Heads 'shun female teachers after childbirth'

Government figures show that 20 years ago 15,000 teachers returned to work every year, half of them full-time, compared with just 9,000 today?Photo: Getty Images

Taxpayers are spending more than necessary on training new teachers because "out-of-date" heads avoid hiring mothers who want to return to work while still having time to care for their families, it was claimed.

Stephen Hillier, chief executive of the Training and Development Agency, said some school leaders had told him that part-time and job-share arrangements posed a timetabling problem and that hiring fresh graduates was cheaper.

There are also fears among heads that women in flexible roles could not be trusted to "maintain the necessary focus and intensity on driving up pupil standards" and that they lacked the "energy and up-to-dateness" of newly qualified teachers, Mr Hillier said.

Speaking at a conference last month, he added: "In my view, some of these attitudes are 20 years out of date. Bluntly, some of our schools are a lot more willing than others to embrace the modern work patterns that are now common in other professions."

Government figures show that 20 years ago 15,000 teachers returned to work every year, half of them full-time, compared with just 9,000 today.

Mr Hillier, who is in charge of ensuring enough well-qualified teachers enter the profession, said heads "can't afford not to" start rehiring women, especially in subjects like physics and chemistry where there is a shortage of staff.

He said: "This now means that each year we are training, and schools are recruiting, 6,000 more newly qualified teachers than was previously necessary.

"Schools are the employers of teachers and only they can judge who it is best to employ ... on the other hand, taxpayers are entitled to wonder why we are spending 25 per cent more than we need to on newly qualified teachers."

David Trace, head of Ramsey Grammar School on the Isle of Man, disputed Mr Hillier's comments and branded him "out of touch".

He told the Times Educational Supplement: "My school, which is fairly typical, has seven part-time female teachers and four teaching assistants who have come back from maternity leave from full-time previously.

"In order to accommodate the needs of my seven we bend over backwards with the timetable at the expense of other important parameters."

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Union of Head Teachers, said schools should not be blamed for "conservative" employment practices and that they "won't be against flexible working for flippant reasons."

But Chris Keates, head of the NASUWT union, said: "These are not working practices of the 21st century; this is taking us back to the Victorian attitude towards employment ... Stephen has exposed something which is scandalous."