A BRADFORD school trust has launched its "revolutionary" nine-day fortnights for teachers.

Dixons Academies Trust, which is based in Bradford and has several schools across the district, hopes the change can tackle the national recruitment and retainment of staff crisis in the sector.

Moving to a nine-day working fortnight involves changing teachers’ contractual working hours to give them one extra day off per fortnight.

Robyn Ellis, School Trust Leader at Dixons Academies Trust, says the change is going well so far with teachers using the day to complete errands or "choosing to have a walk on the beach".

"It is going positively so far," she said.

"We are only two weeks into term which means all of our teachers would have had their ninth day out of 10.

"We have heard some positive stories about how colleagues are choosing to use that bit of time. 

"The idea is that they can refresh so they can come back to work feeling good."

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) will be evaluating the flexible working initiative.

The EFF says the study is a ​‘School Choices’ project.

This is where leaders make choices about school-wide practices and approaches that are intended to produce positive outcomes for pupils, such as how to organise the school day or communicate with families. 

Mrs Ellis said: "Our parents want their children to have a great education and this is one of the important innovations that we are putting forward this year to make sure as a trust we can bring about getting better results for all of our children. 

"We know we have got a recruitment and retainment crisis within education, that is not new news.

"The next generation need to be seeing that the education sector is a great place to gain work."

On the scheme as a whole, Mrs Ellis added: "We think it is really incredible and important.

"We would support all of our colleagues across education to try and find new innovative different ways to tackle that teacher recruitment and retainment crisis.

"We have got to make it an effective choice for the brightest talent and this is one of the ways that we see to do that."

The EFF says the project is currently in its scoping phase investigating experiences from Dixons Academies Trust. This will be completed in spring 2025.