A third of teacher training providers say potential teaching applicants tell them that working flexibly is important, but that it is not freely available in schools, according to a new survey.
The vast majority (90 per cent) of initial teacher training (ITT) providers say increased opportunities for flexible working would attract more applicants to the sector.
However, more than half of them (53 per cent) don’t currently offer flexible working opportunities, according to a survey of 84 ITT providers by the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT).
The survey, conducted in May and June, saw a significant number of respondents comment that the flexible working options that partner schools offer are not consistent across schools.
Some responded that schools are resistant to or cannot offer much in the way of flexibility compared to other employers.
It comes after the Department for Education missed its target for secondary teacher trainee entrants by 41 per cent last year.
NASBTT’s executive director, Emma Hollis, said the survey shows that providers - even those who are keen to innovate - “are often constrained by the realities of our schooling systems”.
Ms Hollis said it also reveals that “not much innovation, offering planning, preparation and assessment at home, for example, is not enough”.
However, she added: “Arguably, offering flexible training opportunities for trainees, which cannot then be translated into their working lives, could be seen as setting new entrants up for false hope.
“For flexibility to truly work to attract new applicants, there needs to be a join-up between what is possible both for training and for your ongoing career. And for flexibilities to be truly attractive and workable, some radical rethinking and innovation is needed.”
Last week, a panel of experts told MPs that the sector lacked “the cultural confidence to begin to try new things around flexibility within education”.
And earlier this month, Tes exclusively revealed that nearly half of teachers and school leaders believe that headship is not compatible with parenthood.
Ms Hollis said that more flexible approaches to working, such as a four-day-week, may help to make the profession more attractive.
Flexible training options mooted by providers include online or blended delivery of core training; time built into courses for study administration and/or wellbeing; part-time courses; PPA at home; and allowing for late starts and or early finishes.
Ms Hollis has called for a bigger discussion, taking on board lessons learned from Covid about home working.
She said: “Do teachers need to be in school all the time? Can they engage in discussion in class without being physically present?
“Is anyone actually looking at what we have learned over the past three years to make teaching a more attractive profession to teachers, but also more attractive to children and young people who may be more responsive to and more engaged in different approaches of teaching and learning beyond the norm?”
Ian Hartwright, head of policy (professional) at the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “There is strong evidence to suggest that flexible working can support retention, contribute to better work-life balance, improve equality and diversity, and increase job satisfaction.”
He added that “flexible working could, therefore, be a tool in the struggle to recruit new school leaders and retain existing ones” but he said a much bigger commitment from the government in terms of investment and school inspection was needed to make it work.
Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said that offering flexible working opportunities is “clearly likely to aid recruitment and retention”.
She said: “However, this can be challenging given funding pressures, teacher shortages and timetabling demands. Small schools and those facing particularly severe budgetary and staffing pressures can find it particularly difficult.
“Extending these opportunities, and much else besides, depends upon the government addressing the funding and staffing crisis.”
The DfE has been approached for comment.
