Schools could allow full-time teachers to complete their directed hours over fewer than 195 days a year under government plans to encourage flexible working.
The education secretary has asked the (STRB) to make recommendations for changing rules that currently require full-time teachers to be available for work on 195 days a year.
Lucy Powell said the Department for Education wants to clarify that teachers could complete their directed hours over “up to 195 days”, giving leaders more freedom to offer different working arrangements.
The change would not increase the existing limit of 1,265 directed hours or allow schools to require teachers to work more than 195 days, Ms Powell wrote in a letter published today.
It would also not affect the time pupils spend in school.
Teacher working hours proposal ‘unambitious’
Teachers can be required to teach for 190 days, under current rules, with five additional days generally used for Inset and other duties.
There is “ambiguity” in the existing framework about schools’ ability to offer flexible working options to teachers, Ms Powell said.
The proposed change would allow schools to “respond to evolving workforce needs”, she added.
However, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said the government has set the STRB a “disappointingly unambitious remit”.
“The focus appears to be on a handful of marginal changes which do little to address the fundamental challenges facing education employers,” he said.
The STRB has been asked to make recommendations by April 2027, with changes taking effect in September of next year.
Headteacher pay ceiling
Ms Powell also opened the door to removing limits on how much headteachers can be paid, just weeks after tighter controls on academy trust executive salaries came into force.
Headteachers can normally receive up to 25 per cent above the maximum of their pay group, under current rules, with higher salaries possible in “exceptional circumstances”.
Ms Powell has asked the STRB to consider whether this provides enough flexibility or if there is evidence to support removing the leadership pay ceiling entirely.
While heads at the top of the pay scale can earn up to £153,000,Vlog previously found that at least 23 headteachers across England earned more than this in 2025-26.
The review will also consider extending existing headteacher pay flexibilities to deputy and assistant heads.
It comes as multi-academy trusts now need DfE approval before advertising executive roles that pay more than £174,000 or offer performance-related pay above £25,000.
The new MAT controls also require government approval where executive pay rises faster than the average increase received by teachers in the trust.
Simon Oxenham, national finance lead at the Institute of School Business Leadership, said it feels “ironic” that the government is suggesting removing the pay ceiling for headteachers at the same time as introducing the MAT executive pay framework.
“This could create pay compression for trusts where they have schools with large pupil numbers,” he said.
Minimum pay floor for academies
The STRB will also consider how to introduce minimum teacher pay protections for academies under the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act.
The DfE has asked whether separate minimum pay floors should apply to each teacher and leadership pay range, or whether there should be one minimum rate below which no teacher or leader could be paid.
Ms Powell ruled out including teaching and learning responsibility payments, allowances or pensions in the new floor.
The DfE also intends to introduce a requirement for academies to “have regard” for the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document from September 2027 - meaning they must follow it unless they have a good reason not to.
The STRB should consider the financial pressures facing schools when making its recommendations, Ms Powell said.
‘Missed opportunity’
Mr Whiteman said: “This feels like a missed opportunity to deal with the bigger issues the profession has been raising for many years.
“We will consider the detail of the remit carefully, but, on the face of it, there is very little here that is likely to make a meaningful difference to recruitment, retention or workload.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “At a time when we desperately need the government to step up and deliver the properly funded education system our children and young people deserve, the narrowness of the new STRB remit is shocking.”
He added: “There is nothing in the remit about the fair, mandatory and transparent national teacher pay structure needed to support recruitment and retention.”
Louise Hatswell, pay specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the focus on extending flexibilities on pay for leaders, “levelling the playing field with a pay floor for academy teachers, and amending the 195-day provision to better allow for flexible working patterns”.
However she added: “While the removal of pay ceilings are good in theory, in reality many schools are not in a position financially where they will be able to take advantage of that.
“Equally, while it is great that schools have advance knowledge that next year’s pay settlement will be 3 per cent, they also need the assurance that it will be fully funded by the government and they won’t end up footing a bill they can’t afford.”
