'Leadership crisis' facing schools

The Government was told that it must stop "overloading" headteachers with initiatives if it is to help reverse a recruitment crisis.

The warning came from Dr Brenda Despontin, president of the independent Girls' Schools Association (GSA) at their annual conference in Cardiff.

Dr Despontin said that state education is facing a critical shortage of headteachers and that parents who want to send their children to a school with its own headteacher may have to pay to go private in future.

She attacked the Government's proposal to encourage one 'superhead' to run several schools, and warned that independent schools must not go down the same route.

A recent survey by the Institute for Policy Studies in Education revealed that only 2.5 per cent of secondary teachers were considering headships, while 86 per cent of secondary heads in England are over 45.

Dr Despontin said: "The Institute's director called this a 'culpable neglect in the planning of teachers' careers'.

"Too much attention has been paid to attracting entrants into the profession and not enough on succession planning at the top."

She added: "In England, the changing ministers coming and going at an alarming rate, each one bringing in a particular agenda, has meant that heads are in, if you like, an initiative overload.

"That is not particularly attractive or appealing to somebody considering the post."

Dr Despontin said that potential candidates for headships need to be identified at an early age in order to challenge the profession's unappealing image.

She said that during a recent discussion with 30 or so of her senior students, not one expressed a desire to become a headteacher.

"They saw it as a job that involved too much conflict management, too much responsibility, too little reward," she said.

"We must address that perception, for the heads of the future are not just to be found in the staff rooms of our schools, but the classrooms too.

"We must encourage our clever girls to aim high, to aspire to be a consultant, not just a doctor, to manage a business not just work in one, so let's start directing some of that young energy and ambition to the leadership of our schools."

She added: "I would urge those responsible for the future of our schools to take stock of this leadership crisis.

"It is time for ministers to ask themselves: 'Why do clever, career educationalists, dedicated to the welfare of the young, excellent at management and leadership of a class, a department, an area of teaching and learning, not want the ultimate responsibility of leading a school?' "It is time for ministers to seek some answers. They can start with supporting the heads they've got, by allowing time for the proper consolidation and evaluation of all recent changes.

"They can trust heads to do their job without fear. They can respect their professionalism without constantly interfering or launching new initiatives to trial.

"They can show headteachers they are valued in a community, as used to be the case when we were all in school."

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "Headteachers are central in raising standards and managing schools.

"Hard federations, where headteachers lead a group of two or more schools, have been shown to radically improve performance.

"These successes are down to having a strong management, with each school retaining its own head on site, not simply one person alone.

"The Government neither appoints headteachers and does not force any school to share a head.

"It is for schools, governing bodies and local authorities to build the leadership teams that best fit each school's particular circumstances."