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How Much PPA Should a Teacher Get?

PPA exists so teachers can plan, prepare and assess. Here is the plain-English entitlement picture and a calculator for your timetable.

TeacherGuide Editorial

Calculator

PPA entitlement calculator

Uses a percentage of weekly teaching time (commonly 10% in maintained schools in England). Verify against current STPCD and your contract.

Minimum PPA time

2.00 hours / week

What PPA is for

Planning, preparation and assessment. It is not automatically ‘cover the absent colleague’ time, though emergencies happen. If PPA is repeatedly cancelled, keep a log and raise it.

How to calculate it

Take your weekly timetabled teaching time and calculate 10%. Example: 20 hours of teaching → at least 2 hours of PPA. Use the calculator above with your own figures.

Common problems

  • PPA split into tiny unusable fragments
  • Regular cover during PPA
  • Confusion between PPA and ECT time
  • Meetings booked over PPA without replacement

Sources

About the author

TeacherGuide Editorial

TeacherGuide publishes practical guides, buying advice and tools for UK teachers. We prioritise usefulness, independence and clear sourcing — especially on pay, pensions and statutory entitlements. Named contributor bylines will appear here only when real writers are credited.

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