More than one-third of female school staff had their requests for flexible working denied, according to a report showing that women working in public services repeatedly have their requests refused.
A survey by the union Unison shows that 37 per cent of women working in schools had their requests to work flexibly denied.
The survey comes after a 2023 Education Endowment Foundation review found that offering flexible working for teachers is an important factor in improving recruitment and retention.
The Department for Education’s Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, published in 2019, included a priority to expand flexible working opportunities in teaching. An updated strategy, expected this winter, will reflect on progress and outline future priorities.
Unison said its survey of 44,000 women working in the public sector shows that employers were being “inconsistent, rigid and unimaginative” when dealing with requests from staff.
Overall, one in four respondents who were told they could not alter the way they worked reported that their requests had been denied many times.
Almost half of those surveyed had requested some flexibility in their jobs so they could achieve a better work-life balance, such as fitting work around childcare.
Reasons for rejection included concerns that it would affect the quality of the service provided or that there would not be enough colleagues to cover their duties.
One-fifth said they were denied any flexibility because their managers said it would prompt colleagues to ask for similar working patterns, while around one in seven were given no reason at all.
Women teachers denied flexible working
Christina McAnea, general secretary of Unison, said: “It’s disheartening to see many employers continuing to deny their staff the opportunity to work flexibly. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
“Sadly many women who find they need to inject some flexibility into their working lives are coming up against employers with inconsistent, rigid and unimaginative attitudes.
“Helping women to balance work with caring commitments not only improves morale but can also help employers fill hard-to-recruit jobs. And with fewer vacancies, services provided to the public are likely to improve.
“Too many employers are still turning down flexible working requests, which means the right to request is pretty meaningless for many women.
“The right to work flexibly from day one would be beneficial for staff and employers alike, and help bring workplaces into the 21st century.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We fully support flexible working, which is beneficial for staff wellbeing and has been shown to boost recruitment and retention.”
Schools do their best to accommodate these requests, he added, but there are a number of practical considerations when determining working practices, such as timetabling restrictions, financial costs and overall staffing levels.
“Many schools are operating with severely constrained resources and this is not always conducive to being able to offer greater flexibility to staff,” Mr Barton said.
Ian Hartwright, senior policy adviser for the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “NAHT supports flexible working because there is strong evidence to suggest that it can support retention, contribute to better work-life balance and increase job satisfaction.”
However, he pointed to “a range of organisational and structural barriers, alongside the cost pressures schools continue to face”, which “often means that flexibility in schools can be tricky to achieve”.
The government needs to promote “genuinely flexible approaches, available for all school roles, supported by the resources and funding required for effective implementation in schools”, Mr Hartwright added.
