When Charles Dickens Primary School in central London first introduced flexible working almost a decade ago, it was driven by the need to support teacher parents.
‘The reality is that we’re in Zone One and it’s an expensive place to live,’ explains head teacher Michael Eggleton.
The high cost of living was pushing parents out of the City, while the expensive train commutes made staying unsustainable. ‘A distinct pattern was emerging at the time. New parents were returning from maternity leave, staying on for a few years, and then leaving,’ Eggleton says.
Fast-forward ten years, and while the education sector faces an escalating teacher retention crisis as more than 9,000 30-something women and 3,400 men leave state education in a year*, Eggleton’s teacher mums – and dads – are choosing to remain in their roles. ‘I can’t recall the last time a mother working at the school left either before, during or even three years after coming back from maternity leave,’ he says. ‘In fact, everyone is still here who’s had a child in the last five years at least. So we are noticing a real change.’
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