Part-time teacher pay in Wales

A part-time teacher in Wales is paid the same share of the full-time salary as the share of the school’s timetabled teaching week they work. If the school’s week is 25 hours and you teach 15 of them, you receive 60% of the full-time figure for your scale point. The rule is the pro rata principle in the Welsh teachers’ pay document for 2026/27.

What counts as the timetabled teaching week

The timetabled teaching week is the time in the school timetable when pupils are normally taught. It includes planning, preparation and assessment time and other non-contact time, and it leaves out break times, registration and assemblies. The week of a full-time classroom teacher at the same school is the base. Your hours as a share of that base give your percentage, and the document applies the same figure to your pay and to your working time.

The guidance gives an example: a day with sessions from 9.00am to 12.15pm and 1.15pm to 3.30pm, less two 15 minute breaks, gives 25 hours for a full-time teacher over five days. A teacher who works mornings only, 9.00am to 12.15pm every day, is counted as 15 hours, or 60%.

A worked example

Say that teacher is on C3 of the core scale, which is £40,623 from 1 September 2026. At 60% the salary is £24,373.80 a year. The Welsh core scale lists every point. The same percentage applies to working time, so the part-timer must be available for 60% of the 1,265 hours of directed time that a full-time teacher works, which is 759 hours.

A second example shows how the share moves. A teacher who works 20 of the 25 timetabled hours is on 80%, so at C5 (£48,226) the salary is £38,580.80. If the school asks for two more timetabled hours a week, the share becomes 22 out of 25, or 88%, which is £42,438.88 at the same point. The arithmetic is simple, but the percentage depends on how your own school defines its week, so ask for the figure it used.

Extra hours and non-working days

If a headteacher asks a part-time teacher to work additional hours, those hours are paid on the same pro rata basis as the contracted hours. Part-time teachers cannot be required to attend non-pupil days, or parts of days, on days they do not normally work. They can choose to attend, by agreement with the headteacher, and then the calculation covers the extra hours.

The percentage does not change with the shape of the timetable. A school on a weekly cycle and a school on a fortnightly cycle both use the same method.

Allowances for part-timers

The treatment differs from salary. The pay document says allowances other than TLR3 may be paid pro rata to contracted hours, as a minimum, or in full if the teacher takes on the full duties that go with the allowance. Those duties should be possible within the teacher’s normal hours, and the level of payment and duties are agreed between the teacher and employer. TLR3 payments are paid in full whatever the teacher’s hours.

The accompanying guidance, which schools must have regard to, takes a firmer line and says the same percentage must be applied to any allowance awarded to a part-time teacher. If your allowance is not pro rata, check how your school’s pay policy describes it. The ranges are in the guide to teacher allowances in Wales.

Equal treatment

The guidance reminds employers that part-time contracts must comply with the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 and the Equality Act 2010. For the English method see part-time teacher pay and hours, and what pro rata salary means covers the general idea. If you think your percentage was worked out wrongly, start with your headteacher or the local authority payroll team, then your union.