Teachers should be allowed more flexible working, Bridget Phillipson says

At All Saints Catholic College in west London, headteacher Andrew O'Neill says flexible hours have boosted teacher recruitment and retention. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

All state school teachers in England should given the right to work away from the classroom on lesson preparation, marking and pupil assessment to stem a growing retention crisis in the profession, the education secretary says today.

Bridget Phillipson told the Observer it was vital more schools offered teachers some flexible working away from the classroom as is already the case in many academy schools, without reducing contact time with pupils.