CONTRIBUTORS Changes to the flexible


working regulations In her column this month for Education Today, NAOMI HOWELLS, Managing Director at recruitment specialists Class People, looks at the changes to flexible working regulations and what it means for you.


Updates to the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 will come into force from 6 April 2024. They make changes to the rights that employees have to request flexible


working, as well as the responsibilities of employers to meet those requests. The most significant changes are:


• the right for employees to make a flexible working request from day one, instead of having to wait 26 weeks


• the right for employees to make two formal requests in a twelve- month period, compared to the previous one request


• the removal of the requirement for employees to explain the effect their request might have, and how the impact can be minimised


• a reduction from three months to two months for employers to consider and respond to any requests


• the requirement for employers to consult with the employee, before approving or rejecting any request.


When considering flexible working in education many of the traditional options such as compressed hours or remote working are not immediately compatible with the realities of our working environment. It is this that school leaders must seek to address.


Education employment is traditionally viewed as simultaneously flexible and inflexible. Teachers benefit from long stints of mandated leave, are already working term-time only, with free periods in timetabled lessons, all of which are viewed favourably as flexible working solutions. In reality, these patterns simply serve to offset intensive working hours during term times, naturally compressing annual hours into just 39 weeks. Add to this the inflexibility of term time annual leave, the intensity of the role, the overtime hours during evenings and weekends, and the long lead time required to change roles or working patterns, and it is no surprise that teachers lament a lack of flexible working.


So, what is the compromise?


When it comes to ‘traditional’ solutions such as home working or part-time hours, schools may struggle to deliver effective short-term change. It doesn’t mean, however, that schools cannot meet the regulatory updates, nor garner a reputation for being a progressive, people-first employer. What it requires is innovation.


For other sectors, it can be relatively straightforward to approach flexible working on a case-by-case basis, working with each individual staff member to meet their needs. For teaching, the reality is much different, given our educational responsibilities to pupils. It is therefore recommended that schools publish a whole- school approach to flexible working, creating clarity around the opportunities open to employees.


Based on the government guidance, this approach can include: • part-time hours or job share arrangements • staggered hours, compressed hours or annualised hours • personal or family days, lieu time, or home or remote working.


Practically, there are changes that schools can make to support flexible working. Adjusting timetabling to align free periods together can support home-working or reduced hours, without requiring supplementary staff. Meanwhile, having specific dates for flexible working requests to be submitted, and aligning these with term time planning can help improve approval rates. Finally, considering employing non-assigned teachers or utilising a planned budget of supply staff, can enable in-term flexibility without intensive timelines.


February 2024


Making time for professional development


In her regular column this month, BlueSky Education’s DENISE INWOOD argues that professional development and appraisal needn’t be time hungry.


Time, like most of the resources in our modern education system, can be thin on the ground. That matters when it comes to professional


development. We all know that PD makes a huge difference to the professional growth of education professionals and the quality of teaching, but the perception is that it needs time – and resources – and can feel like one of a number of competing demands on already heavy workloads. How, then, can we make professional development as time efficient as possible?


The key point to make is that PD doesn’t have to consist of big blocks of professional programmes leading to qualifications at the end. PD could be reading a blog or an article or observing a lesson. It needs to become part of the texture of the working week.


Accounting for that development – linking it to PD objectives and school improvement plans and also ensuring that it feeds into the appraisal process – is where the time savings can really be made.


Moving away from a paper-based approach and towards an online platform in the management of professional development is a big fundamental change that delivered a lot of efficiencies at Watford Grammar School for Girls (WGGS). The school, a well-renowned, partially selective academy with 1,400 students, introduced BlueSky in early 2022, with the aim of streamlining their appraisal processes. The move online also had a transformative effect on the way staff record their professional development.


“When deadlines for appraisal paperwork were approaching, people would say ‘I’m not in today, so I can’t sign it’ and there were lots of pieces of paper floating around” says Deputy Headteacher Chris Wilshaw. “We realised it would be much better if it was all done online, so there were fewer delays and no signatures required.”


The school has a fairly unique approach to people management, with around 35% of staff on part-time contracts, and a strong belief in autonomy. Chris explains: “We’ve worked hard to recruit and retain the best teachers, and that’s partly why we have so many part-time staff. We are able to offer more flexibility and more autonomy than other schools where recruiting is difficult. “WGGS has been rated outstanding by Ofsted for a significant period of time, which attests that teaching is already of a high standard. However, the school’s existing process was limiting how staff approached their professional development: The old paper-based process required staff to write huge documents to evidence their achievements – a long process that had a questionable impact on teaching and learning. Part of the reason for implementing the system has been about changing the practice, so it’s more focused on ‘improve, not prove’.”


Chris emphasises that when they rewrote their appraisal policy, they didn’t want to bring in a ‘standard’ performance management model that made staff feel that they were being monitored. “Staff don’t want high levels of scrutiny; we aim to treat them as professionals because we know they are performing well – getting high GCSE and A-level results. We needed to design a system for our appraisal process that allowed for more autonomy than you might have in other schools.”


Although the school is still training staff to use the system for appraisal, Chris has already seen improvements in the way professional development activity is recorded. “People have only just started drafting their objectives, but they are already logging CPD that they’ve done. That’s great – the pandemic has really changed how they approach this, with more staff accessing CPD online, webinars etc. Previously we wouldn’t have known about this, because there wasn’t really anywhere for them to log or record it.” Using an online approach has also allowed school leaders to share key documents, such as the school development plan, in a central location where all staff have access. As staff have to base their individual targets, or year group or department targets, on the school development plan, it is now much easier for them to make that link with the plan now online. And because the school development plan is on a central system – with the logging CPD online done in a few clicks – their professional development reviews can be completed in far less time.


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