Headteacher shortage persists

The shortages are due to the Ofsted inspection regime and growing pressures, according to leading voices in the sector.

The shortage is “severe,” particularly in primary schools, and the system needs to be reviewed by government, according to Mark Wright, assistant director at ATL.  

Difficulty recruiting candidates, he said, leads to "increased costs for re-advertisements and many governing bodies resort to lavishing vast expense on specialist recruitment firms in an effort to fill this key role.

“Given the shortage, there is a greater appetite for executive heads to be running more than one school.
 
“Although the government talks of austerity, it needs to review this deeply inefficient system whereby millions is wasted in trying to recruit heads who then, on average, do not enjoy a long tenure largely due to lack of support.”
 
Fresh warnings of shortages come after a survey found that over one in four academy heads left their role last year. The reasons for the shortage, the survey stated, was partly because of Ofsted’s inspection regime.

“A tougher Ofsted inspection regime may be encouraging more governing boards to remove existing heads, and discouraging candidates from applying to fill vacant posts,” the survey stated.

The warnings also follow a Freedom of Information request revealed a shortage of headteachers in Scottish primary and secondary schools.

Christine Blower, general secretary at NUT, says there is a “clear recruitment crisis” in teaching.

“Government rhetoric certainly has not helped matters, and this is sadly destined to continue.”

"The forthcoming Education and Adoption Bill seeks to target 'coasting' schools, with the threat of new leadership and academisation and no consultation at up to 1,000 schools, many of them primaries.