Teach Secondary Issue 14.2

KEEPING MUM By being more open and sensitive to the needs of their parent teachers, schools could make real progress in tackling the retention crisis, writes Nikki Cunningham-Smith ... M issing Mothers’ – it sounds like a Sunday night drama about mums who have suddenly packed a bag and disappeared without trace. Though when I reflect on some recent research that indicates women in their 30s are the largest demographic that’s departing teaching, it’s perhaps not a million miles away from the truth... I remember how, during my teacher training year, a fellow trainee arrived at our Monday morning seminar and excitedly showed us the fruits of her life-changing weekend – an engagement ring. As you can imagine, the assembled group of early twentysomethings became very excited at the prospect of a wedding, and all the trappings that go with it (Hen do, dress shopping, champagne, somewhere down the list a husband). And then our visiting course tutor casually remarked that she might want to hide her ring when attending one of her job interviews for a full-time teaching post the following week. ‘Mothering’ teachers At first, we were confused by this unsolicited piece of advice. He elaborated further. Speaking as a former headteacher, he explained how, when young women interviewed for a role, he and the interviewers would check the candidate’s ring finger. If she wore a wedding ring, then it was more likely that she’d be somewhere further along on her family journey – though still not as dedicated to the role as her professional peers, since her evenings would be spent with her children, rather than on planning and marking. A wedding ring also suggested that she’d be absent more frequently, fromhaving to be the one staying at home if her children fell ill. The winning female candidate would typically have no ring at all, given the likelihood that she’d have plenty of time to dedicate to the school. One of us fired back with a question about men and the rings they wore, to which his only response was, “ Ah, well – now that’s different... ” I remember thinking at the time that this was ridiculous – but also, feeling for the first time glad that I was single, ahead of the recruitment scrumwe’d be having to contend with. I think back now to that conversation, and my blood starts to boil. This was, admittedly, the perspective of a misguided dinosaur, who continued to be professionally indulged in the days before diversity and inclusion directives, or gender pay gap initiatives. His views plainly weren’t those of the profession at large, but had evidently been arrived at on the basis of some unspoken rule – namely, that ‘mothering teachers’ were a burden that ought to be avoided. Breaking barriers In the present day, those old barriers are now in the process of being broken down, but still remain highly visible. There are some pioneers out there, trying to make things more accessible for parent teachers and helping them thrive at a time that can be very difficult to navigate; raising your children whilst nurturing other people’s children. But support is still woefully lacking in some areas. For one, how in the world do we expect teachers to get their own children to school, when the standard expectation is for all staff to commence work at the same time, often in conflicting locations? The pandemic taught us that flexible working is indeed possible. The problem lies more with inflexible thinking. Against this backdrop, and amid a period of low teacher retention, the “Flexibleworking is indeed possible; the problemlies morewith inflexible thinking” 38 teachwire.net/secondary