Emma Sheppard (@Comment_Ed) , Founder of The MTPT Project explains how effective communication between SLT and expectant parents, and a solutions-focused attitude can result in exciting parental leave plans that benefit both the school and the individual stepping away from the classroom. Since returning to work in January 2017 following my first maternity leave, I have continued with my Lead Practitioner role, taking on more responsibility for our ITE provision, and learning more about whole school CPD and Teaching and Learning structures. It’s been an exciting seven months, especially as we ended the Summer term focusing on the development of our Teaching and Learning programme for the next academic year. This long term planning, however, coincided with a very obvious elephant in the room: just before the summer holidays, I announced my second pregnancy. I was therefore helping to design something that I wouldn’t necessarily be present to follow through, as I go on leave in January and intend to take six months, coming back just before the summer holidays in 2018. From a personal point of view, this was frustrating – if you contribute to an exciting idea, you want some sense of ownership over it. From a broader, leadership perspective, however, this was intriguing: what solutions could we find to this issue of sustainability? How could we design a year’s worth of ITE provision, coaching, mentoring and whole school CPD that innovatively accommodates for the absence that my maternity leave would create? How could we turn my maternity leave into a positive opportunity, rather than a burdensome inconvenience? The first thing to do was to think creatively and in a solutions-focused manner. I listed the ways that I would be happy to contribute, using my KIT days purposefully to ensure cohesion and a sense of my role being a year-long commitment, rather than one term present and two terms absent: continuing to facilitate fortnightly training sessions; phone coaching or mentoring; reading and research to inform and support whole school CPD sessions. These suggestions were based upon the successes of my first maternity leave, facilitating with my son attached to me, and providing telephone mentoring for Teach First trainees. Very importantly, all of these ideas are entirely flexible – the offer is there, but the commitment level is very low at this stage. The next barrier to overcome was to convince my Line Manager that this alternative approach was both realistic and good for the school, as well as good for my career and professional wellbeing. When I suggested it, my Line Manager, who has been a quietly engaged advocate of The MTPT Project since its inception, beamed at my suggestions: “that would work very well for us, if it worked for you!” she responded. There are some health and safety double checks to complete with bringing a newborn baby onto site every fortnight, but from the school’s perspective, this means consistency for their cohort of trainees, and it is this open-minded attitude that is helping to build and showcase the school’s family friendly culture. Three things have worked in my favour here: this is my second pregnancy and so I know what I was capable of, time and capacity wise, during my first maternity leave. This has helped me to make reasonable suggestions, but also to engender confidence in my Line Manager – we kept in touch during my first leave, and she has managed my return to work over the last six months. She has witnessed me taking on as much as I want to manage, saying ‘no, thank you’ where appropriate, and finding solutions to ensure the quality of my teaching and learning has not suffered now that I am balancing increased commitments at home. Because of this, she trusts that I won’t commit to anything that doesn’t make me feel comfortable. This ‘knowing of thyself’ and open communication are two of my key learning points of my maternity leave and return to work experience – others cannot safeguard your wellbeing if you are not acutely aware of what this means for you. Equally, others cannot empower you productively if you do not communicate your goals and ambitions clearly. Secondly, because of this trust, I announced my pregnancy fairly early to my Line Manager and Head Teacher – there are legal and cultural pitfalls to such a decision, so I don’t recommend doing this unless you feel very happy about it, and are prepared for it to backfire*. In fact, knowing the general statistics across the country, my advice would be to err on the side of caution in the majority of cases rather than fall victim to rose-tinted naivety. However, because of this early announcement, I was able to make it very clear from the outset that this leave would be used as a personal and professional development opportunity. Founding The MTPT Project and hearing the many, many stories of how other teachers have used their parental leave gives me great confidence to state that there is no single way of ‘doing’ maternity leave, and I hope that this approach helps to transform the paradigm of parental leave perceptions. With the help of a good chat with my Mum, the time to warm up to this second leave has enabled me to create and mentally invest in a long term plan, which has already been a great wellbeing boost amongst the melodramatic pregnancy hormones. The third thing is that both my Line Manager and Head Teacher are parents and so all know that the best laid schemes of new mothers go oft awry. Babies are unpredictable little mites, two babies create a completely different set of demands to one, and everyone’s number one priority in this scenario is the wellbeing of myself and my family. I know that anything I am able to do will be a fantastic bonus, but this creates insecurity from my Line Manager’s perspective – it would be foolish of her to entirely rely on my offers before the baby can even hear these plans we are hatching. Because of this, my Line Manager volleyed my suggestions with an ingenious idea of her own: my absence could be the perfect opportunity for a maternity cover that would be mutually beneficial to both myself and the teacher who takes on this cover. Managed effectively, it could provide the cover teacher with a shadowing experience in the first term whilst I was at school, and give them six months of opportunity to fulfil a reduced version of my role, whilst still receiving coaching and support from me from a distance.  Consciously or otherwise, this model has at its heart the NFER’s assertion that effective CPD opportunities increase teacher engagement and retention. Whoever takes on this cover role will be provided with a new challenge, and concrete experience to cite for any future career progression.  
Whilst this might be some parents’ worst nightmare – what if they steal my job?! – I actually benefit as much as the teacher taking my maternity cover.  Before I leave I will be challenged to become an expert at my role (see the base of the above familiar National Training Laboratories’ Learning Pyramid for why this is a great approach to learning), and over the course of the year I will develop my leadership, management and coaching skills – both in person and remotely.  This is a fantastic way to positively and manageably address so many of the barriers cited by the National College as being problematic when teachers return to the classroom after a career ‘break’, which includes time out to look after families. From the school’s perspective, this plan potentially enables them to retain two valued members of staff, and to implement effective succession planning in an expanding school by supporting the leadership development of both. Of course, the success of this year-long plan remains to be proven, but with these family friendly values of open-mindedness, solutions-focused approaches, communication and love of professional learning, it is food for thought for other teachers hoping to use their parental leave as a professional opportunity that can be beneficial to both school and individual in the long term. *Please also remember that you are not legally required to inform your employer of your pregnancy until 15 weeks before your baby is due and there are lots of things that they could then do that would count as maternity discrimination, so knowing your rights is important.