Head teacher recruitment

ePolitix.com Stakeholders respond to a survey which finds that fewer teachers than anticipated would like to become head teachers.

 

Stakeholder Response: General Teaching Council

GTC chief executive Carol Adams said: "Whatever happened to job sharing for management posts?

"Schools are not benefiting from the full talents and potential leadership skills of a significant number of women teachers and this may include missing the chance to develop future women heads.

"We would have a problem even if more teachers were actively planning to become head teachers because there are simply fewer teachers in the 34 to 49 age group.

"This means that teachers will need to become heads earlier, or schools may need to share head teachers.

"But still only four per cent of teachers are actively thinking about headship as a career move in the next five years."

Opposition Response: Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat education spokesman Sarah Teather said: "It is ridiculous for the government to continue to claim there is no crisis in head teacher numbers.

"The fact is they are reaping the rewards of a decade of bureaucracy, league tables and exam pressure that has demoralised the existing workforce and put off new talent from entering our schools.

"Over the last decade heads received a new piece of guidance from the government every 2.5 working days on average.

"What manager in any other industry or sector could be expected to get on with their job with that level of interference?

"More must be done to reduce the paperwork burden on head teachers. A qualified teacher should always be in charge of teaching and learning, but bursars and human resources managers could handle pay roll and personnel for instance.

"Bright young teachers should be allowed move into management more quickly so the average age of heads is reduced from 50.

"And any remnants of a glass ceiling that prevents mothers returning to the workforce from ascending into leadership roles must be shattered."

 

Stakeholder Response: Professional Association of Teachers

PAT general secretary Philip Parkin said: "A plethora of initiatives has increased the workload of school leaders significantly, making headship an unattractive career option for many teachers.

"We have welcomed the inquiry into school leadership undertaken by PriceWaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the DfES and have been pleased to contribute to it.

"We look forward to reading the report when it is published later this year and trust that its findings will lead to a refocusing of the role of school leaders.

"Having recently been a senior manager in a primary school, I had concerns then about the quantity of initiatives which schools were being asked to implement and the short timescales for implementation.

"I continue to have those concerns now. I see little sign of the pace of change slowing and remain unconvinced that those driving change fully understand the pressures on those required to implement them in schools."

 

Stakeholder Response: NASUWT

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "The GTC(E) survey of teachers' opinion reveals nothing new and adds nothing to the wealth of information already in the public domain on these issues.

"Many commentators have predicted a 'crisis' in head teachers' recruitment. The evidence base for this is at best tenuous.

"Many of the solutions to headteachers' workload rest with governing bodies which have been less than diligent in applying to head teachers the contractual changes which are already in place and designed to address this.

"Anyone who is surprised by the survey’s findings on teachers' attitudes to academies and league tables haven't been paying attention. Publishing opinion surveys doesn't make the problem go away.

"Serious engagement with government remains the only viable way to secure a shift in policy.

"With regard to the findings on women's promotion opportunities, simply laying the blame at the door of so-called 'superman' head teachers is a trite analysis of a complex issue.

"Whilst the demands of the head teachers' role may be a deterrent for some, naked discrimination still bars the way for others. An important factor ignored in the survey is the recent improvement in pay and conditions of service for classroom teachers. These are now enabling them to remain in the classroom doing the job they love.

"The biggest question the survey raises is whether the GTC(E) should be spending teachers’ registration fees regurgitating old news."

 

Stakeholder Response: National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations

Annette Wiles, policy and research manager, National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said: "Parents are very aware of the important role a head teacher plays in their child's experience of school and they will be concerned about the impact difficulties with recruiting head teachers will have on their children.

"By leading a school a head teacher contributes to all elements of school life and beyond.

"Recent studies such as the National Audit Office report highlight that leadership is a key factor in school success.

"Parents will seek the stability that a permanent head teacher can provide.

"And with parental involvement a further significant factor in their child’s achievement many parents will seek to support their child’s school and hope to make it a school that will appeal to potential head teachers."

 

Stakeholder Response: ASCL

A spokesperson for ASCL said: "The growing problem of recruitment, not just of heads but of all senior leadership positions in schools, should not be surprising news to anyone in government or the education profession. ASCL, along with many others, have been warning about the growing shortage of teachers willing to take on senior leadership positions for some time now.

"The PriceWaterhouseCoopers review of schools leaders' pay and conditions, initiated by the DfES last spring, is crucial as the outcome of the report could make or break the future of the profession.

"School leaders' salary and conditions must be commensurate with the high expectations now place on these individuals.

"Initiatives such as the NCSL pilot to encourage more teachers into headship are a welcome step in addressing succession planning, but still more needs to be done to improve teachers’ perception of school leadership and to make leadership roles more attractive."

 

Stakeholder Response: Institute Of Education

Jeannette Maddox, NPQH Centre manager at the Institute of Education, said: "It has always been the case that if you survey the whole teaching profession, a very small percentage will say they have ambitions to be a head teacher, but evidence suggests it is harder to recruit head teachers at present.

"There has been no problem recruiting members of leadership teams in schools to study for the mandatory National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH): between 2001 and 2006 in London, recruitment targets were met or exceeded.

"Of the 2,432 candidates at the London NPQH Centre who completed the qualification during this period, 65 per cent were women and 35 per cent men.

"The withdrawal rate for men and women shows no significant difference between genders.

"Of the 184 who responded to a questionnaire after completing their NPQH in summer 2006, 18 per cent had obtained a headship while actually on the programme. Of these, 22 per cent were women and 10 per cent were men.

"So in London it appears that women are applying for and getting senior leadership roles in schools. The Institute of Education's London Centre for Leadership in Learning is conducting research to investigate reasons why many NPQH graduates who complete the qualification in London do not subsequently take up headships."

 

Stakeholder Response: ATL

Martin Johnson, head of education policy at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "Everyone working in education knows there is a problem finding head teachers – it’s a commonly acknowledged fact.

"The Social Partnership, of which ATL is a member, is working to address this problem.

"The real question is whether the job of school head is too big for any one person because of the size of the workload.

"Should the head teacher be in charge of teaching and learning as well as non-teaching issues such as property management, contracting services, buildings maintenance, finance and personnel?

"We think there is too much for any one person to do – to both run the teaching and learning and also the business side of a school or college – and advocate splitting the roles."