The #WomenEd Flexible Working Campaign

What is Flexible Working?

Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s needs, for example having flexible start and finish times, or working from home. (gov.uk)

Research in the EU has shown that 'being a parent continues to hinder women in the labour market, reflecting the disproportionate weight of care duties on mothers.' (GEI, 2019).

What Leading Women are Saying

"Schools with a truly flexible culture think collaboratively about how the team can get things done" (Caroline Doherty, WomenEd)

"For me, being a mother made me a better professional, because coming home every night to my girls reminded me what I was working for. And being a professional made me a better mother, because by pursuing my dreams, I was modeling for my girls how to pursue their dreams."

Michelle Obama

Our Goals

Supporting the school sector to increase flexible working practices

Retaining more women educators and leaders through flexible working

Influencing attitudes of school leaders to achieve systemic change

Our Achievements

Blogged about this

Hosted presentations at our 2021 global unconference

Published a wide range of blogs on flexible working practices including being a flexible Senior Leader

Written a chapter in 10%Braver: Inspiring Women to Lead Education

Written about how to attract more women to senior leadership

Held a panel discussion at our global unconference 2020

Discussed flexible thinking, including financial benefits, in a National College of Education podcast

Contributed to Department for Education (England) Working Party on Flexible Working

Collaborated with @FlexTeachTalent to propose School Teachers Pay and Conditions (England) change so teachers with a responsibility allowance, and who work part time, receive full salary for the responsibility.

Collaborated on and curated 20+ short case studies on the benefits of flexible working for individuals, organisations, and students.

Our Impact

"At the end of my maternity leave I knew I wanted a new challenge and applied for a new role which was offered as full time originally. I tweeted #WomenEd and immediately received moral support from women across the world! During my full day interview I asked for breastmilk pumping facilities and was surprised how supportive the Head was when I asked for flexible working.

I'm about to return from maternity leave on 0.8 FTE and all my childcare is already in place. The school were happy to agree to this from Jan-July 2022 with a view to go full time from Sep 2022 which is what I wanted. They also agreed to later starts (9am) Jan-July as I didn't want to disrupt my son's existing routine.

I felt relieved, and surprised when they agreed. The head really valued me and wanted to hire me and was willing to work with me to be flexible. It was really empowering. I was under the impression that most schools weren't flexible (especially on start times) but the head has children himself and understood childcare arrangements.

I'm now Head of Sixth Form!"

Elizabeth Main @mainy83