A couple of weeks ago, I was discussing with a good friend whether they should apply for a new job. They’d found an opportunity that appealed and felt they had the skill set to make a difference on most criteria. As is often the case with women, she was concerned about over-selling herself because there were a couple of items on the person specification that she didn’t quite meet. We talked about whether she should give it a shot anyway. I am sure this thought process will be familiar to many.

One of these days, I will explore this dynamic in more detail, but that’s not the main point of this post. What really got our discussion going was a line in the advert stating that a benefit of working at this school was half-days on Fridays. All students would be off-site by 13:00. Teachers would be FREE to do as they pleased for 2.5 (ish) hours every week. Sounds great!

But I don’t think it is great. I think it is the opposite of great. Here’s why.

Half-day Fridays are an energy drink when what we really need is a well-balanced diet. They give the wrong impression of teachers and fuel the ‘teachers have too many holidays’ narrative.

It doesn’t solve the problem of excessive workload.

It doesn’t provide what teachers truly need: 1) efficient workload-mitigating systems and 2) high-quality professional coaching and development, which research shows can be genuinely revitalising for education professionals.

Let’s look at these in turn.

1) Systems

My EdD research indicates that teachers want to ‘work smarter, not harder.’ Whether we always do what we could to achieve this is a discussion for another day, but the principle holds for most people. While individuals can take steps to improve efficiency, real change must be strategically planned and logistically supported.

Strategic, systemic planning and action must come from the top. If you’re a leader, ask yourself whether any of the following issues exist in your school. If they do, they require deliberate attention and action:

• Teachers working inefficiently due to onerous departmental or whole-school marking policies
• Lack of confidence in using tech to save time
• Manual data entry required because school software won’t accept an Excel spreadsheet
• Inefficient behaviour systems, such as the absence of centralised detentions
• Core documents updated individually rather than centrally
• A culture where teachers feel too busy to step back and improve long-established systems

To address these issues, we must focus on systems, not individuals. Working hard and excessive workload are not the same. Most teachers are happy to do the former but are overwhelmed by the latter. Only deliberate change management and implementation systems can transform the workload burden and remove barriers to efficiency.

It won’t be quick or easy, but it will be worth it. Teachers will gain far more than 2.5 hours a week if these issues are properly addressed. Let’s create a sustainable system where completing the job within a reasonable working day is a realistic possibility.

2) High-quality professional development and coaching

Could the gained 2.5 hours be used for CPD? Possibly—but it’s not that simple. Even if Friday afternoons were allocated for this, exhausted teachers wouldn’t benefit from another mandatory session. And teachers have different professional development needs and interests. A whole-school INSET-style talk on a Friday afternoon helps no one.

Be creative, innovative, and pragmatic. If schools are reducing contact time by 2.5 hours per week for well-being, recruitment, and retention, there are better ways to achieve these goals than sending students home early. Increasing planning, preparation, and assessment (PPA) time would be a good start. A robust, well-thought-out flexible working policy could designate core working hours while allowing teachers to use time as needed. Any whole school training or collaboration can be arranged during pre-determined core hours so that everyone knows what to expect. This helps to balance the needs of individuals with the needs and development priorities of the school.

Flexibility to support both the professional and the personal

An early finish on a Friday doesn’t provide true flexibility. Medical appointments, for example, don’t conveniently align with Friday afternoons. If the goal is recruitment and retention, I would much rather see dedicated time built into the working day. High-quality CPD, professional coaching, and meaningful collaboration should take place on a schedule that works for more people, more of the time.

Sure, Friday afternoons off would be nice—occasional city breaks, a pub session with colleagues, or a nap before the kids come home. All nice. Being ready for Monday morning without working over the weekend? Also nice.

But wouldn’t it be even better if the job were sustainable? If workload inefficiencies were mitigated? If you had flexibility to manage your time in a way that genuinely worked for you? If your employer provided time within working hours for meaningful professional development? Teachers who wanted could still finish early on a Friday when it suits them—but in a system designed to support us professionally and personally every day of the week.