For many school leaders, ‘flexible working’ can feel like a distant concept, especially after another late finish or a Sunday spent catching up on emails.

But with new guidance from the Department for Education and employment law changes on the horizon, expectations around flexible working are shifting, and schools are being encouraged to rethink what’s possible.

In this Leadership Focus feature, we explore what this means in practice and what school leaders are already doing to make flexibility work in a system that isn’t naturally built for it.

Inside, you’ll find:

• What the new guidance and upcoming ‘reasonableness test’ could mean for handling requests
• Why flexible working in schools is fundamentally different from other sectors
• The reality of balancing staff members’ well-being and pupils’ outcomes.

We also hear from school leader Michael Eggleton, who has taken a deliberately flexible approach, from planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time at home to informal flexibility in the school day, helping to retain staff and strengthen his team.

At the same time, there’s a clear message to the government: flexible working isn’t a silver bullet. It can support recruitment and retention, but only alongside wider action on workload, funding and accountability.

This feature brings together policy, practice and sector insight to help you navigate what’s changing and what it might mean for your school.