A BRADFORD school trust has set out plans for its new "flexible working plan" which includes nine-day fortnights for teachers.

Dixons Academies Trust, which is based in Bradford and has several schools across the district, says the plan will come into place at the start of the next academic year.

The nine-day fortnight for teachers would not impact students' contact time, added the trust.

Personal days will be offered to teachers during term time so they are "not restricted to only take time off in the school holidays".

Remote working and artificial intelligence are also set to be implemented from September.

A statement from the trust said: "At Dixons, we have been focusing on prioritising flexibility for our teachers to support greater work-life harmony.

"As a result, we are excited to launch our new flexible working plan which will come into effect in the next academic year (24/25) and includes working towards a nine-day fortnight for teachers. 

"We want to be bold in our approach. Our ambition is for teachers to be afforded the same flexibility that’s available in many other sectors and now even expected in the post-pandemic world.

"Given the nature of teaching, we know that the scale of this flexibility will not always match what others offer outside the sector, but making these changes will go a long way in making a difference."

It added: "In line with our deep commitment to self-determination, we want to give our teachers more agency over their roles by offering a flexible working plan that will give them time back.

"Nine-day fortnight: We are working towards a nine-day fortnight for teachers without impacting students’ contact time. As far as possible, we want this to be a genuine reduction in working hours and not just trying to fit 10 days of teaching into nine. The analysis we have been conducting shows this is possible in many of our schools.

"Remote working: We are pushing forward with a plan that allows remote working during non-contact time, which includes giving more PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) and making it manageable from home or another remote location, and where our teachers want to do this, compressing the free hours or non-contact hours so that they can be away from school for longer periods of time.

"Personal days: We want to offer personal days during term time so our teachers are not restricted to only taking time off in the school holidays.

"Artificial intelligence: We will look to use technology, where possible, to reduce teachers’ contact time and provide greater flexibility. We want to harness technology more widely to free up more time and allow our best teachers to influence more students than just those physically present in their classrooms."