Could you be a great educational leader if you had more flexibility? I see leadership potential in women everywhere I turn in education. Unfortunately, many of these are woman who have motherhood and childcare to balance alongside their careers, many choose parenting over their career. If I needed to make that binary choice, I would choose the same but what if you could have both?
It is currently rare to find job adverts for leadership positions which are part time or a job share. When I was a part time Assistant Head, I worked full time before my children then went back 4 days a week. I could be more assertive with my wishes as I already had the job. Negotiating part time was relatively simple although I also know of people in similar circumstances who were denied this opportunity. Clearly, this is counterproductive. I would have resented being forced back to full time after maternity leave and would not have given my all to the role I used to love. My wellbeing and work life balance would not have been taken into account so why should I give 100% when I don’t have 100% of myself to give? This would have led to burnout. It shouldn’t come down to luck though – there should be more options available.
I wrote this blog for #WomenEd as a result of my experiences of juggling being a mother, wife and leader. I have been frustrated with the issues of inflexible working which, we must not forget also affect men.
To read further please click to access the #WomenEd blog: https://womened.org/blog/flexible-leadership
What is #WomenEd?
WomenEd is a global grassroots movement that connects aspiring and existing women leaders in education and gives women leaders a voice in education.
Even though women dominate the workforce across all sectors of education, there are still gender and racial inequalities in terms of the numbers of women in senior leadership, the large gender pay gap and the number of women who want to stay in education yet whose requests for flexible working are not met.
Our mission is for more women in education to have the choice to progress on their leadership journey.
To achieve this, WomenEd works to remove systemic and organisational barriers to such progress and to empower and enable women to achieve their next leadership step, if they choose to progress in leadership roles. Find out more with the link below:
They have also written a book:
Through the real-life stories of women leaders in education, drawn from across the #WomenEd community, this book offers guidance and inspiration on how to rise above challenging situations and find personal and professional growth. It’s time to:
-Tackle imposter syndrome
-Know your worth
-Ask for what you need
-Call out unacceptable behavior
-Put yourself first when necessary
-Raise your voice until it’s heard
It’s time to own your journey and your story – it’s time to become 10% braver.