How to start a teacher Instagram page: a step-by-step guide

A teacher page on Instagram is a good way to share ideas with other teachers, collect your resources in one place, and build a small audience around what you know. It also comes with rules that most other pages do not have, because there are children and a school behind you. Start with those, then build the page.

Step 1: Read your school’s social media policy

Do this before anything else. Many schools have rules about what staff can post, who they can follow, and whether they can mention the school at all. Some forbid any contact with students on social media. If you are not sure, ask your head teacher or principal.

A good test for anything you post: would you be comfortable if a parent, a colleague and your head teacher saw it?

Step 2: Keep it separate from your personal account

Guidance for teachers is consistent on this: use a separate professional account for school-related content and keep your personal account private and apart from it. It protects you, and it protects your students. Do not follow or accept requests from current students on either account unless your school’s policy clearly allows it.

Step 3: Create the account

1. Download Instagram and sign up with an email address, a new username and a password.
2. Choose a username that is easy to say, such as your subject or style, for example ms.reads or mathswithmr.k. Avoid your school’s name.
3. Turn on two-step verification.

To get the professional tools:

1. Open your profile, then Settings and activity.
2. Under For professionals, open Account type and tools.
3. Choose Switch to professional account, pick a category, then choose Creator or Business.

Instagram says that if your account is private, switching to a professional account makes it public. A public account is what you want for a page you hope other teachers will find, but know that anyone can see it. You can switch back later, so it is not a permanent choice.

Step 4: Write a bio that says who it is for

You have very little space. Say who you teach, what you share and what to do next:

• Who you are: “Year 4 teacher” or “High school maths”.
• What people get: “Simple reading activities and free printables”.
• What to do next: “Resources below”.

Keep it about the subject, not about your students or your school. Add a profile photo of you or a simple logo.

Step 5: Decide what to post

You can do a lot without showing a single child. Ideas that work well:

• A tip in 30 seconds. One idea that makes a lesson easier.
• Your resources. Worksheets, flashcards, a classroom poster. Show the result, and say where to get it.
• Setup and organisation. Your empty classroom, your shelves, your planner.
• Lesson planning. How you plan a unit, from idea to finished lesson.
• Book recommendations. What you read aloud and why.
• Answers to questions other teachers ask you.

What not to show

Privacy guidance for teachers is strict on this point:

• Do not post photos of children on a personal or professional account unless your school has documented parent permission for that exact use.
• A face is not the only identifier. A school uniform, a school sign or a recognisable room can identify a child, especially in a small community.
• Remove names and work. Student names, marks and written work should not appear either.
• Turn off location tagging on posts made at school.

If a post needs students in it, take the idea and show it with your own hands, a drawing or a demonstration instead.

Step 6: Put your resources behind one link in bio

You will soon have a worksheet, a newsletter, a shop and an email address, and a profile has little room for links. Rather than changing the link every week, send people to a single page that holds all of it.

With Linkerzz you can claim your link for free and build a page in a few minutes. Teachers usually add:

• A button for the free resource of the month.
• A link to your shop or store.
• A newsletter sign-up link.
• A contact form for other teachers who want to work with you. Pro emails you each time someone writes.

Free pages show you how many people visited and which links they tapped, so you will know which resources are worth making more of. If you have not added a link to your profile yet, here is how.

A realistic first month

1. Week 1: read the school policy, set up the account, write the bio.
2. Week 2: post three simple tips or resources.
3. Week 3: build your link page and add it to your bio.
4. Week 4: check which posts people saved and shared, and make more like them.

Be patient. Pages like this grow slowly, and the people who find you are usually teachers who need exactly what you are making.