expected, as there are many more primary schools than secondary schools, so a
change of job in the primary sector is less likely to lead to a change of geographical
location than in the secondary sector.
A disruption of family life involving the running of two households may be caused by
career moves. About a quarter of both women and men secondary heads have, at
some time, operated from two bases as a result of career changes. This proportion
is less for primary heads, but has affected fifteen per cent of women primary heads
and nine per cent of men.
Matemity/patemity leave
A high proportion of the career breaks taken by women are for maternity leave. The
ability to take maternity leave has had an impact on the career pattern of women as it
is now much less common for women to take longer breaks, e.g. several years for
child care. However, the taking of maternity leave does have implications, both
financial and personal. Many of the comments about maternity leave (there were
only a small number of comments on paternity leave) were about finance combined
with the brevity of the time that can be taken.
Women primary headteachers commented:
Too short, financial constraints.
Pay reduction meant I had to go back earlier than I would have liked to and I
have just found out that I didn't receive pension contributions when I went
back four days a week after my third child.
I had to return ASAP as I was/am the main wage earner.
I would have liked longer but could not afford to work without pay.
Worked against me as I was main breadwinner at the time.
The attitudes of governors are not always helpful and one primary woman head in
her late 30s commented: 'the governors said I should not be paid whilst on maternity
leave - I was irresponsible and had no right'.
The benefit of having maternity leave was certainly felt by the older women who
might previously have had to give up work.
It was wonderful to have quality time with my children as babies. I returned to
work for the ILEA (not as a teacher) on a job share basis before going to
university when my youngest was aged three.
The difficulties of coming back after any career break have already been commented
on above, but there are particular difficulties with a young baby where more flexibility
would be desirable:
Not long enough - no facility to come back on part-time basis initially.
I returned and asked to lose one of my management points. That was silly
really as I still did the job (woman secondary head late 40s)
There is also an awareness of the impact on the career:
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