The government has asked for official recommendations on how teacher pay and conditions could be updated to encourage job-shares, partial retirement, nine-day teaching fortnights and staggered starts.
In its evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body, the Department for Education said it would be “interested to hear views on any areas where the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD) may pose a barrier to flexible working, or where wording could be amended to more clearly support flexible working”.
It comes amid widespread criticism of the government’s decision to inform the STRB in its evidence that it believes a 2.8 per cent pay rise for teachers in 2025-26 is “appropriate”.
However, the STRB does not just make recommendations on pay, and in its evidence, the DfE said it “may wish to consider some of the following flexible arrangements that could be of benefit to teachers”.
Part-time teachers
The pay and conditions document (STPCD) already sets out how directed time should be pro-rated for part-time teachers.
But stakeholders “have expressed concerns about expectations for part-time teachers to work on their non-working days, for example, to attend training or INSET days”.
There are “also concerns around parttime teachers having inconsistent non-working days, or having their non-working days changed and the amount of notice they receive when this happens”.
The DfE said it would “welcome the STRB’s views on whether the STPCD should clarify the arrangements for part-time teachers, and in which ways”.
Job-shares
According to the latest working lives of teachers and leaders survey, 12 per cent of primary teachers and leaders work as part of a job share, compared to just 1 per cent of seconsary teachers.
The STRB “should consider whether any amendments to the STPCD might be required to enable and encourage this arrangement”.
Partial retirement
The DfE said it was also “interested in identifying ways experienced teachers can be retained part time as they enter retirement, given their expertise in teaching and the wider benefits they bring across a school”.
The department said it “would be interested to hear the STRB’s views on whether there are any ways the STPCD could be more conducive to partial retirement, or otherwise supporting the transition into retirement, particularly where the alternative would be a teacher leaving the profession sooner”.
Nine-day fortnights
The DfE said it understood some schools were “trialling new approaches to structuring teachers’ directed hours in a way that may allow for additional flexibility, often in some form of ‘compressed hours’.
“This includes, for example, re-organising their timetable to offer teachers a nine-day fortnight of classroom teaching with PPA time on the remaining day, whilst not impacting pupil hours.”
The department said it “would welcome the STRB’s views on the extent to which similar arrangements should and could be facilitated in the STPCD”.
“In this, it will be particularly important to prioritise delivery for pupils in any arrangements, as well as ensuring manageability for school leaders.”
Staggered start and finish times
The DfE added that some groups of teachers, such as the disabled and those with caring responsibilities, “may benefit from start and end times that are staggered from the normal school day”.
Such an arrangement “may not change the total hours worked on a given day, but rather alter what part of the day is worked, allowing teachers to collect their own children from other schools or care for relatives at a time that is more convenient for them”.
But these arrangements “can present challenges for leaders in delivering the full timetable and ensuring sufficient staffing levels”.
“The STRB may wish to offer views on ways that such arrangements could be supported in schools, and whether any aspects of the pay and conditions framework would need clarifying to accommodate those arrangements.”
