Making the case for flexible working

If the right to request flexible working becomes a day-one right, there will be challenges - but also benefits - for school leaders, staff and students. Lucy Makins, recruitment manager for HFL Education, takes a look at how it can be effectively implementing and shares examples of schools already offering flexible working.

In October 2024, the government shared its proposed Employment Rights Bill in parliament, as part of its election promise to ‘make work pay’. One of the new regulations in the Bill is the right to request flexible working from day-one of employment, firmly putting the onus on employers to meet employees’ needs for a work-life balance. 

While this is welcome news for workers, most schools I speak to are apprehensive about this future legislative change and are looking for advice on how they could make flexible working viable for their school. Headteachers know that offering flexible hours could be helpful in attracting people to the profession and retaining them, but it’s the ‘how’ that is causing the most concern. 

Firstly there’s the practicalities of timetabling and ensuring that all classroom hours are covered, and that there is continuity of teaching as schools don’t want to disrupt students’ learning. To find a win-win might require some compromise on both sides, for example, teachers may have to be a bit flexible about what days or hours they want if everyone is looking for the same working pattern to fit around childcare.

Teacher workload is also a huge concern for schools, and something that’s been highlighted by the DfE as an area where improvements need to be made. Is it possible for a teacher to do their job in fewer hours? Or will having flexible hours for some teachers and TAs impact the workload for those working full time hours? With the right to switch off also a possibility in the not-too-distant future, the conditions may be set for workers’ rights which are at odds with the reality of teaching

Flexible working in practice 

We work with a few schools who have already found creative and successful ways to offer flexible working options to their staff. One example is Howe Dell Primary School in Hatfield. Headteacher Tracy Prickett believes offering flexible working has built loyalty with her staff. She explains: “The marginal extra cost of introducing flexible working has been worth it to keep great people working, particularly those returning from maternity leave. We offer job shares (with shared PPA time to enable professional dialogue when cohesively planning), staff will ‘drop and go’ when needed, and we maximise our teachers’ time in school by ensuring staff meetings are for CPD only. This helps our staff to better balance their work around family commitments.

“That said, our flexible working offer is not just about how many hours people work – it’s also about where they work. We model from the top, so leaders, including myself will work from home when undertaking professional reading or strategic projects and the teaching team are encouraged to do the same. 

“Overall, we’ve found the key to effectively implementing flexible working has been to ensure we have all hours covered – however that’s pieced together – and that we have a fostered a culture of openness and communication to make those different parts work in harmony.” 

Managing different requests

David Sansom, headteacher at River Bank Primary in Luton has 11 out of 41 teachers working flexibly. He finds the ‘tricky bit’ is managing multiple different flexible working requests. He explains: “Within our flexible working policy and arrangements, colleagues can request certain working patterns and while we’ll always try and meet those needs, especially if they are around childcare, it’s not always possible. It’s in the lap of the Gods as to whether requests align! Generally it works out, although it requires some flexibility on both sides. Being open with staff about the decision-making process is an effective way to work through options and find the best solution together. 

“The hardest thing is flexible working for teaching assistants, so almost all of ours are contracted to work full time. Like other schools, we are seeing an increase in children with complex needs, such as autism and ADHD. They need to work with a familiar adult consistently, so it’s not going to be in their best interests (or in line with their EHCP) to have a different adult in the afternoon or no adult cover at all. 

“That said, we have bought in flexible working options which benefit everyone. All staff are entitled to Family Days, where they can take paid time off in term time to go to their own children’s nativities, sports days etc, and the school hours were changed in 2018 to longer days Monday to Thursday with a 1pm finish on a Friday to accommodate collaborative planning sessions on a Friday afternoon to reduce teacher workload. These initiatives allow for greater work/life balance without the need for reduced hours.” 

Parental engagement

Katherine Martindill, headteacher at Templewood Primary School in Welwyn Garden City, wishes she’d been braver in adopting flexible working from the beginning, and notes the important role parental engagement plays:

Katherine explains: “The current structure and rigidity of the primary education system prioritises consistent learning and physical presence as a measure of commitment and quality. As such, parents have engrained beliefs and expectations, and many are concerned that job sharing or reduced hours might affect their child’s learning experience. This is definitely not the case; happy teachers make for happy children. 

“Changing these perceptions requires transparent communication but also allowing some flexibility with families. For example, I don’t issue fixed penalty notices for term time holidays. While I’m not authorising these, I appreciate the benefits family opportunities provide and it wouldn’t sit right to say a teacher can have leave for a holiday/wedding/honeymoon in term time but not a student.

“Our teachers and support staff greatly appreciate the options we give which allow them to manage work alongside personal commitments. Flexibility initiatives range from homeworking for PPA or to focus on a particular task, to wellbeing days and paid time off for personal things like their child’s first day at school, appointments or supporting a relative. We also do training online at home and have limited staff meetings which are used for CPD. Three out of our five INSETs are used as twilight sessions in the year so this time can be tagged onto holidays. 

“Staff well-being is at the heart of our approach; by prioritising the work-life balance of our team, we have created a supportive, productive environment which lays the foundations for an excellent education for our children.”

Making it work

If flexible working rights are passed as a day-one right, the education sector will make it work, as it always does, but there will need to be careful consideration and consultation about how to implement it for individual schools and their staff. As we can see from the examples shared here, options and opportunities must be tailored to the individual school and its families’ needs. 

With proper support, guidance and tools to help, schools can offer flexible working opportunities that benefit employers and employees equally, but most importantly, the children and young people they are educating.