The education sector is amid a national recruitment and retention crisis. Of those leaving the profession, women in their thirties account for the largest group after retirees. Existing research suggests motherhood is a contributing factor to these mid-career leavers. This is occurring against a backdrop of teaching becoming less competitive with fewer opportunities for home-working than similar graduate professions.

This evidence-based session will focus on how school policy can improve the retention of teacher-mothers with pre-school age children, presenting feasible policy solutions. Small changes can make a big difference to ensuring teacher-mothers return from maternity leave feeling valued, supported, and less likely to leave.
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• This session will summarise the key challenges facing teacher-mothers when they return from maternity or shared parental leave, make evidence-informed policy recommendations to support them, and encourage leaders to reflect on what works and what could be done better in their setting. It will use engaging stories from qualitative research, as well as statistical evidence from a large data set.
• This research shows that school support and culture surrounding motherhood are important in determining the probability of mothers changing school and leaving the profession. Therefore, this session is highly pertinent to school leaders to better understand these important issues relating to retention, reflect on their school’s approach, and consider meaningful changes.