Teachers in England could soon work four days a week under a government proposal designed to make the profession more attractive. Students would still attend school five days a week, and teachers’ total contracted hours would remain unchanged.
Government Proposes a Major Change to Teachers’ Working Schedules
According to The Telegraph, Education Secretary Lucy Powell has proposed relaxing rules that currently require full-time teachers in England’s state schools to be available for work across 195 days each year.
Under existing regulations, teachers must be available for up to 1,265 directed hours, spread across 190 school days and five professional training days.
The proposed change would allow schools to distribute those hours across fewer working days. A teacher could complete their weekly schedule over four longer days, with colleagues covering classes on the fifth.
Powell outlined the proposal in a letter to Dr. Mike Aldred, chairman of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which advises the government on teachers’ pay and working conditions.
In the letter on Thursday, she said the intention was “to provide leaders with greater flexibility to choose to depart from the 195-day requirement to respond to evolving workforce need”.
The Education Secretary asked the STRB to recommend how the change could be introduced while protecting students’ classroom time.
Schools would retain control over individual arrangements. Teachers would not receive an automatic entitlement to a four-day week, and school leaders could decide whether such schedules were practical.
Teacher Shortages Are Driving the Push for Flexibility
The proposal comes amid longstanding concerns about teacher recruitment and retention in England.
A 2025 STRB report identified flexible working as a significant factor influencing whether teachers remain in the profession.
The report suggested several arrangements, including four-day weeks, nine-day fortnights, job sharing, and remote working for lesson planning and preparation.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the government’s direction.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said:
“For the past decade, we’ve seen recruitment targets not met and crucially seen over a quarter of the workforce leaving the profession within the first four years. Something clearly needs to change.
“At a time when so many jobs seem under threat from AI, we want teaching to be seen as very attractive, and we want to be able to attract the brightest and the best graduates to these jobs. We need to do something different and I think this is a good start at that.”
His comments reflect growing pressure on policymakers to make teaching competitive with careers offering more flexible schedules.
School Leaders Question the Impact on Students
Not everyone believes the proposed arrangements would benefit schools.
Emily May, executive headteacher of Willingdon Community School in East Sussex, warned that implementing four-day schedules could prove difficult.
She told the programme:
“I’m not sure that it’s a child-centric decision.
“Where the government is putting a lot of pressure on schools to improve attendance, what implicit message are we sending society that students still need to be in for five days but staff will only need to be in for four? That does concern me when persistent absenteeism has doubled since Covid.”
Her concerns highlight the practical challenges of coordinating teaching schedules while maintaining consistent classroom coverage.
The proposal would not shorten the school week for children or reduce the number of hours teachers must work.
Academies in England already have greater flexibility to offer similar working arrangements. The government’s proposed changes would give other school leaders more freedom to organize staff schedules, subject to recommendations from the STRB.
