A teacher’s week is more than the timetable. Between the periods sit marking, lesson preparation, duty rotas, parent meetings and cover for absent colleagues — and those are the parts that overrun.
Below are 10 free teacher schedule templates in MS Word and MS Excel. Each one handles a different part of the job: the weekly timetable, the daily plan, duty rosters, marking deadlines and term overviews. All fields are editable, so set your period times once and reuse the sheet all year.
1. Weekly Class Timetable
Periods down the left, Monday to Friday across, with the class and room in each cell. The core document most teachers pin above the desk, and the one to set up first.
MS WORDDownload Now ↓
2. Daily Teaching Schedule with Period Times
One day across a full page, with start and end times, class, topic and room. The extra space matters on days with cover lessons or visitors, where the standard timetable grid has no room to note anything.
MS WORDDownload Now ↓
3. Lesson Plan Schedule
Columns for learning objective, activities, resources needed and how the lesson will be assessed. Filling the resources column a week ahead is what stops the photocopier queue at eight in the morning.
MS WORDDownload Now ↓
4. Substitute Teacher Schedule
Written for someone who does not know the class: period times, room numbers, what to cover, where the materials are, and which students need particular attention. Keep a completed copy in your drawer, because you will not be there to explain it on the day you need it.
MS WORDDownload Now ↓
5. Teacher Duty Roster
Staff names against break supervision, gate and bus duty, and exam invigilation slots. Used at department or whole-school level, which is why it is usually the head of year who keeps this one rather than individual teachers.
MS EXCELDownload Now ↓
6. Parent-Teacher Meeting Schedule
Timed appointment slots with the student name, parent name and a notes column for points to raise. Build in a spare slot every hour, because the difficult conversations always run over. A meeting agenda works well alongside it for staff meetings on the same evening.
MS WORDDownload Now ↓
7. Marking and Assessment Schedule
Each assignment with the class, the date collected and the date it must be returned. Laying the deadlines out side by side shows up the week where four sets of papers land together, in time to move one of them.
MS EXCELDownload Now ↓
8. Multi-Class Subject Teacher Schedule
For teachers taking the same subject with several groups: a row per class showing which topic each one has reached. Keeps parallel classes from drifting weeks apart in the syllabus without anyone noticing.
MS EXCELDownload Now ↓
9. Term and Semester Planner
The whole term on one sheet: week numbers, topics, assessment points and school holidays. Working backwards from the exam date is the only reliable way to find out in September that the syllabus does not fit, rather than in March.
MS EXCELDownload Now ↓
10. Blank Teacher Schedule
Grid and headings with nothing filled in, so it suits any period structure. Print a stack at the start of term and write each week in by hand — useful where the timetable changes often.
MS WORDDownload Now ↓
Which Teacher Schedule Do You Need?
Most teachers end up using two or three of these rather than one.
- Your weekly teaching pattern — template 1, the class timetable.
- Planning what happens inside each lesson — template 3, the lesson plan.
- Covering an absence — template 4, prepared in advance.
- Managing marking load — template 7, which is where most overwork actually comes from.
- Fitting the syllabus into the term — template 9.
- Organising the whole department — template 5, the duty roster.
How to Set Up Your Teaching Week
- Enter the fixed timetable first. Teaching periods, duties, registration and standing meetings. These are not movable, so everything else fits around them.
- Block your free periods for a named purpose. An unlabelled free period gets absorbed by whoever asks first. Mark it “Year 9 marking” and it survives.
- Put marking deadlines on the schedule, not just in your head. Use template 7 and look for the weeks where several sets collide.
- Plan lessons in batches, not nightly. One longer planning block a week beats five rushed evenings, and the lessons are usually better for it.
- Keep the substitute plan current. Update it at the start of each term rather than when you are already unwell.
- Protect one evening a week. Write it on the schedule like any other commitment. Teaching expands to fill whatever time is left unguarded.
Why a Written Schedule Helps
It Makes the Invisible Workload Visible
Marking, planning and parent contact rarely appear on a timetable, yet they take up much of the week. Writing them down is what turns a vague sense of being overloaded into something you can actually rearrange.
It Protects Preparation Time
Free periods disappear into cover requests and corridor conversations unless they are already allocated. A schedule gives you something concrete to point to when asked.
It Keeps Classes Moving at the Same Pace
Teachers with several groups in the same subject lose track of which class has covered what. A term planner catches the gap while there is still time to close it.
It Helps Students Plan Around You
When assessment dates are published early, students can organise their own revision instead of discovering three deadlines in one week. Pointing them at the study schedule templates gives them a structure to do it with.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change the number of periods in the timetable?
Yes. The grids are ordinary Word and Excel tables — right-click a row to insert or delete one. Set your period times once, save it as your master copy, and reuse it each term.
What is the difference between a teacher schedule and a lesson plan?
The schedule says when you teach which class. The lesson plan says what happens inside that lesson — objectives, activities, resources and assessment. Template 1 is the schedule; template 3 is the plan.
Can I open these templates in Google Docs or Google Sheets?
Yes. Upload the file to Google Drive, right-click and choose Open with → Google Docs for the Word versions or Google Sheets for the Excel ones. Useful if your school shares rosters across staff accounts.
Can a whole school use these for staff timetabling?
Templates 5 and 8 work at department level for a reasonable number of staff. Beyond roughly thirty teachers with complex room constraints, dedicated timetabling software will handle clashes better than a spreadsheet.
What paper size are they set to?
A4 by default, with the wider grids set to landscape. For US Letter, change the size in Page Setup and the tables adjust.
Are these templates free for school use?
Yes. Use them in any school, college or tuition centre at no charge and add your own branding. You cannot resell the template files themselves.
