Flexible working is something that once may have seemed impossible for most classroom teachers. The assumption is that you simply need to be in class for every lesson of the day and that there are no alternatives.

While job shares have become more common, other flexible-working practices, such as compressed hours, working from home or career breaks, have long appeared untenable for class teachers.

But this is changing. In June the Department for Education launched a £750,000 plan to promote flexible working in schools. It’s a move welcomed by many teachers: as discussed in a Tes article published last year, “Will teachers ever have flexible working?”, many are crying out for flexibility in their careers, and some schools are already meeting that demand. 

A recent report published by Timewise, a social consultancy that specialises in flexible working, shows what is now possible when it comes to flexible working for classroom teachers.

The report, Developing a whole-school approach to flexible working, is the result of HR and flexible-working experts spending 16 months in eight secondary schools, from three academy trusts - GLF Schools, The Kemnal Academies Trust, and Academies Enterprise Trust. The trusts were chosen because they were already making strides in this area. But with the help of the experts, they were able to drive organisational change further.

Muriel Tersago, the principal consultant on the research and an expert in flexible-working practices, says there is plenty other schools can learn from the project; the report details at length how headteachers can go about embedding a whole-school approach. 

But, at an individual level, what steps does a teacher need to take to secure a more flexible arrangement?

How teachers can get flexible working in schools

Consider informal arrangements 

The first step, Tersago says, is to consider what whole-school arrangements are already in place for flexible working - or what could be easily implemented. It may be that, with some small changes, you don’t need an official adjustment to your working pattern. 

“This is something the SLT needs to lead on, but teachers can ask for considerations. For instance, what did we learn during Covid in terms of having CPD online? Can that continue? Could it be recorded? Can team meetings happen at 5pm instead of 4pm, so that people can leave school and then log in from home?,” she says. 

These sorts of changes around where and when you work can really help teachers who don’t need regular time away from the classroom but do need more flexibility. 

For example, if you know that you might need time away from work to care for a loved one at short notice, you don’t necessarily need an afternoon off each week, Tersago explains. But if you can get a plan in place about what would happen if you do - ie, a member of SLT takes the lesson, or your class is merged with another - then it negates the need for a formal arrangement. 

Think beyond part-time

If it becomes apparent that a formal arrangement is needed, teachers should think carefully about how much flexibility they really need and what kind.

Often, Tersago says, people ask to go part-time because they think that is the only option available and yet “it turns out that’s not really what they need, and they would rather not have that reduction in salary”.

“Sometimes it’s surprising how many people don’t know what is already available, because it’s not necessarily packaged as flexible working,” she says. 

The Timewise report lists the different types of flexibility in place at the pilot schools (see box below). 

Graeme Napier is the executive principal at Bexleyheath Academy in London. At his school, for example, all teachers are scheduled flexible PPA time at the start or end of the day, allowing them to work from home during these periods if they wish.

“Teachers have told us that this provides the opportunity to build their work around other areas of their personal life,” Napier says. “For example, one teacher, who has their FLEX time in the morning, has told me how much they enjoy being able to walk their children to primary school on this day before coming to work. They are then able to complete work at home at a time that works best for them, when their children are in bed.”

Others, he adds, like knowing they have a time slot in which they can book appointments without needing to request additional leave. Since introducing this approach, the school has seen a 68 per cent reduction in teacher absence, he says.

More on flexible working:

• Will teachers ever have flexible working?
• It’s time for education to embrace flexible working
• DfE launches £750K plan to promote flexible working in schools

Consider how your job could be done differently 

Once you’ve thought about when you need time away, think about how your job could be done differently to accommodate for that, says Tersago: “If you’re a form tutor, for example, is that something that can be shared so that if you’re after a late start, you could split that with someone else?” 

Being armed with a few approaches to how a new arrangement could work, before you talk to your line manager, will make those conversations more worthwhile, she adds. 

“We have found that the use of flexible working has increased the way in which technology is used to support the work teachers do. Increasingly we see teachers benefiting from monitoring the work their students are doing electronically - further increasing flexibility as to how and where teachers work,” says Napier. 

“For example, we have seen teachers increasingly providing resources to support learning through digital learning platforms, with students submitting their work electronically and teachers using these platforms to provide feedback.”

Working in this way allows teachers to prepare, support and review teaching and learning using online spaces, accessible outside of school, which, in turn, allows teachers to move away from traditional ways of working, he stresses.

“Similarly, teachers have become more creative in the way they meet with colleagues, with students and with parents or carers. While the profession has become much more familiar with virtual meeting spaces through the pandemic, this has really supported the ability to work with flexibility,” Napier adds.

Have a trial 

Once you have established how flexible working can work for you and your teaching, have an initial conversation with your line manager and suggest a trial.

The conversation doesn’t need to be really formal; often this process works best when it’s a series of chats in which you explain what you need and talk about what is possible, says Tersago.

A trial period of a few months is also a good idea. This allows both you and your manager to see if the proposed approach works in practice, and gives you a chance to iron out any issues before you put in a formal request. 

Put in a formal application 

Once you’ve been through all of the above, then you should put in your formal application, says Tersago. It’s best practice, from a leadership point of view, to ask all staff members if they’d like to put in a request in the autumn term, for the next academic year, she adds - but, as a teacher, if this isn’t offered to you, then the application should be made at any point in the year.

The above steps seem relatively straightforward, but they rely on leaders being receptive and open to conversations. If your line manager is resistant to your need to work flexibility, Tersago recommends taking some time to build up your case.

“Show them how good a teacher you are, what value you bring to the school and to your students. Make your experience really clear, and demonstrate that you have thought about a solution, so you’re not presenting a problem,” she says.

In order to aid teachers in this, Napier asks his staff to come to meetings with answers to four key questions:
 

• What working patterns would you like to work in the future?
• When would you like this working pattern to commence?
• What impact would it have on your role, your work and your colleagues?
• What accommodations can be made to ensure that you, your colleagues and your students are supported?

“Where teachers make requests for flexible working, we are able to discuss these openly, as leaders, to consider how we could accommodate and support the request. When considering a request, we would always consider, ‘Would we be able to support any colleague that makes the same or a similar request?’ and, ‘Can we achieve a balance between this request and the needs of the school?’,” Napier says.

“It is really important for us that flexible working is offered fairly and equally across our team of teachers, without having a negative impact on the quality of the provision across our school.”

Often, allowing flexible working for one person can benefit a whole department, Tersago points out, so it pays to show leaders what the positive knock-on effects of accepting your request might be.

“Sometimes your flexible working could actually allow developmental opportunities for someone else. So think a little bit more widely about the impact that changing your working pattern could have on others,” she says. “If you bring that to those to the discussions, then you have a really strong case.”