How to Get an English Teaching Job in Greece: A Step by Step Guide

Most English teaching jobs in Greece are filled between mid August and early October, by private language schools called frontistiria, often after a face to face conversation and a trial lesson. Apply from March for the best speculative response, be in the country during the hiring window if you can, and settle your right to work first. A 120 hour TEFL qualification and a degree are the standard asks.

Key takeaways

• Frontistiria are the market. Thousands of small private language schools do the bulk of the hiring
• The real hiring window is mid August to early October, with a smaller second round in January
• Being physically in Greece during that window converts far better than applying from abroad
• Speculative applications land best in March to May, when schools are planning September
• Expect a trial lesson rather than a formal interview process
• If you hold a UK, US, Canadian or Australian passport, your right to work is the first problem to solve, not the last

Step one: settle your right to work

Nothing else matters until this is resolved, and skipping it is the most common way people waste a summer.

UK, US and other non EU passport holders. You are a third country national in Greece, which means you need an employer willing to sponsor you and a national long stay visa before you can legally teach. Small language schools rarely take that on. In practice the routes that work are international schools, the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award for US graduates, online teaching, or an EU passport through ancestry. We cover all of these in detail in our guide to teaching English in Greece without an EU passport, and it is worth reading before you apply for anything.

EU and EEA passport holders. You have freedom of movement. No visa, no permit, no sponsorship. You register locally, get a Greek tax number known as the AFM and a social insurance number, and that is administration rather than permission. Say so explicitly in your first line to a school, because it is the single thing they most want to know.

Work out which of these you are before you start applying, rather than after twenty unanswered emails. The rest of this guide assumes the question is settled.

Step two: get the qualification sorted early

A TEFL certificate of at least 120 hours is the practical baseline for a contracted role, and a bachelor’s degree in any subject is expected by most schools.

Two details make a difference in this market. The first is regulation. School owners are increasingly aware of the gap between a certificate accredited by a body the course provider owns and one that is externally regulated and independently checkable. Our Ofqual regulated Level 5 TEFL course carries qualification number 610/1571/4 and can be verified on the Ofqual public register, and the distinction is explained fully in our guide to accredited versus regulated TEFL certification. When two applications look similar, verifiable wins.

The second is specialism. A large share of frontistiria teaching is exam preparation for Cambridge and Michigan qualifications, so any evidence you can teach toward those moves you up the pile.

Step three: understand the hiring calendar

Greece runs on a tight annual rhythm and applying at the wrong point in it is the difference between a reply and silence.

The pattern to notice is that the planning happens in spring and the deciding happens in late summer. Applying in spring puts your name in front of an owner who is thinking ahead. Being present in September puts you in front of one who needs a teacher this week.

US graduates have a separate calendar to watch. The Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award in Greece runs on the national Fulbright cycle, and the Fulbright US Student Program’s Greece page lists a deadline of 6 October 2026 for the 2027 to 2028 year. That is roughly eleven months ahead of the start date, so it needs planning a full cycle earlier than a frontistirio job.

Step four: know who you are applying to

Frontistiria. Private language schools, thousands of them, scattered through every city and most sizeable towns. Small classes, students from young children to adults, heavy on exam preparation. This is where nearly every teacher starts and where nearly all the vacancies are.

Summer camps. June to August, mainly coastal and island, English combined with activities. Often the easiest first foot in the door, and a useful bridge across the unpaid summer that a term time contract leaves you with.

International schools. Athens and Thessaloniki mostly, far better paid, but they hire licensed schoolteachers rather than TEFL certified teachers. Worth targeting only if you have qualified teacher status. These are also the employers most likely to have sponsored a visa before.

Private tutoring. Not a job you apply for, but a substantial part of most teachers’ income once they are established. It grows through word of mouth from the parents at your school.

Universities and public schools. Difficult to enter, usually requiring Greek language ability and local teaching credentials. Do not build a plan around them.

Step five: write an application a school owner will read

These are small businesses and the person reading your email is usually the owner, between lessons, on a phone. Long personal essays about your love of the Mediterranean do not survive that context.

Lead with your right to work. Then your qualification, its hours and whether it is regulated. Then your degree. Then what you can teach, naming exam boards if you can. Then your availability, with actual dates. Then where you are willing to live, and say yes to more than Athens if you can, because the competition thins dramatically outside it.

Keep the CV to one page with a photo, which is normal and expected in Greece and catches a lot of British and American applicants by surprise. Attach your certificate as a PDF rather than promising it on request. If you are already in the country, put that in the subject line, because it changes how the email is read.

Step six: prepare for the trial lesson

Greek hiring leans on demonstration rather than interview. Expect to be asked to teach a short lesson, sometimes to a real class, sometimes to staff pretending to be one, sometimes at very short notice.

Have one adaptable lesson ready to go for a mixed level teenage class, which is the most common scenario. Bring your own materials. Keep the teacher talking time low and get the students producing language early, because that is what an experienced owner is watching for. Ask what the class is working toward, since if the answer is a Cambridge exam then your lesson should visibly point at it.

Step seven: check the contract before you agree

Most contracts run September to June for one academic year and are renewable. Full time pay in a language school is typically somewhere around 900 to 1,400 euro gross a month, with hourly work commonly 10 to 15 euro. Both are approximate ranges rather than fixed rates, and you can compare them against other markets on our TEFL Salary Index.

Points to clarify before signing. Whether the pay is gross or net, and whether social insurance contributions are being properly registered. How many teaching hours the salary covers, and what happens beyond them. Whether July and August are paid, because usually they are not and you need to plan for a ten month income. Whether travel between branches is expected. And whether private tutoring on the side is permitted, since it generally is but you want that clear.

Where to look

Walking in works in Greece in a way it does not in most markets. During the hiring window, printing twenty CVs and visiting schools in person in one neighbourhood will typically outperform a hundred emails. Beyond that, use Greek job boards and school networks, local Facebook groups for English teachers in Athens and Thessaloniki, and direct approaches to school websites, which almost all list a contact address.

One habit that pays off. Keep a simple record of who you contacted and when, and follow up once in early September. A polite second email arriving in the week a teacher drops out is how a lot of people get hired.

A realistic timeline

• Now to March. Complete a regulated TEFL qualification, settle your right to work, and prepare your CV
• March to May. Speculative applications, targeting more than one city
• June to July. Expect quiet. Arrange accommodation and travel
• Mid August. Arrive if you can. Begin in person visits and follow ups
• September. Trial lessons, offers, contract checks, start date

For the fuller picture of pay, cost of living, cities and legal requirements, read our complete guide to teaching English in Greece, check entry rules for other destinations on the Visa Desk, or browse other countries on the Teach English Abroad hub.

Reviewed 19 September 2026. Pay figures are approximate typical ranges, and programme deadlines change annually. Confirm current details with the employer and with official programme pages before making plans.