1,265 hours, 195 days, and the one word the government wants to add
What happened
On 22 October 2026, the Department for Education published a letter from Education Secretary Lucy Powell MP to Dr Mike Aldred, Chair of the School Teachers' Review Body, asking for recommendations on teachers' working conditions for 2027 to 2028. It applies to England. The School Teachers' Review Body, usually shortened to STRB, is the independent panel that advises government on teachers' pay and conditions. This letter is separate from the pay remit: next year's pay award has already been set, so this request is about conditions instead. To understand what is being proposed, you need two numbers from the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document. The first is 1,265. That is the maximum number of "directed hours" a full-time teacher can be told to work in a school year. Directed time is the time a head teacher can direct a teacher to be at work doing specified duties. The second is 195. That is the number of days a teacher can be required to be available for work. According to reporting by Tes and Schools Week, the government says the current wording has created "ambiguity" about whether schools can offer flexible working patterns. Its proposed fix is to clarify that teachers may be available to work their directed hours "up to" 195 days. That single phrase is the whole proposal. It would make clear that a school could arrange the same 1,265 hours across fewer than 195 days, if both sides wanted to. The STRB has been asked to report by April 2027, with any changes taking effect the following September.
Why this matters
Teacher retention is one of the hardest problems in English education, and working patterns sit near the centre of it. Teaching is unusual among professions in how little flexibility it traditionally offers. A solicitor or an accountant can often compress hours into four longer days. A teacher generally cannot, because the timetable assumes they are there on all of them. For some people that rigidity is the reason they leave. Parents of young children, people with caring responsibilities, people managing a health condition, and experienced teachers who would stay part-time rather than retire are all in that group. If the same contracted hours could be worked across four days instead of five, some of those people would stay. That is the opportunity the "up to" wording is meant to unlock, and it costs nothing. It does not require extra funding, extra staff or a change to how much teachers are paid. It changes what a school is permitted to agree to. The important thing to understand is that this is permissive, not compulsory. Ms Powell has said the change would not increase the 1,265-hour limit, and would not allow schools to require teachers to work more than 195 days. Any recommendations must also not affect pupil time in schools.
What the evidence actually says
Three caveats belong on this story. First, nothing has changed yet. This is a request to an independent review body, which has until April 2027 to make recommendations, which the government then decides whether to accept, for changes that would take effect the September after. No teacher's contract is affected today. Second, the scope is deliberately narrow, and that narrowness is the main criticism of it. The remit rules out increasing directed hours above 1,265 and rules out reducing pupil time. What it does not do is address workload in the hours that are not directed. The 1,265 figure covers directed time only. Marking, planning and the rest happen on top of it, and this remit does not touch that. Unions have said so plainly. Paul Whiteman of the National Association of Head Teachers called the remit "disappointingly unambitious". The National Education Union pointed out that the remit "does not include a review mechanism on the proposed 3 per cent pay increase for September 2027" — relevant because the OBR now forecasts 3.4% inflation for 2027, which would make a 3% rise a real-terms cut. Third, a permission is not a provision. Clarifying that a school may spread directed hours across fewer days does not mean schools will be able to. A four-day pattern for one teacher has to be covered by someone on the fifth day. In a small primary school with few staff and no slack, the legal clarity may not translate into an actual offer. The change removes an obstacle; it does not supply the staffing to take advantage of it. For context, the STRB's 2026 report had already recommended that schools share an annual directed time plan with staff, and that guidance be produced on what counts as "reasonable additional hours".
Practical advice
If you teach, or you lead a school, here is what to do with this now rather than in 2027. Find out your directed time plan. The STRB has already recommended that schools share an annual plan showing how directed hours are allocated. If you have not seen yours, ask. You cannot tell whether your hours are reasonable without knowing how they are counted. You can already request flexible working. The statutory right to request flexible working applies to teachers like other employees, and some schools already run compressed or part-time patterns. This proposal is about removing ambiguity, not about creating a right that does not exist. If you want a different pattern, you do not have to wait until 2027 to ask. Make the request about coverage, not just preference. The realistic obstacle is the fifth day. A request that comes with a workable suggestion for how your classes are covered is far more likely to succeed than one that does not. If you are a school leader, the question worth modelling now is how many flexible patterns your staffing could actually absorb. The permission may arrive in September 2028. The timetable maths is the slow part. If you are thinking about leaving teaching because of the working pattern rather than the work, it is worth having the conversation with your head before you decide. Some schools are considerably more willing than others, within the same existing rules. And keep the pay question separate. Conditions and pay are being handled through different processes, and improvements to one are not a substitute for the other.
What to know
The Education Secretary has asked the School Teachers' Review Body for recommendations on teachers' working conditions for 2027 to 2028, in a letter published on 22 October 2026. The central proposal is to clarify that teachers may be available to work their directed hours "up to" 195 days, removing ambiguity about flexible working patterns such as compressed hours. The 1,265-hour limit on directed time would not rise, schools could not require more than 195 days, and pupil time in schools must not be affected. The STRB is due to report by April 2027, with any changes taking effect that September. Nothing changes for teachers now. Unions have called the remit unambitious, noting it does not address undirected workload such as marking and planning, and does not provide a review mechanism for the proposed 3% pay rise for September 2027 against an OBR inflation forecast of 3.4%. The honest assessment: a sensible, cost-free clarification that could help retain some teachers, within a remit narrow enough that it will not resolve the wider workload problem. Sources: Department for Education and School Teachers' Review Body, "School Teachers' Review Body remit letter: working conditions for 2027", 22 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-teachers-review-body-remit-letter-working-conditions-for-2027; Tes, "Teachers could work fewer days under DfE plans", https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/teachers-could-work-fewer-days-under-dfe-plans; Schools Week, "Unions criticise education secretary for 'unambitious' STRB remit", https://schoolsweek.co.uk/unions-criticise-education-secretary-for-unambitious-strb-remit/. This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a careers adviser, your school or college, or another qualified professional.
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