This important book is pertinent at a time when teacher recruitment and retention are in crisis. The strong, informed and balanced argument for flexibility and compassion to empower student teacher mothers to succeed is hard to ignore. Policy and practice is not immoveable. -- Dr Suzanne Brown, Senior Lecturer in Secondary Education, Sheffield Hallam University "Motherhood and Initial Teacher Education" provides a critical and much-needed exploration of the unique challenges faced by mothers during the demanding PGCE year. By giving a voice to the often-overlooked experiences of student-teacher mothers, it offers a nuanced understanding of their specific needs and challenges that is often absent in ITE literature. This book is essential reading not only for those directly involved in ITE program design and delivery but also for educational policymakers and advocates who are committed to fostering equity, inclusion, and wellbeing in education. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in making ITE programmes more inclusive and supportive. -- Sarah Emmerson, PGCE Secondary Course Lead, University of Worcester Motherhood and Initial Teacher Education is a timely and important contribution to the field of teacher education, shedding light on the often-overlooked experiences of student teachers who are also mothers (STMs). In a sector that promotes inclusivity and gender equity, this book reveals the ongoing institutional inflexibility and lack of empathy that many STMs continue to face. Drawing on interviews with two cohorts of women undertaking a one-year Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme before and during the COVID-19 pandemic the authors offer a nuanced, research-informed account of the systemic and personal challenges encountered by these women.
The book highlights the multiple pressures STMs navigate, including time management and persistent feelings of mum guilt, as they juggle family life, academic study, and professional placements. These challenges were further intensified by educational institutions that, to an extent, lacked the empathy and understanding needed to support them effectively.
What makes this study particularly powerful is its dual focus: it not only captures the lived realities of STMs but also reflects on the flexible and family-friendly practices adopted by some ITE providers during the pandemic. These examples offer a roadmap for building more compassionate, inclusive, and responsive educational environments.
This book is essential reading for teacher educators, higher education, policymakers, and anyone involved in educational leadership or reform. It serves as both a call to action and a source of encouragement for mothers considering a teaching career. At a time of teacher shortages, Motherhood and Initial Teacher Education persuasively reimagines ITE through an inclusive and empathetic lens that supports all aspiring educators. -- Dr Sadiyo Osman, University of Leicester This book is a must-read for initial teacher educators, beginning teachers, school leaders and policymakers. It provides a timely and topical research-informed discussion of challenges mothers face as they prepare for teaching careers. It comes at a time of significant challenge for teacher recruitment and retention in the UK and elsewhere. Joan Woodhouse and Laura Guihen emphasise institutional compassion and flexibility are needed in initial teacher education in universities and schools. All educators are likely to benefit from such an approach, regardless of career stage. -- Kay Fuller, Professor of Gender and Educational Leadership, University of Nottingham The lived experience of student teachers often gets lost in the current fetish for big data in Englands education system. This volume offers an important insight into the challenges student mothers face when training to be teachers in England in an innately inflexible system. At a time when the country is experiencing a protracted recruitment and retention crisis, policy makers would do well to take note and reflect on the rich narratives of those experiencing the consequences of policy changes made at a far remove from the day to day paradoxes of balancing the intensity of teacher education with parental responsibility. -- Phil Wood, Nottingham Institute of Education, Nottingham Trent University
