Gigs & odd jobs · idea 45 of 52
Substitute teaching
Schools are desperate for cover and, in many places, need only a degree and a background check. Choose your days, paid per day, no lesson planning.
- Who pays you
- A school district, school or supply agency pays you a daily rate, on payroll, for covering a teacher's classes, with bookings offered by app or phone, often the night before or the same morning.
- Outcomes
- 0 receipts. Nobody's reported back on this one yet. Receipts open when accounts launch.
How it works
Teacher absence is constant and cover is chronically short. Requirements vary a lot by country and region: some need a full teaching qualification, many need a bachelor's degree plus a background check and a short orientation. Once registered, you get offered days through an app or an agency, accept the ones you want, and turn up to run a lesson the absent teacher has (usually) left. You're paid per day. Long-term cover for a teacher on leave pays better and gives you a settled class.
What it actually takes
- Meeting the local requirement, and the paperwork: background check, references, sometimes a course.
- The presence to walk into a room of thirty teenagers you've never met and hold it.
- Flexibility for early-morning calls and a willingness to take the days nobody wants.
- Being liked by school office staff, who decide who gets called.
Where it goes wrong
- Assuming it's easy. A bad day of cover is a very bad day.
- Inconsistent income in September and June, and none in the holidays.
- Agencies that take a large cut. Registering directly with schools or the district usually pays more.
- Regions with strict qualification requirements, where this idea is simply closed to you.
Published 26 Jul 2026