29 Apr Flexible Working Within Education
The terms flexibility and adaptability within education go hand-in-hand with teaching. As Primary Teachers we are constantly having demands and requests made of us that require the ability to adapt, as a core skill, embedded into our classroom practice and wider school working environment. So entwined into the school day, that without it, adjustments within lessons and therefore effective teaching and learning, just can’t happen.
Primary Teachers must have the ability to be able to effectively and efficiently react to changes within the school day to benefit the children within their class and adjust their teaching to the point at which they make the most progress. Realistically, how many lesson plans actually go to plan without any adjustment to the questioning or direction that the learning needs to take in order to achieve an outcome? Not many that Moore Teachers remember!
This constant continual assessment of a class and an individual child’s progress is a key skill to be able to make the most of any learning situation. It’s something all good Primary Teachers are successful in doing. But what happens when you are required to be flexible and adaptable outside of school? When there are changes in your family or personal life that require you to reduce the amount of time you can actually be at school, are those skills of flexibility and adaptability that you are so proficient at using in the classroom, as easily transferable to life outside of the classroom? A Primary Teacher’s job is not constrained to the four walls of their classroom between the hours of 9am and 3.15pm (as Moore Teachers well know), but the crossover between the classroom and home life can be tricky to manage. With more and more demands being placed upon teachers which in turn takes its toll on the demands of home life and any changes within personal circumstances.
Work-life balance has long been on the top of the buzz-word list for the last few education secretaries, but is it being felt as a positive balance by teachers themselves? At Moore Teachers we understand the importance of this and the positive impact this can have on a teachers practice and also the quality of life outside of work due to readdressing the balance.
Moore Teachers, gives the opportunity for all Primary Teachers to decide on precise working arrangements that best suits them, down to the number of days, or primary year groups that they are most comfortable in. In order for us to provide the best service to our schools, we cannot underestimate the importance of first and foremost, the wellbeing of our teachers.
‘Real flexible work means recognising that real life happens! Recognising that flexible requests usually come from people already juggling should therefore help to flip the narrative around them having to justify their “why” and instead establish a culture where we all have the confidence to think “why not!”’ (DfE, 2020)