Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of flexible working practices in schools for staff who are (a) expectant parents and (b) new-born parents.

With the changing demands of employees, it is more important than ever that teaching is compatible with having children and family life. Whilst the number of teachers working part time in teaching is increasing, there is still more to do to improve the flexible working offer in schools.

This is why, in January this year, the Deaprtment published the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy which sets out the steps we are taking to promote flexible working opportunities in schools. This includes developing a new high-profile “find your jobshare” website that will support teachers who are looking for jobshare partners; and launching a competition for EdTech providers to create innovative solutions to promote and facilitate part-time and flexible working patterns, including timetabling tools. The Department will complement this with wider best practice resources and further research to support implementation of flexible working.