Teaching Jobs in France

Teaching Jobs in France

Salary & Benefits

So what’s the coin like as a teacher hanging out in France? Well, you can expect to earn anywhere from 9 to 17 euros (11 to 20 US dollars) an hour, working for someone else like a language school or academy. At the low-end, you have places like Berlitz where the teaching requires no planning but you’re facing nine and a half euros an hour. A good business school will offer you anywhere up to 17 euros an hour. 15 euros an hour seems to be the standard. A good teacher can expect to do between 20 to 25 hours of contact teaching hours a week. Do the math and you’ll find 1200 to 1500 euros is the monthly paycheck of the average English teacher. This can certainly cover the monthly rent of a studio or shared apartment, leaving you with enough to put good French cheese in your fridge and a nice bottle of wine to go with it. However, you’re not going to get rich or eat at Tiffany’s every week.

The bad news: That figure is pre-tax. You’re going to have to deduct around 20% of your take home to pay for social security costs and supporting the French Foreign legion. Your employer will do this for you. On top of that, your employer won’t deduct for income tax and you may have to pay for that eventually. Not only does this mean filling in the yearly forms, but can set you back a month’s wage as well.

The good news: you can increase your wage with private teaching. Private teaching goes for around 20 or 25 euros an hour. Sometimes higher if you’ve got the skills and qualifications to prove it. Once you’ve established yourself in your area and are qualified, you may be able to increase your monthly income with more private work. Really qualified teachers that are legal and can teacher English in specific purpose areas like information technology, academic English or business English can charge up to 40 or even 50 euros an hour and find work at the universities or large companies.