Schools across England are ramping up maternity pay and offering flexible working in a bid to stem the exodus of thousands of women in their 30s from teaching.
In Wednesday’s budget chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed she would fund recruiting 6,500 new teachers by pressing ahead with imposing VAT on private school fees. Yet heads and charities are warning that with more than 9,000 women aged between 30 and 39 leaving state education last year, the government will not fix the teacher shortage unless it also works to stop experienced women leaving.
Experts say alongside a standard maternity pay package for teachers that lags behind many other employers, excessive workload and guilt about not having time for their own children are leading many women in this age group to conclude motherhood isn’t compatible with teaching.
The Education Alliance academy trust, which runs 10 schools in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire, last week agreed to introduce what it believes will be the most generous maternity package in the sector, coupled with guarantees on flexible working arrangements to stem “the catastrophic loss” of female teachers in their 30s.
Jonny Uttley, the trust’s CEO, said: “Nobody should have to choose between being seen as a good teacher or a good mum or dad. This dilemma has driven too many great teachers and leaders out of the profession and it needs to stop.”
Nikki Cunningham Smith said she left her job as assistant headteacher at the age of 36 because she felt “burned out and guilty”. “You’re preaching to families about the importance of involvement with their kids and you are so overworked you can’t manage that for your own children,” she said. After two years out of teaching she has just accepted another school leadership job coordinating special needs provision – but only because they agreed to a different style of working. “I wrote my bravest paragraph ever, saying I believe in work-life balance and need Fridays off and if you can’t offer this, please don’t interview me,” she said.
Uttley’s trust now approves 98% of all requests for flexible working and has a policy that everyone must be able to attend their own children’s sports days and school plays – two classic milestones teachers often miss while looking after other people’s children.
He said the crisis in teacher recruitment will be solved only if experienced teachers are willing to recommend it as a career to others.
This is why his trust is veering away from most of the sector – where teachers get four weeks maternity leave at full pay, two weeks at 90% then 12 weeks on half pay – and offering, from day one, 18 weeks on full pay and eight on half pay for teachers and support staff. His schools will also offer uncapped paid leave for women who suffer a miscarriage.
Other academy trusts have also enhanced their maternity packages, including the London-based chains PolyMAT and the Charter Schools Education Trust, and Dixons, which runs 16 schools and a college in the north west. A handful of London boroughs including Lambeth, Haringey and Camden also offer significantly over the national level following successful union negotiations.
But with employers including the civil service and supermarkets offering six months paid leave, campaigners say the standard offer available to the vast majority of teachers is pushing women out.
Emma Sheppard, founder of the Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher charity, whose recent research highlighted that overworked mothers in their 30s are the largest group leaving state education, said it would be “shortsighted” of the government to focus on new teachers without tackling low maternity pay and retention.
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She said: “A stable base of experienced teachers means a stable school. The government is focusing on bringing in new teachers but that base is crumbling.”
Former headteacher Jen Crittenden hoped to prove she could still run a primary school after she had her baby – but in 2022 she left the profession because she was “just broken”.
During Covid she was working 80 to 90 hour weeks, often staying late to deal with social services cases. “I basically wasn’t seeing my daughter at all,” she said. “She was starting school, but I didn’t have time for her.”
She added: “Not one of the cohort I trained with is still in teaching. The system is broken.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: “Recruiting and keeping great teachers in our classrooms is vital to improving life chances for all children. We are committed to resetting the relationship with the education workforce and working alongside them to re-establish teaching as an attractive, expert profession.”