Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what provisions her Department has made to accommodate more part-time job opportunities within the teaching sector?

My Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State hosted a summit on flexible working on 30 October 2017 where she announced a government drive to encourage more flexible working in schools and unveiled new plans to promote flexible working across the teaching profession.

The summit explored possible short and long term proposals to make flexible working easier for schools to implement. The summit led to over 60 pledges to take action to increase the opportunities for flexible working in schools. These pledges were published on the flexible working pages on published on 1 December 2017 and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/increasing-flexible-working-in-schools/increasing-flexible-working-opportunities-in-schools.

The Government is committed to carrying out research looking at changing recruitment practices in schools. In addition, we are committed to running a one-year pilot of a revised model of the ‘Leadership Coaching Pledge’ for women teachers including extra support for part-time workers and people returning to teaching after a break. Further information is available at: https://www.tscouncil.org.uk/women-leading-in-education-coaching-pledge/.