The changing tide; how we need to stay ahead to retain great teachers

Faced with sector-wide challenges in teacher recruitment and retention, Springwest Academy in London is breaking new ground with innovative approaches to staff wellbeing and flexible working.

Partnering with Teach First, the school has embraced initiatives like early Friday finishes and a proposed nine-day fortnight, demonstrating how putting teachers first can lead to lasting benefits for staff, students, and the wider community.

We spoke with Principal Simon Hart, who explains:

We work incredibly hard to attract and retain our brilliant teachers, ensuring they feel valued, rewarded and regularly refreshed with a competitive salary and flexible working hours, including finishing early on Fridays and exploration of a nine-day fortnight.

Recruiting and retaining the right people

Teacher recruitment and retention is a challenge most Headteachers currently face. I’ve certainly experienced difficulties in finding the right staff and ensuring they’re happy and remain here at Springwest Academy.

We focus heavily on staff wellbeing to attract and keep hold of our brilliant teachers and make sure to highlight our flexible working practices when recruiting.

While a third of our teaching staff have been working here for 10 or more years, retaining teachers still comes with its challenges, especially as they reach leadership.

Flexibility at Springwest

As a school leader, I need to keep my ear to the ground for the most tangible ways of improving staff wellbeing and workload, while remaining an appealing employer.

The tide is changing, and it’s essential to stay ahead of things.

We’ve already implemented early finish on Fridays and the option for compressed hours. And we’re currently exploring a nine-day fortnight for all our teachers, as we start to see more schools across the country roll this out.

By introducing a two-week timetable and rotating groups of staff, we’ll be able to offer them a day off without affecting the pupils’ quality of education.

Our early finish on Fridays is popular amongst pupils and staff and we’re seeing more schools in surrounding areas replicate this change.

Clear communication and invited feedback reassured parents that the early finish wasn’t putting their children’s attainment at risk, and we’ve since continued to receive a brilliant overall response from the community whilst improving behaviour and outcomes.

I’m so proud that Springwest is an innovative learning environment that has been ahead of the curve by introducing flexible working practices that reflect our wider society. And it is great to see how as leaders, we can learn from other flexible working options from schools up and down the country.

Call for essential Government support

However, none of this is achievable for schools serving disadvantaged communities without the right funding and support from Government.

Due to tight budget restrictions, recruiting the right staff and providing competitive benefits isn’t easy. It’s time for the Government to think creatively about changing school funding.

And for teaching to regain a respectful position within society and become an aspirational career again, the Government needs to think radically about elevating teaching status. To be able to compete with other sectors, schools need support to provide competitive salaries and practical, flexible working practices.

By ensuring teachers are rightly rewarded and regularly refreshed, we can have complete confidence that they’ll be able to deliver the very best education to their pupils.

Flexibility beyond Springwest

In addition to the insights from Simon at Springwest Academy and their approach to flexibility, you can find more case studies on how our partner schools are adapting flexible working to suit their needs here.