Sally* is planning on returning to the classroom after having her first baby. But in order to manage childcare and spend more time with her new family, she wants to return on a flexible basis. She’s taught the same class in Years 3 and 4 and hopes for the chance to teach them again in Year 5. She’s got a strong bond with the pupils, knows how they operate and knows where the additional needs are.
But her headteacher turns down her flexible working request.
Sally’s story isn’t unusual.
According to campaign group Pregnant then Screwed, heartbroken teachers are increasingly being forced out of the profession after conditions make it tough for them to return.
Group founder Joeli Brearley says that more must be done to protect teachers from maternity discrimination. “We need to talk openly about changing the culture, and where possible make working conditions more flexible to keep talented teachers in the profession,” she says.
Earlier this year, a study by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) identified “an unmet demand for part-time working, which drives some to leave”.
And polling by the organisation, commissioned by the Department for Education, revealed that senior leaders “perceive the complexity of timetabling as one of the most significant barriers to agreeing and accommodating part-time flexible working patterns”.
But teachers aren’t asking for the school day to be changed to fit around them, says Aceil Haddad, Pregnant then Screwed’s head of communications: “It just requires a bit of flexibility, a change of culture and a bit of wiggle room, and there are cases of really good schools being more than happy to have two-teacher classes.”
Her headteacher’s decision means that Sally’s story has two outcomes: she either doesn’t return to that school (or even to teaching), or she does so on a full-time basis.
Let’s say she returns on a full-time basis. How can the senior leadership team support her?
Teacher Helen Mars, who has just returned to school after having her second baby, says that the way in which the SLT welcomes back a teacher can completely change the way they view their role.
She suggests that simple things - such as offering keeping-in-touch days to be taken from home, making it clear that babies are welcome on Inset days, stating in job adverts that teachers on maternity leave are welcome to apply, and making interview days flexible to fit around childcare - will make teachers feel more supported and encourage more applicants.
“The approach taken transmits a wider message about commitments to staff morale and wellbeing, workload, being family-friendly and staff retention, and the ripples of good feeling from staff who are well supported at this time cannot be underestimated,” Mars says.
*Names have been changed
