Career breaks are often a normal part of working life for working females. Whether it’s taking maternity leave, caring for a family member, recovering from illness, or pursuing personal goals, stepping away from work is often necessary. Yet for many women, these breaks can come with an unexpected cost.

Known as the career break penalty, this hidden cost can slow career progression, limit access to leadership opportunities and make it harder for women to thrive when they return to work.

The consequences are particularly significant in education. Schools and trusts invest heavily in developing women leaders, yet many return from career breaks to find themselves overlooked for promotions and struggling to regain momentum. Some leave the profession altogether.

At a time when schools face persistent leadership recruitment and retention challenges, the education sector cannot afford to lose experienced female educators and leaders.

This article explores how career breaks in education can set women back and highlights the workplace policies and practices that can support their return from career breaks.

What is the career break penalty?

Many professionals take time away from work for parental leave, caregiving responsibilities and other major life events. Too often, especially for women, this leads to an unspoken career setback known as the career break penalty.

The career break penalty refers to the professional and financial disadvantages that can follow taking an extended break from work. For many women, the career penalty can begin the moment they go on leave. Even before returning to work, women may already be overlooked for projects, succession planning or leadership opportunities.

What effect can a career break penalty have on women in education?

Returning to work after a career break can be overwhelming, especially for women in education. According to the Women in the Workplace report by Hibob (2026), 23% of women say their career progression slowed after taking leave and 17% felt significantly less visible to senior leadership. The report also found that 1 in 5 women said they had been excluded from key decisions and 16% received lower-visibility or less challenging work when they returned.

For women in leadership or advancing positions, career breaks can affect their professional development opportunities, leading to missed promotions and reduced pension contributions.

When female educators reach their thirties, they are at the peak age for both career progression and starting a family. Maternity and child care commitments can have a significant impact on women’s pay and career progression.

The report by Hibob also found that 69% of women who took parental leave said they believe mothers experience the greatest negative impact. Mothers are more likely, than men and women without children, to experience slower promotions, fewer leadership opportunities and long-term career setbacks. They often have limited access to flexible schedules, are passed over for promotions and face ongoing bias at work.

What barriers do women face when returning to leadership pathways?

Career breaks are often viewed as a setback, leading other professionals and management to underestimate the person's experience, potential and capability.

For women in education, returning to work after a career break can mean facing additional barriers to advancement compared to men, particularly when seeking leadership roles.

Women returning to work may encounter assumptions about their availability, commitment and career ambitions, despite having the skills and experience required to advance.

Often, their readiness for leadership is questioned, limiting access to opportunities, reducing visibility and affecting confidence at a critical stage in their careers. These challenges make it more difficult for women to regain career momentum after a break.

For many women, breaks in employment create barriers to promotion and they may experience fewer opportunities to contribute, resulting in limited prospects for advancement.

Women can often feel that they have to work harder than their male colleagues to prove themselves capable as school principals. This can lead to the loss of inspirational and experienced educational leaders across the sector.

How can schools better support women returning from career breaks and retain experienced female leaders in education?

• Providing flexibility in non-teaching duties, meetings and leadership commitments where possible.
• Addressing unconscious bias that prevents women returning to work from accessing senior leadership roles.
• Designing timetables, leadership responsibilities and workload expectations to support a successful return to work.
• Encouraging structured return-to-work conversations, planning and ongoing support.
• Broadening promotion criteria to reflect diverse experiences, particularly for staff on teaching-only contracts.
• Providing better support and peer support to staff returning from career breaks.
• Strengthening peer and senior support networks through mentorship and programmes that guide the way to management roles.
• Creating fairer, more transparent career pathways.
• Actively involving women in decision-making processes and leadership roles.
• Championing female leaders to build their confidence and increase their visibility.
• Re-examining procedures and processes that prevent women from pursuing senior leadership roles.

By Nicole Sherwood, Content Writer at specialist education recruitment agency Spencer Clarke Group.

Reference

UK Women in the Workplace, 2026, Natalie Homer