Creating Value In Schools
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With the DfE promoting flexible working as part of the solution to recruitment and retention challenges, what action do you need to take, and why?
Flexible working arrangements enable staff members to vary the amount, timing, or location of their work. Flexible working includes:
It’s not just about working fewer hours – it’s about rethinking how and when staff work to better support retention, wellbeing, and school improvement.
Leaders and governors have a strategic role in setting the culture and priorities of a school. Flexible working is no longer a ‘nice to have’. It’s a key tool to:
Sources: Working lives of teachers and leaders: wave 3 summary report, Missing Mothers and Schools' responses to financial pressures
We have a large leadership team and from a budget perspective, we're able to offer them all flexible working which has made a huge difference. And our head is four days a week. The deputy is substantive head on the day that she's not in, and will by and large just deal with everything.
If you have a structure like that, you can definitely make people feel empowered to take decisions. We’ve done a lot with both the governing board and leadership team to give people confidence. They know that the head is still there to check in with, but are happy to just get on with things.
Flexible working has been a really important retention strategy for us. (Chair of Governors, Hackney)
Flexible leadership works when:
Download and edit this sample policy for flexible working in your setting.
| Flexible-working-example-policy.docx |
Download, read and share this concise guide.
| Flexible-working-a-concise-guide.pdf |
