Parental support was a hot topic at the teaching unions\u2019 annual conferences over Easter, with NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack describing maternity pay as \u201ca national scandal\u201d.<\/p>\n
Women aged 30 to 39 are leaving the profession at the largest rates, so retaining parents, who often work part-time, should be at the top of the list for reducing issues around recruitment and retention.<\/p>\n
In 2015, the Conservative government promised to explore why \u201cjust one in four female teachers work part time, compared with nearly half of women in the workforce nationally\u201d, calling this a \u201ccritical waste of talent\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yet over a decade later, the protection offered to part-time teachers remains significantly below that of their full-time counterparts.<\/p>\n
Whilst the school teachers\u2019 pay and conditions document states that directed time and pay for part-time teachers must be allocated on a pro-rata basis, it makes no mention of changes to part-time teachers\u2019 days and hours of work.<\/p>\n
In secondary schools in particular, this puts many part-time mothers\u2019 careers at the mercy of the school\u2019s timetable.<\/p>\n
It is common to issue timetables late in the summer term, with many schools insisting part-time teachers offer full-time availability to accommodate those timetables.<\/p>\n
This leaves part-time teachers with little time to make childcare arrangements (which any parent knows is about as likely as finding a unicorn).<\/p>\n
And with timetables issued long after the May 31 resignation deadline, part-time staff risk finding themselves unable to teach \u2013 and unable to resign.<\/p>\n
Despite ACAS\u2019s clear guidance that flexibility clauses should be used \u201creasonably\u201d, include staff consultation and consider the impact on their employees, changes are often imposed simply by schools issuing a timetable for the next academic year.<\/p>\n
The result? Many part-time teachers find themselves caught in an annual cycle whereby their employers insist that they must be available full-time to meet the demands of a short-notice timetable.<\/p>\n
The current position also creates a system in which many schools are essentially operating an exclusivity clause for part-time teachers.<\/p>\n
This makes it unfeasible to work in more than one school across the week without leaving themselves in potential breach of contract and unable to resign should working patterns change.<\/p>\n
And with many secondary schools operating a two-week timetable, the challenges worsen.<\/p>\n
Fortnightly timetabling can result in staff being directed to teach different hours or even different days on alternating weeks, an expensive prospect for parents needing childcare.<\/p>\n
The Department for Education is well aware of this issue.<\/p>\n
In December 2024, in its \u201cevidence to the STRB\u201d, the DfE noted \u201cconcerns around part-time teachers having inconsistent non-working days, or having their non-working days changed and the amount of notice they receive when this happens\u201d.<\/p>\n
The department requested \u201cthe STRB\u2019s views on whether the STPCD should clarify the arrangements for part-time teachers\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yet, when the STRB released its report in May 2025, it made no mention of working patterns.<\/p>\n
So, whilst the STRB is (hopefully) still mulling the problem over, there are a number of potential solutions on the table.<\/p>\n
Options include a deadline for ensuring schools propose changes to working patterns significantly in advance of resignation deadlines or ensuring the \u201cright to resign\u201d by allowing part-time teachers to waive their notice period following any proposed change to their working pattern.<\/p>\n
Clearly these options remain unworkable for part-time staff with caring responsibilities.<\/p>\n
Playing childcare roulette every academic year and the annual prospect of losing your teaching role over the school\u2019s timetable hardly values part-time teachers’ contribution to the profession.<\/p>\n
So we return to the necessary solution: regulation within the STPCD to prevent schools from changing part-time teachers’ working patterns without their agreement.<\/p>\n
It begs the question: despite all the talk about flexible working, does the solution to teacher retention actually lie in clearer working conditions for part-time staff?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Part-time staff face huge challenges, including often having to maintain full-time availability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":245573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"post-theme":[3562],"class_list":["post-245737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","post-theme-opinion-leadership"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t