Schools: Head Teacher Vacancies

Baroness Perry of Southwark
asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether, in view of the number of vacancies for the post of head teacher, particularly in primary schools, they will take urgent action to encourage more well qualified applicants for these posts.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis)
My Lords, since 1997 head teacher vacancies have remained low and fairly stable—under 1 per cent in primary and secondary in January 2006, which is lower than in January 1998. The National College for School Leadership, which was set up in 2000 and has an annual grant of £79 million, has head teacher training and recruitment at the heart of its mission. We have commissioned an in-depth study of school leadership from PricewaterhouseCoopers. This work will help to ensure that we have sufficient high-quality head teachers in future.

Baroness Perry of Southwark
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply, although he seemed very satisfied with the circumstance of more than 1,000 schools having no leadership from a head because the vacancy cannot be filled. Will he accept that his Government’s policies—both the overweening bureaucracy, which the National Union of Teachers reckons gives secondary heads a 65-hour week, and the culture of blame and shame—partly contribute to this state of affairs?

Lord Adonis
My Lords, I have no idea where the noble Baroness gets her figure of 1,000. The latest statistics as of January 2006 show that there are 180 vacancies for full-time head teachers in local authority-maintained schools in England, which represents 0.8 per cent of head teachers in post. I do not agree with her statistics. With regard to the morale of head teachers, all the evidence is that the overwhelming majority of head teachers are very glad to be in their posts and relish the challenges that they face. For example, Dr John Dunford, who is the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said recently:

“Headship remains an extremely rewarding profession, as demonstrated by the ASCL survey which shows that 85% of secondary heads would reapply for their own jobs”.
 

I do not recognise a picture of low morale at all.

Lord Anderson of Swansea
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the problem is not essentially financial, although there are particular problems in areas of high-cost housing, but rather one of social support? Will he encourage local authorities to have joined-up thinking and to bring together all the relevant social agencies in support of heads, particularly those dealing with families and children?

Lord Adonis
My Lords, I welcome my noble friend’s remarks. He is absolutely right about the need for joined-up thinking, which is precisely why we have created children’s services departments that bring together education and children’s social services. On recruitment, we are well aware of the importance of financial incentives, which he mentioned at the beginning, specifically in respect of London. That is why I am glad to say that, since 1997, the top of the head teacher pay scale has increased by 35 per cent in real terms from £56,600 to £93,300, with nearly £100,000 available for leaders of the most challenging secondary schools in some parts of London. We have recognised the importance of rewarding head teachers properly, which has been made possible thanks to the 50 per cent real-terms increase in education funding that has taken place since 1997.

Baroness Walmsley
My Lords, is the Minister aware of the 2006 Teachers’ Workload Survey published in October, which shows that head teachers work two and a half hours more per week than they did a year ago? Will the Government therefore learn from the success of many job-sharing initiatives in schools for teachers and deputy heads, and take away any barriers to head teachers doing the same thing—sharing their many varied responsibilities with another senior colleague? I am not just talking about delegation.

Lord Adonis
My Lords, the noble Baroness makes a valuable point on the need for workforce reform and more flexible working for head teachers and school leaders, not just school staff. I agree with what she said. The practice is increasing in local authorities, but I am sure that we can do more to encourage it, and we will seek to do so.

Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the figure given by my noble friend Lady Perry was produced by the Association of School and College Leaders? Is he saying that it has it all wrong?

Lord Adonis
My Lords, I will explore these figures later, but the ones that I gave are from the national census of head teacher vacancies—figures gathered by my department. As I say, they show 180 vacancies for full-time head teachers in local authority-maintained schools in England as of this January.

Baroness Warnock
My Lords, following what the Minister encouragingly said about flexibility, does he agree that part of what deters teachers from becoming heads is that most of them enjoy teaching, especially in primary schools, and their contact with the classroom? Could local authorities be encouraged to make more flexible contracts for our head teachers, so that they could have three or four, or even two, hours a week teaching and keeping in touch with the children?

Lord Adonis
My Lords, as the noble Baroness will be aware, heads continue teaching in many primary schools, particularly smaller ones. They see this as a vital part of their mission. We do not want to stand in the way of the continuation of those arrangements, which are a matter for local discretion. However, there is more scope for developments such as the appointment of executive heads who span more than once school. That may be a particularly appropriate response for smaller primary schools, which could allow more senior school leaders to continue in the classroom and not take on administrative burdens. There is also the issue of the expansion in the number of bursars serving both primary and secondary schools. Our experience of bursar development—and the National College for School Leadership now has a well judged bursar training scheme—is that it relieves administrative burdens from heads, enabling them to spend more time in the classroom.

Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville
My Lords, what are the prospects of a rise in the number and proportion of males entering the teaching profession?

Lord Adonis
My Lords, I am glad to say that, in recruitment to teaching, applications are rising among both men and women. We are at the moment doing a good job of attracting more men into the profession.

Baroness Howe of Idlicote
My Lords, given the importance, on which I think we all agree, of head teachers having the opportunity to teach, is there also a case for attracting people to a second career from other areas where management and leadership have been of considerable importance, in view of the really large businesses that are emerging as a result of the Government’s planning?

Lord Adonis
Absolutely, my Lords. That is why, for example, the National College for School Leadership is pioneering a future leaders programme, one of the aims of which is to recruit talented leaders from other professions with a dedicated training course, so that they can take positions in school leadership. This is particularly attractive to those who started out in teaching and have some educational experience, but went off into other careers and are now looking to train to come back into teaching. Early evidence on this kind of course is promising.