As chief people officer overseeing a 30-school multi-academy trust, the shifting attitudes towards work are increasingly apparent.

Traditional Monday-to-Friday structures are giving way to a new era of flexibility, and the impact on recruitment and retention within the education sector is growing.

This is clear on a national scale, too, with new legislative changes, effective from April 2024, removing the previous need to have 26 weeks’ continuous service, making flexible working a “day-one” entitlement.

Additionally, employees can now make two flexible working requests per year, compared to the previous limit of one.

Adapt and innovate

While these changes mark a significant step forward, it’s essential to recognise that flexibility in education is not a new concept. Schools have offered options like term-time contracts for quite some time.

However, the wider competitive landscape has shifted, and other sectors are now offering similar flexibility along with additional incentives linked to pay and benefits.

In light of these developments, it’s necessary for educational institutions to adapt and innovate to remain competitive in attracting and retaining talent.

Leaders must be aware that flexible working requests must always be considered on an individual basis.

Acting with fairness

For example, a request for flexibility may be possible to accommodate in some roles or even specific subject areas but not in others. It is not acceptable to reject an application purely because it would not be possible to accommodate for everyone.

While on the surface this could be viewed as inconsistent or unfair, providing that there is a solid rationale and evidence to support the reason for the decision, this could be agreed for one employee and rejected for another.

Of course, this could lead to dissatisfaction or unrest and therefore leaders need to dedicate the time to really consider each request carefully.

That consideration may lead to rejecting an application and there is a list of permitted reasons for which a flexible working request can be rejected.

No assumptions

However, the reason given for rejecting a request should not be based on assumption. For example, declining an employee’s request to work three days instead of five due to perceived difficulties filling a two-day vacancy would be a weak rationale if no evidence was available to support this belief.

Similarly, rejecting a request on the basis of a perceived detrimental impact on pupil outcomes is much harder to prove. Many outstanding schools have successful flexible working arrangements for teaching staff and support staff so this rationale may not withstand scrutiny.

This is not easy but schools and trusts must be willing to consider flexible working options - and go beyond simply meeting legal compliance - to ensure they are able to attract and retain teaching staff in a tight labour market.

As such schools should not sit and wait for flexible working requests to come in but be proactive towards encouraging employees to balance their work and personal life.

Be proactive

Implementing a supportive leave of absence policy, term-time holidays, considering wellbeing days or offering flexibility during non-directed time are great places to start.

One issue that can occur when looking at such initiatives is how they may be perceived by parents given they may face fines for their children not attending.

That may sound compelling to them but the truth is there is a need for communities to recognise that education staff are employees and not pupils.

Recruitment in education will become increasingly difficult if we are not willing to advocate for the difference between an adult employee and a pupil.

That’s why we need to show that flexible working and ideas like those above will not harm education but actually improve it by boosting teacher recruitment and retention and ensuring teachers are happy, content and stable in their role so they can be the best educators possible.

What’s more, if we get that right, we will not only benefit our current teaching workforce but also the young minds in our classrooms - and the future educators of tomorrow - by ensuring they are being prepared for their future as best as possible, including the benefits flexible working can offer.

Claire Druery is chief people officer at Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust