Could teachers benefit from a more flexible workplace?

I've been thinking about the lack of workplace flexibility that primary and secondary teachers get compared to those in higher education. I wonder if alternative classroom hours or varied teaching days might help teacher burnout.

There is a lot of research (summarised here) that shows the benefits of a later start time on children's and adolescents' sleep patterns, wakefulness and attention in school. Also, improved mood and mental health along with less tardiness and absenteeism were found in some of the studies of later class times.

Rigid and early morning class times can lead to social jetlag, which is "the discrepancy between biological time, determined by our internal body clock, and social times, mainly dictated by social obligations such as school or work" (read more here). Caliandro et al. state that two-thirds of people in industrialised nations experience social jetlag, often for years at a time, while working or studying. There is a long list of other possible effects of social jetlag, including depression, higher tobacco use and reduced physical activity. Although teachers are not still growing and developing like the young people they teach, the temporal disconnect would affect them too.

A Brazilian study found better sleep cycles and less social jet lag for high school students who attended school from 12:30 - 5:30 pm. I read about a German study that gave students the choice of an early or later start time. The researchers found students had better sleep and reported improved motivation and concentration on late-start days. They also noted that although students had free choice, on average they only started late two days per week. Finally, an American team showed that "there is little evidence that moving to a four-day week compromises student academic achievement".

Despite not being able to find studies specifically about the impact of early, rigid school times on staff, it seems like they might also have similar improvements in sleep, motivation, and mental and physical health if the school day could be more flexible. I acknowledge this would take time, creativity, open-mindedness and compromise to implement, especially if you are the timetabler for a large school. I think it's worth starting the conversation - we might be surprised how much happier and more productive everyone in the school community is.

What would be your ideal teaching week? Comment below.

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Further Reading:

• Sleep improvements on days with later school starts persist after 1 year in a flexible start system | Biller et al. (2022)

• Social Jetlag and Related Risks for Human Health: A Timely Review | Caliandro et al. (2021)

• Afternoon School Start Times Are Associated with a Lack of Both Social Jetlag and Sleep Deprivation in Adolescents | Carvalho-Mendes et al. (2020)

• Later School Start Time: The Impact of Sleep on Academic Performance and Health in the Adolescent Population | Alfonsi et al. (2017)

• Does Shortening the School Week Impact Student Performance? Evidence from the Four-Day School Week | Anderson and Walker (2015)