9: Towards Institutional Compassion in Initial Teacher Education

In this closing chapter, we conclude with a number of insights drawn from our participants’ experiences of combining motherhood and initial teacher education (ITE). In the light of our findings, we consider some of the possible changes in the policy and practice of ITE that might help to attract, retain and support student teacher mothers (STMs). This consideration is particularly timely: teacher retention and recruitment are in crisis (see, for example, Hughes, 2024; McLean et al., 2024), and the link between motherhood, well-being and teacher attrition is strikingly apparent.¹ Given the differences in STMs’ experiences before and during the pandemic, we reflect on what we have learned, or could learn, from the shifts in ITE policy and practice during COVID-19. We recommend that steps are taken towards ensuring greater institutional compassion, which includes flexibility in ITE provision, and the introduction of practical measures to enable and support STMs.