The Mother of All Pay Gaps … and what we can do about it

The education sector has one of the worst gender pay gaps of all UK industries… and motherhood is one of the most significant contributors to this injustice.

In 2021, WomenEd’s Gender Pay Gap report revealed that the gender pay gap widens at every level when teachers and leaders are aged 35-39, the age at which teachers are most likely to become mothers… and most likely to leave the profession.

At The MTPT Project, we know first-hand what the motherhood penalty looks and feels like, and its potential for detrimental impact on pay and progression.

But as the experts in the problem, we also know the steps needed to arrive at the solution.

As well as sharing details of the problem, The Mother of All Pay Gaps… and what we can do about it offers you the opportunity to take practical action to address the fiscal motherhood penalty, whatever your role in schools, or the wider education ecosystem.

Hosted by The MTPT Project and WomenEd, we’ll share key data around the gender pay gap, the motherhood penalty, teacher retention and gender equality in school leadership before offering you a whole day’s worth of workshops about how to take practical action to improve things.

Hear from, and benefit from workshops hosted by:

• Emma Sheppard, Founder of The MTPT Project
• Vivienne Porritt, Co-Founder and National Leader of WomenEd
• Kinza Barrett, Founder of Shared Parental Leave for Teachers
• Malarvilie Krishnasamy, Coach, and her panel of guests
• Kathleen Cushnie, Deputy Head and Voicing Education Podcast Host, and her panel of guests
• Emma Blake, Trust Lead Practitioner and WomenEd Network Lead
• Chris Reddy, Coach and Founder of Bright Leaders
• Abby Bayford, Executive Director of GAT Institute of Teaching
• Lindsay Patience, Co-Founder of Flexible Teacher Talent
• Simon Beale, Head of History and Assistant Head Teacher
• Bridget Clay, author of Unleashing Great Teaching and Director of School Leadership at Teach First

Confirmed workshop titles include:

• The Power of Coaching
• Shared Parental Leave for Holiday Pay
• Full Time and Thriving
• Negotiating Your Worth
• Mentoring and Role-Modelling for Mother-Teachers
• “No”-ing Your Worth: Setting Boundaries for Unpaid Labour
• Maternity Pay Policies
• What Can Fathers Do?
• Fair Pay for Flexible TLRs
• CPD and Progression for Mother-Teachers

This event is free to attend thanks to our generous sponsors who are committed to addressing the motherhood penalty in education:

• The Chartered College of Teaching
• Harris Federation
• Ambition Institute
• Culham St Gabriel’s Trust