Lie-ins and nine-day fortnights: how schools are tackling teacher shortage

Teachers in England are being offered a range of incentives to make the job more appealing, including two free periods a week to give them a liein, a nine-day fortnight and more planning time at home to help with work-life balance.

- Sally Weale

An escalating crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is forcing schools and academy trusts to come up with novel ways to attract recruits into the profession and keep experienced staff in front of classes.

As part of its manifesto commitment to recruit 6,500 new teachers, the government wants teachers to be able to do more planning at home to improve flexibility, but experts say the sector will have to go much further if it is to compete with other professions, including on pay.

A report published today by the education charity Teach First calls for every teacher to be given a "flexibility" entitlement, including short-term secondments away from school to work in other sectors and career breaks offering unpaid leave.

The Teach First chief executive, Russell Hobby, said: "For too long conditions in the teaching profession have failed to keep pace with what the next generation of workers crave in a career - and what they can find in other sectors.