Why is it so hard to get a term-time only job!

[Monsooon]

Honestly, finding a term-time only job feels impossible! My eldest just started primary in September and my youngest is in preschool, so I need something that fits in between school hours. Obviously the search is a lot more limited, but when you do get an interview, especially for ones in schools, they make you interview against other people at the same time. It’s just awful and really stressful. You’d think there’d be more options for parents in this situation, but it’s like we’re expected to just figure it all out somehow! I’m literally gonna have a breakdown soon.

If your looking to do term-time only and have child care qualifications why don't you volunteer at your child's preschool. Often the jobs at my children's primary go to those who have had previous school experience, either volunteering or from other schools.

It's also an old recruitment process with schools, they will interview everyone at the same Time and either let you know then or the same day if you got the role (this even applies for teachers). They often also expect you to have asked to go vist the school before you even get called for an interview.

I worked term time only as a civil servant when my kids were young. Then I gradually gave up some of the weeks as they got older/DH wasn’t working away so much. I hung on to 2 weeks non contracted which I then took outside of the schools hols once they were older teens. Back to full year/full time now but as a family friendly employer, CS has been great and offered a huge amount of flexibility.
I did work full time when I first joined though- I didn’t request term time or part time from the off.

Not sure I understand the point about being able to afford wraparound care. Surely you pay it from the greater wages you get working more hours?

Would you think about becoming a childminder?

Pesky annoying employers wanting staff working all year around..

Sorry but there SHOULD be more term time jobs available. Companies SHOULD offer them or offer job shares or flexible working. Parents, no let’s be honest, mothers are being forced out of the workplace because we stick to a rigid, outdated model of work practices. It’s not ridiculous to think that in 2025 we can support women in the workplace by offering positions that are compatible with family life. Wrap around care, clubs, holiday camps etc are great if they exist, are affordable and are what is best for the children. My daughter has significant needs and CAN NOT attend wrap around care or holiday camps so I’m trapped. I love her and wouldn’t change her for the world but it’s hard not to feel angry that the government regularly say they want to help people/women work and then don’t support the varying ways that work might look. ‘I had to manage working full time’ ‘I had to spend every penny on childcare’ ‘I had no government help’ ok and? You want the world to be as hard for others as it was for you? I truly believe that it is a huge feminist issue that so many women are unable to access paid work because so few term time jobs exist. I understand that most companies operate all year around but there must be ways to support all workers. Disabled workers are hit hard by media demonisation at the moment and many would also benefit from part time hours so demand for shorter contracts are there but companies are stuck behind the times, demanding women work but not helping them do so

OP I have a few friends that work term-time only - one works for a charity, one is a civil servant, one works in university admin, one works at a museum. I think the trick is get a job with a 'normal' working pattern and once you've been there a while negotiate a change in hours.

NHS can be flexible, either admin if there perhaps is a team where most people don’t want school holidays because they don’t have kids, or maybe some kind of paediatric therapy assistant perhaps where demand is lower in school holidays because a lot of the patients and/or clinicians are on holiday.

Some people I know have not exactly term time only, but they have annualised hours and work comparatively more during term time so have more of the school holidays off , but not necessarily all.
Term time only is not necessarily the same as working within school hours so you can do drop offs and pick ups. You have perhaps conflated these and it might be more realistic to find one or the other. There is also option to do one long day and say two or three short days in a part time job so you minimise your need for wrap around care.

Finding ANY job at the moment is hard. It’s an employers market.

Are you nearly having a breakdown through frustration or because you really need the money? If the latter then I’m surprised you didn’t consider childcare options before looking for work.

This is one of the reasons why I started my own business. Before then I dropped down to 2.5 days a week, for school holidays my DH would cover the 2 full days with annual leave and I’d just have to make the kids work around the half day.

Its especially hard when children under 4 have term time only childcare because there really aren’t the same wrap around or holiday care options as there are for older children.

@littlemousebigcheese i have a child with additional needs as well. You are of course right when it comes to work/life balance, and especially when it comes to parents of children with additional needs who quite literally have nowhere to go to.
But - this also shows why it is such a bad idea to “stop work for a couple of years and start again later”. A good existing employer is so much more likely to adapt to changing needs than a new employer. My employer is incredibly flexible (and has been for 8 years), but that is because i have worked there for a long time.

Surely if you have a childcare qualification and your school doesn’t have wrap around you are perfectly placed to be a childminder? You’d be snapped up im sure and it means you could look after your own DC around school hours/in school holidays.

I haven’t RTFT but our local authority offers some term times jobs - the one that comes to mind is clerking school admission appeals x

Term time only isn't the same as school hours.

Most schools will expect you to start 7.30-8am and you'll be staying until 4-4.30pm depending on the role.

Most pre school is 9-3 so you'll need to cover those hours somehow.

I work in a school and I find that people who do the job purely for the hours don't stay long.

It's hard and relentless and that's just in the office. I don't know how TAs do it.

Remember that if you have a term time only contract, you often won’t be allowed to take any time off during the term time. That means you will miss all the settling in sessions your child needs, any assemblies, Christmas plays, church services or choir singing, sports day, any other organised event, being able to volunteer and help out occasionally. You are also likely to find you need to be in school for the entire day which means you can’t do drop off or pick up for your child at their school either.

It’s better to have a more flexible part time contract where you can take annual leave throughout the year. You can always top it up with unpaid parental leave if necessary.

Yes this is a fair point. I’m NHS and have come across a handful of people on term time only contracts. The weeks they work they do very long hours to cram it in. I would struggle to think of any job thats 9:15-2:45 term time only. I wouldn’t chose to do this for the pay off of having school holidays off.

It's more or less certain that you will. Most jobs in a school require you to be there before the kids arrive and stay till after they've gone. So how are you going to get to your own kids' school to pick them up unless you put them in wraparound/get a childminder? Realistically if you want to drop off and pick up yourself then you're looking for a 10-2pm post and I don't think they exist anymore.

If you do want to work in a school, most schools would prefer someone they have already had dealings with eg they've been on supply, temping in the office, perhaps they've had a major part in organising the school fair at their own kids' school, or volunteered on trips etc and made themselves known as a sensible, reliable adult who is good with children.

I got a term time job in a private school 8 years ago. I worked ft before that. I got the job through an agency if that helps? Our school advertises in their website for staff or use TES.

have you tried school kitchen?
lollypop lady?
lunchtime supervisor?

Great post!

I think the issue is that a lot of part time posts that women used to have access to years ago have simply disappeared. When I first started job hunting at the end of the 90s there were a lot of 18.5 hours a week or 25 hours per week vacancies, in all sorts of organisations often in the public sector. And then when austerity happened, those jobs were the first to disappear and the work was just spread out amongst the full timers. Those part time posts never came back, and the result has just been lots of stressed overworked full time workers. Something which is very diffiucult to balance if you're a single parent with no family support.

Is childminding not an option?
I did that when mine were little - I am actually a qualified teacher with a master's degree, but I enjoyed my childminding years and only stopped when we moved out of the area with DH's job.

You could have three littlies during the school day and still pick yours up from school. I was better off childminding than teaching and paying for childcare... You can set a lot against tax (for example a percentage of your bills as you use your home for work, and car expenses if you use your car for mindees).

Just keep applying and putting up with the interview process.It is annoying but it is what it is.I started as a lunchtime supervisor when ds was 5 then worked my way up to t.a then pastoral manager within 5 years.
Although obviously you can go straight in and apply for t.a roles.Good luck.

You could try casual/temp work to begin with where you can just give your available dates and turn down work during school holidays. Make a good impression somewhere and they might hire you on a term time contract.

I’d love to hear the grumbling if the world did work term time only to facilitate more term time only jobs! Delays in social care assessments, delays in GP appointments, delays to having urgent tests and investigations, delays in operating times, delays to EHCP assessments, delays to civil service, call centres, no staff in cafes etc etc etc. Your summer holiday would look very different if there was no one working over the holidays. Christmas would implode etc