I’m part of the team which runs and teaches our Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education, the course that new lecturers take.
I’ve worked at Brookes for fifteen years! I started off as Web & DTP Editor, was then Learning Technologist for a while, then Digital Media and eLearning Developer, and now PCTHE tutor (which was initially an 18-month secondment, but is now permanent). I’m also an Associate Lecturer in the School of Arts.
For me it’s about being supported to maintain my commitment to my job while also pursuing other goals. My main two have been education and motherhood. I’ve worked part time for a long time, starting off working 80% in semester time so I could study undergrad modules (and then going back up to 100% in vacations), then once I’d finished my first degree I dropped down to one day a week to do a full-time masters, and now I’m working half time while doing my PhD.
And my studies have fed back into my job – I’ve had lots of ideas and practices ‘cross-pollinate’ from one side to the other, so doing this has made me better at my job, and the teaching I’ve done during my PhD is very valuable in my current job. I’m still working at Brookes because I was able to study alongside, and successive managers have supported me in this.
It’s also about supporting staff to be flexible in their work roles. My changes in job title have usually been after a period of flexing my job responsibilities in a new direction, often supporting new directions of work in the department, so the flexibility has had quite wide advantages
Compared with all that, my six months of maternity leave was pretty straightforward. We took shared parental leave, but since my part of it was just one period of leave, it wasn’t so very different from ordinary maternity leave.
Having the Brookes nursery available, though, makes a huge difference, because it’s a really excellent nursery, and I’m very happy to leave my son there and go off to work while he’s learning/playing.
Tips for other members of staff about working flexibly...
Start off by reading the policies, so you have an idea of the sort of thing that Brookes offers, but don’t be scared of asking. And think creatively about the ways you can fit things together, and the ways that what you’re asking for is a benefit to the university as well as to you. For example, one of the advantages of my flexibility in both working hours and job responsibilities has been the chance for another member of the team to develop in new areas, while still having me around as a ‘safety net’. She’s now doing the job I was originally doing.