EDI: Inclusive practices to support parents in the boarding workplace

• Date: April 19, 2024
• Time: 09:00 – 11:00
• Cost: BSA Full Member – £110, BSA Affiliate Member – £165, Non-member – £220
• Audience: Senior Leaders in boarding, Heads of HR, Houseparents, Heads of Departments, line-managers, EDI Leads
• Platform: Zoom (online) – Half-Day Seminar

Course outline:

This seminar looks at key considerations for leaders with teaching staff in their team who are mothers or mothers-to-be. It will present findings of a PhD research project and the national picture, including legal considerations. We will then discuss a case study to look at how schools can plan to support those balancing parenthood and teaching commitments. Delegates will leave with actionable ideas to develop a comprehensive plan to help support this important group.

Learning outcomes:

• Contextualising the need for this work beyond the moral imperative: Recruitments and retention and the need for flexibility in the workplace
• Presentation of findings of PhD research – what is the current national situation regarding teachers returning from maternity leave?
• What evidence-based actions should a school be taking now?
• Presentation of a case study around maternity leave in a boarding house.

Delegates will:

• Better understand the national picture surrounding teachers who are mothers.
• Reflect on practice in their school.
• Begin formulating an action plan to better support teachers who are mothers in their setting.

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Speakers:

David Walker, BSA Director

David is the BSA Director and joined the BSA group in August 2023. He has over 20 years’ experience in boarding schools and has worked in a range of schools in the UK and Africa, alongside being a prep schoolgovernor and a trustee of a MAT. Before taking up his post at the BSA, David was Deputy Head Pastoral at a large co-ed independent school in the South-East.

Madelaine Best

Madelaine Best is a final year PhD researcher at the University of Reading’s Institute of Education. She is also an experienced secondary school teacher and Head of Department, and a prep school governor, sitting on the Education and Safety & Wellbeing sub-committees. Her research focuses on how leadership & policy can shape institutional frameworks to ensure the inclusion of teacher-mothers with pre-school age children. She has had work previously published in Politics & Gender (‘Understanding Legislator Experiences of Family-Friendly Working Practices in Political Institutions’) and has a forthcoming presentation at the British Educational Leadership Management Administration Society’s annual conference in Glasgow (July 2024).