have someone hugely knowledgable, you get all your holidays with your kids.

Only downer is it won't be more than about £10 an hour. Still, better than being bored at home?

I narrowly missed out on a school lab tech job to an experienced school lab tech recently. Like all these jobs they are few and far between but hopefully something will come up. X

I suspect you might get a bursary if you are doing a science based pgce though. Worth checking.