Job sharing is an option available to teachers who would like to work part time. There are a variety of reasons why someone would opt to job share.

Each school may have different approaches to job sharing and each job share may be slightly different. Below you’ll find some tips from fellow teachers on what has worked well for them and some things to consider.

The main thing to do is to find a partner. This may be someone in your own school or someone in another school or maybe you’d prefer to job share in another school.

To find a job sharing partner check out educationposts.ie and Facebook group.

As with everything, communication is key! Really important to decide on the method of communication that will work best for both partners.

Some important decisions to make at the start of the year

• Method of communication
• Time/day for weekly handover
• Classroom management strategies
• Copies to be used/corrections

Some suggestions from teachers who have job shared or are currently job sharing

• Daily notebook/diary – For incidents that happen and important information
• Weekly handover chat/phone call/voicenote to ensure smooth transition (Decide on the method of communication that works best for you and your partner)
• Shared google drive – access to each others plans and resources (decide on template that works well)
• Shared vault on revolut – small expenses e.g. stationery/prizes
• Videos on WhatsApp once a week – talk through on resources/books used etc.
• Long phone calls maybe needed at the beginning of the year
• Use google docs and annotate on these – saves a huge amount of time trying to explain what was/wasn’t done

There are advantages to both roles and it will really depend on your own school and where the principal allocates the job share role. Some tips for both roles below.

Mainstream

• Shared document works well to record any observations.
• Shared drive for resources/plans
• Try to be on the same page with things – classroom management, organisation in the classroom, expectations for the children etc.
• Have one email for the class (Rather than individual emails).

S.E.T.

• Have separate groups and only cover these groups on the days you’re in. This works well for groups that are seen 2/3 times a week.
• If you have daily groups that may require both literacy and numeracy support – share the planning – one teacher looks after literacy and the second teacher looks after numeracy for a term etc.

There are a couple of options for how to divide out the days. There may be constraints to this depending on what works in your school. Print a calendar of all the dates for the year – highlight the days that each of you will be in (2 colours). Copies for each teacher and the principal.

Some suggestions;

• Stick to the same days each week and swap every second Wednesday. (Teacher A: Monday Tuesday each week and Teacher B: Wednesday, Thursday each week and then share the Wednesdays throughout the year. )
• Week on week off
• Teacher A: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Teacher B: Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Teacher A: Thursday Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc.

You need to apply to jobshare by the 1st February for the following September. Your board of management will then consider your application and decide on whether to grant the job share for the following year. A decision must be provided by 1st March.

There is a restriction for teachers who are job sharing – they cannot sub on their days off. However, due to the current substitute teacher crisis, this restriction has been lifted for the last few years. The arrangement for next year hasn’t been decided yet.

It is not possible for a principal/deputy principal to job share. They must relinquish their post for the duration of the job share.

For assistant principals, it is up to the board of management to decide if the post can be completed. If the BOM decide that the teacher can fulfil their duties while job sharing then the teacher will receive the full allowance. If the BOM decide that the teacher cannot fulfil their duties, the asssistant principal position can be shared between the post holder and another teacher and both will receive half the allowance.