Traveling teachers work with families who travel the world — here's what it pays

Lucy Alexandra Spencer spent 16 weeks abroad last year in Oman, France, Switzerland and Portugal.

Unlike with most people, traveling is how she earns — rather than spends — money.

The trips are paid for by Spencer's employers — they're wealthy Europeans and Americans who hire her to travel with their families for weeks and, occasionally, months at a time.

Spencer is a former primary school teacher with experience teaching students with learning difficulties. She embarked on her first traveling teaching role seven years ago.

Since then, she's spent about two years abroad, including an eight-month trip to Europe, the United States and the Middle East, she said.

The cost to hire a teacher like U.K.-based Spencer is comparable with private school fees for multiple children — about £8,000 ($10,050) a month to work with three children. Families also pay the cost of her flights, accommodations and meals. 

Rates can rise to £10,000 if families require teachers with specialist skills, such as playing a musical instrument or foreign language instruction.

However, teaching assistants, who help with a basic curriculum, can be hired for around £2,500 a month.

The children Spencer teaches attend sessions with her for about four hours a day because one hour of private tutoring is akin to three hours of regular school, she said.

She consults with teachers at their schools, she said, to create lessons that cover what they would be learning back at home. She can also prepare them for exams they have on their return.

Spencer also incorporates information about local culture, cuisine and customs into her sessions. For example, Spencer said, when she was in Oman she was working with a family who hadn't experienced an Arabic country before.

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