Overview
- The campaign group wrote to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson on 1 December urging controlled pilots that let schools test shorter working weeks for staff.
- Advocates say a four-day schedule would cut burnout and improve retention and recruitment, warning Labour’s 6,500-teacher pledge will be hard to meet without change.
- Official data show record teacher vacancies this year in England and nearly as many leavers as new entrants, with workload pressures frequently cited.
- The Department for Education says it funds programmes to expand flexible working but continues to require state schools to educate pupils five days a week.
- Recent Scottish proposals outline a ‘flexible’ four-day teaching week, and some UK schools are already experimenting with four-day weeks, 4.5-day weeks, and nine-day fortnights.