Retaining your best staff: a practical guide to implementing inclusive practices for teacher-parents

November 14 @ 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Date: November 14, 2024
Time: 09:00 – 11:00
Cost: BSA Full Member – £135, BSA Affiliate Member – £170, Non-member – £270
Audience: Senior Leaders in boarding, Heads of HR, Houseparents, Heads of Departments, line-managers, EDI Leads
Platform: Zoom (online) – Half-Day Seminar

Course outline:

This seminar looks at key considerations for leaders with teaching staff in their team who are mothers or mothers-to-be. It will present findings of a PhD research project and the national picture, including legal considerations. We will then discuss a case study to look at how schools can plan to support those balancing parenthood and teaching commitments. Delegates will leave with actionable ideas to develop a comprehensive plan to help support this important group.

Learning outcomes:

Contextualising the need for this work beyond the moral imperative: Recruitments and retention and the need for flexibility in the workplace
Presentation of findings of PhD research – what is the current national situation regarding teachers returning from maternity leave?
What evidence-based actions should a school be taking now?
Presentation of a case study around maternity leave in a boarding house.

Delegates will:

Better understand the national picture surrounding teachers who are mothers.
Reflect on practice in their school.
Begin formulating an action plan to better support teachers who are mothers in their setting.

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Speakers:

David Walker, Executive Director, Boarding and Director BSA/TIOB

David is the BSA Director and joined the BSA group in August 2023. He has over 20 years’ experience in boarding schools and has worked in a range of schools in the UK and Africa, alongside being a prep schoolgovernor and a trustee of a MAT. Before taking up his post at the BSA, David was Deputy Head Pastoral at a large co-ed independent school in the South-East.

Madelaine Best

Madelaine Best is a final year PhD researcher at the University of Reading’s Institute of Education. She is also an experienced secondary school teacher and Head of Department, and a prep school governor, sitting on the Education and Safety & Wellbeing sub-committees. Her research focuses on how leadership & policy can shape institutional frameworks to ensure the inclusion of teacher-mothers with pre-school age children. She has had work previously published in Politics & Gender (‘Understanding Legislator Experiences of Family-Friendly Working Practices in Political Institutions’) and has a forthcoming presentation at the British Educational Leadership Management Administration Society’s annual conference in Glasgow (July 2024).