Teacher initially requests jobs (5)
I believe the answer is:
tasks
'jobs' is the definition.
(I know this)
'teacher initially requests' is the wordplay.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
'requests' becomes 'asks' ('ask' can be a synonym of 'request').
The initial letter of 'teacher' is 't'.
't'+'asks'='TASKS'
(Other definitions for tasks that I've seen before include "Assignments" , "Chores, duties" , "Pieces of work" , "various jobs" , "Chores, undertakings" .)