Reimagining Learning: Blueprints for a Shorter School Week in the UK
Using existing case studies of working time reduction within a number of UK schools, this report outlines a blueprint for a much wider adoption of a shorter working week in the UK’s education sector.
Report summary:
- Teaching is one of the most overworked professions in the UK. This has led to widespread stress, mental health challenges, and a high turnover rate in the profession. The underlying logic of ‘more hours = better education’ holds back the potential of teachers and their work in the UK.
- The UK Government’s pledge to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers in England risks having little impact if nothing is done to also address a dramatic lack of work-life balance for teachers.
- In general, the emphasis on ‘fixing our broken schools’ needs to move away from a narrow focus on simply hiring more teachers and offering better pay, to include real efforts to improve work-life balance.
- The report offers three main existing blueprints for shorter working weeks in schools:
- Nine-Day Fortnight: Schools such as Dixons Academies Trust and St. Peter’s Catholic School have successfully introduced models where teachers work nine out of every ten school days. Early outcomes show reduced stress levels and improved work-life balance.
- Four-and-a-Half Day Week: Community Schools Trust schools in East London finish early on Fridays, freeing up time for its teachers to use for rest and preparation.
- Four-Day Week Trials: Court Moor School and St. Philip Howard Catholic Primary School are both piloting four-day weeks, with promising signs of increased recruitment and job satisfaction.
- To tackle the huge job retention and recruitment crisis, governments should encourage and support more pilots of a four-day week, shorter working week and nine-day fortnights in schools, building on the promising findings from these trials to date. This will support an evidence-led approach to future reform.
Click the image below to read the full report.
