Work in a school and want better work-life balance? While flexible or remote working has become the norm for many professionals since COVID-19, it's rarer to see the same opportunities available for school staff. We spoke to several experts on how the education sector could improve the wellbeing and retention of teachers.
In recent weeks, a National Education Union (NEU) poll has told us that 44% of teachers plan to quit within the next five years, largely due to ‘unmanageable’ workloads. Dr Mary Bousted (NEU) commented: “We remain a profession with amongst the highest number of unpaid working hours, and we are still well above the international average for hours worked by teachers.” And yet for many of us, post-COVID ways of working have led to an increase in agile and remote working, plus the possibility of flexible working arrangements.
Teachers do, of course, need to be on-site to teach children but in many cases, schools continue to be reluctant to allow teachers to do all the other work that comes with the role, off-site. And with schools having high expectations of parental involvement in their children’s education and in school life (especially at primary level) teachers themselves are often not given time to attend their own children’s school events, plays, concerts, or even do pick-up/drop-off at the school gates from time to time themselves.
