Can teachers sell their own lesson plans?
Many teachers sell lesson plans they wrote themselves. Whether you can sell a particular plan depends on who owns it, and that comes down to your contract and the law where you work.
Short answer: Often yes, but not always. Whether you can sell lesson plans you wrote depends on your employment contract, your school or district policy and the law in your country. Plans made in your own time, on your own equipment, with your own content are usually the clearest case. Check your contract first, and ask your school, union or a lawyer if unsure.
Who owns the lesson plans a teacher writes?
There is no single answer that fits every teacher. In some places and contracts, the teacher owns what they write. In others, work created as part of the job belongs to the employer. Some schools and districts have written policies on teacher-created materials; many have nothing in writing at all.
What usually matters is a mix of three things: what your employment contract or staff handbook says about intellectual property, whether the material was made as part of your duties, and what the law in your country says about work made by employees. These rules differ between countries, states and even individual schools, so we can't give you a yes or no for your situation.
This page is general information to help you ask the right questions. It is not legal advice.
What should I look for in my employment contract?
Start with the paperwork you already have. Read it with a highlighter rather than skimming. The relevant part is often short and easy to miss.
- An intellectual property or copyright clause. Look for words like "work product", "materials created in the course of employment" or "inventions and works".
- The staff handbook or policy manual. Some schools put the rules for teacher-created materials there instead of the contract.
- Rules on outside work. Some contracts require you to declare side income or a business. That is a separate question from ownership, but worth knowing.
- Curriculum projects. If you were paid extra to write a unit for your department or district, that material is more likely to belong to the employer.
If the wording is unclear, ask in writing. A short email to your head teacher, principal or HR team asking "Does the school claim ownership of teaching materials I create in my own time?" gives you an answer you can keep. A teachers' union can often help members read a contract, and a lawyer can give advice for your specific case.
Does it matter if I made the plans at home?
It can. In many cases, material made in your own time, on your own computer, without school templates or school logins, is easier to treat as yours. Material made during paid hours, on a school laptop or inside a school account can be harder to separate from your job.
From experience, the cleanest approach for teachers who plan to sell is simple:
- Build sellable resources at home, on your own device, saved to your own cloud storage.
- Write a fresh version for sale rather than exporting a file from the school drive.
- Keep the school's logo, branding, house templates and colleagues' work out of anything you sell.
- Keep dated drafts, so you can show when and where you created the resource if anyone asks.
None of this overrides a contract that says otherwise. It just makes your own position clearer.
What third-party content might be hiding in my lesson plans?
Lesson plans written for your own class often borrow freely: a passage from a novel, a photo from a search engine, a diagram from a textbook, a worksheet from a colleague, a song lyric. That is common inside a classroom. It is a different matter in a resource you sell.
Before you list a lesson plan, go through it page by page and ask where every text, image, font and activity came from. Replace or remove anything you don't have commercial rights to. Our guides on clip art and fonts for commercial use and copyright basics for teacher-authors go through this in more detail.
TeachLessons does not check resources for third-party rights. As the seller, you confirm that you created the resource or hold all rights to it, and you are responsible if a claim arises because of your resource.
Can I include student work or names?
No. Resources you sell with us must contain no personal data of real students. That means no names, photos, class lists, real work samples with names, or details that identify a child. If you want sample answers, write them yourself. If you want a model essay, write one in a student voice. This also keeps you on the safe side of your school's own data rules.
If I can sell my plans, what happens at TeachLessons?
You keep your copyright and all other rights. You give TeachLessons a non-exclusive license to sell the resource for as long as the agreement runs, and you can sell the same plans anywhere else too, unless you signed an exclusive deal elsewhere for that resource.
- Apply. Fill in the short application form. It takes about five minutes and needs no files.
- Get the documents. We email you the Seller Agreement, a Resource Rights Checklist and the other forms.
- Send final files. One email to support@stifo.de with your documents, files, previews and thumbnails.
- Go live. We write the product pages and your resources go live once they are set up. There is no extra approval round, so send only final versions.
The Resource Rights Checklist is a good moment to pause and confirm each plan is really yours to sell. The full program terms are on the key terms page.
Frequently asked questions
Can teachers sell their lesson plans?
Often yes, but it depends on your employment contract, school or district policy and the law where you work. Check your contract first and ask your school, union or a lawyer if anything is unclear.
Does my school own the lesson plans I write?
It might. Some contracts and laws treat work made as part of the job as the employer's. Others leave ownership with the teacher. The answer differs by country and contract.
Is it safer to make resources at home?
Material made in your own time on your own equipment is usually easier to show as yours. It does not override a contract clause that says otherwise.
Can I sell a unit I planned with my department?
Only the parts you wrote yourself, or with written agreement from your co-authors. Rewriting the unit from scratch in your own words is often the simplest route.
Does TeachLessons check whether I own my lesson plans?
No. We don't check resources for third-party rights. You confirm in the Seller Agreement that you created the resource or hold all rights, and you are responsible if a claim arises.
Do I keep the rights to lesson plans I sell with TeachLessons?
Yes. You keep your copyright and can sell the same plans elsewhere. TeachLessons gets a non-exclusive license for as long as the agreement runs.
Ready to sell your teaching resources?
Apply with the short form. We email you the seller documents, you send your final files with previews and thumbnails, and we set up your product pages, your author page and landing pages. You keep 70% of net revenue, with no fees and no exclusivity.
Keep reading
General information about the TeachLessons Seller Program, not legal, tax or financial advice. The signed Seller Agreement sets out the binding terms. Questions: support@stifo.de.