Case Study: A Maternity Leave Masters

Jessica Carter (@JessoftheShire), primary school teacher and Mum of two, currently on maternity leave, explains how she has balanced her Masters with the Open University around her children and flexible working hours, and how the study has enriched her teaching and learning.

I'm currently part-way through a part-time MA in Childhood and Youth with the Open University. This will take three years in total (the recommended pace is 16 hours a week). The course is interdisciplinary and explores policy and practice in services for children and young people. I enrolled on the course after we moved back to the UK from overseas at the end of a teaching contract. I didn't feel ready to be back in the classroom, but I wanted to continue my professional development: to keep my brain firing on all cylinders whilst I immersed myself in the work of being a mum. It has always been a personal goal to work towards an MA, but it took time to find a course that really suited my interests and seemed worth the financial sacrifices.

When I began, my daughter was eight months old. My husband was working full-time but we lucky to have the support of both sets of grandparents and, at one year old, some time at a local nursery. One term later I also felt able to take on a part-time teaching post alongside the study and mum-time. In lots of ways it was the perfect balance for me: I benefited hugely from the flexibility of home study during my second pregnancy but, being a compartmentaliser, I struggled to fit study around newborn nap-times and toddler exuberance after the birth. The wonderful, flexible Open University were able to grant me a postponement and, now that my son is five months old I am thoroughly enjoying engaging with my studies again, with the continuing support of my tutor.

When my husband and I first had The Conversation (who would take what amount of leave) we were surprised to find that the traditional two-week paternity/long maternity leave model seemed the best fit for us. He was incredibly supportive of my MA and career development plans, despite the huge dip in household income it would entail: I fully appreciate that this is not an option available to everyone. For these 'baby years' he feels strongly that his priority is family: he wants to be able to come home for dinner, bath and bedtime each night without bringing work with him. Ironically, during the last few years he has been promoted twice while I am back on the lowest rungs of the pay scale with no leadership responsibilities. Research into the 'fatherhood bonus' versus the 'motherhood penalty' in the workplace certainly mirrors our experiences so far.

So what do I hope to get out of it? As well as reigniting my passion for education the course has opened my eyes regarding government policy and the importance of integration between services for children and young people. There is a strong emphasis on reflection on personal practice: the things I am learning can and have been immediately applied in the classroom and staffroom. It also promotes the view of teachers as active researchers, encouraging me to explore my potential impact on the profession and the wider field of children's services. I haven't enjoyed the temporary loss of income but I believe there will be a longer term benefit on the trajectory of my career, in terms of both financial and personal development.

Case Study: Chance Encounters

Kathryn Wright (@kathrynfenlodge), freelance RE Advisor, RE Advisor to the Diocese of Norwich and Lead Consultant for Teach: RE shares her inspiring #maternityteacher experience.

I am writing this blog because I passionately believe that parental leave can be an opportunity for career development and I want to support The #maternityteacher Project. Let me explain why...

Very few people can probably claim that their career took off during maternity leave, but this is what happened to me about ten years ago!  In short, this was partly due to being in the right place at the right time, but also due to the incredible support of colleagues who saw the opportunities that maternity leave provided for flexible working from home.

Ten years ago I had a nine-month old baby, and a toddler running around; I had been an RE Adviser to the London Borough of Newham for a number of years, but had decided to explore other avenues of work to fit better around my family and avoid the long daily commute from to London from Cambridgeshire.

A Chance Encounter

During my maternity leave I started to run a toddler group – slightly out of my comfort zone as I am secondary trained!  However, I required some resources to help me, and whilst searching for these, bumped into an RE Adviser.  She suggested that whilst I was on maternity leave I trained to become a Section 48 (Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools) Inspector, explaining that I could choose when to undertake inspections so that the commitments worked around my children. I took her up on this suggestion and whilst on the training course met another Adviser who told me they needed a secondary RE specialist to work with schools in Norfolk! My new ‘freelance’ career had begun!

Networking

The RE community is strong and vibrant.  There is probably some kind of network meeting taking place every week for teachers. There are similar networking opportunities for Advisers too, and I decided to pop along to my local group. I was fortunate that my husband was working shifts, so had the children for the morning.  It was here that I met Mary Myatt (@MaryMyatt) who at that time was an Adviser in Suffolk. Mary saw the possibilities and opportunities of my situation and supported me in my early days as a freelancer by opening doors for project work, and inviting me to events to help me network with others. She also always understood the constraints of being a parent, and I never felt pressured.

Flexible Working

Lastly, a number of organisations contacted me during my maternity leave because they knew I would be based at home.  I would have more time to write, apparently! So I wrote articles; I helped prepare a bid for funding; I wrote material for a website; I acted as a consultant for a media organisation… many of these opportunities came about because of the creative thinking of other Advisers in my field – other Advisers who did not have time to ‘write’ because they were in schools had the foresight to pass these opportunities on to me.

Opportunities for All

In my work as an Adviser now, there are a number of ways in which I try to support those on parental leave leave, I think partly due to the way my own career has developed. One of my roles is as Lead Consultant for the distance-learning TeachRE Course, which has many flexible routes and pathways that enable teachers to complete it remotely – perfect for those on parental leave!  If this sounds like the right CPD opportunity for you, then we’d love to hear from you!

One of the aims of The #maternityteacher Project is to provide parents with role models by sharing stories like Kathryn's so that teachers on parental leave can explore different options of CPD that are most appropriate for their circumstance.  If you have a #maternityteacher or #paternityteacher story, we'd love to feature it on this blog!  Get in touch with the #maternityteacher on Twitter - @maternityCPD.