Tough job finding head teachers

Feb 2 2010 By Polly Manser

RECRUITING head teachers is more difficult in Buckinghamshire than most other places in the UK, new research shows, and schools are having to go to great lengths to find them.

A survey by Education Data Surveys suggests that in Bucks 35 per cent of schools with a head teacher vacancy are unable to fill it compared to a national average of 26 per cent.

That's not good news for the 15 primary schools currently looking for head teachers.

So when Bulters Court Primary School in Beaconsfield needed to find a head teacher last summer after James Astbury retired after 27 years, governors chose not to advertise with the traditional small black and white TES advertisement which the county council organises when vacancies occur.

Instead, they spent a sizeable sum from the of the school's budget on a half page colour advertisement, and hired a specialist company to create an eight page job prospectus to send out to every person who replied to it.

They drew up a short list of five, interviewed two, and recruited Jeanette Marshall (pictured) who took up her post in September, having come from a post as deputy head of a school in Southall.

Paul Henry, chair of governors, said: "James Astbury was a very, very good head and we knew that finding a good replacement was the most important thing that we as governors could do."

Other schools had either had no applicants, or had appointed a head who had stayed only for a year or two, so Butler's Court governors decided they had no option but to throw some money at the process.

Professor John Howson, author of the Annual Survey of Senior Staff appointments in Schools across England and Wales published last week, says there are several reasons why head teachers don't want to work in Bucks.

Bucks must compete with schools inside greater London where salaries are higher.

Prof Howson said: "People would rather take better paid jobs in London. Schools in places like Farnham Royal and Amersham suffer in this respect. "

In other parts of Bucks, schools are so small that the head teacher may not be earning any more than a deputy head in a larger school, and yet will have more responsibility, he said.

"Add to this that a lot of primary schools in rural areas are also church schools, which are looking for a teacher who is a regular church goer and also wants to be a head, yet we are not a church going society any more. The Roman Catholic schools particularly will not take heads who are not church goers. "

At the grammar schools here is different problem. A deputy head at a comprehensive may not want to become a head teacher of a grammar; yet outside Bucks only Kent, Essex and parts of Berkshire have grammar schools in the South East, so the pool from which to recruit is small.

"A deputy head may well be reluctant to move house in order to become a head, because it is likely that he or she will have teenage children who are preparing for GCSEs or A levels."

Finally, the cost of property is high in Bucks.

"People will sell their trendy flat in Shepherds Bush to buy a house in Bucks, but you can't get teachers from the North because the house price differential is so great," said Prof Howson.

Sue Walter, managing director of TES Prime, which created the prospectus for Butlers Court Primary School, said: "Recruiting good headteachers is going to become an even bigger challenge, particularly in Buckinghamshire."

She added: "Leading a school is not a one-size-fits-all proposition and finding the right person is as difficult a task as finding a chief executive for a blue-chip organisation."

A spokesman for Buckinghamshire County Council said: "The number of headteacher vacancies each year is fairly high and the local authority is very well aware of the need to plan ahead to ensure that the leadership for our schools is of the best quality in a high performing Authority. "

Five years ago it formed the Bucks Academy of School Leadership to develop senior management and prepares them for headship through an annual conference and seminar programme. Two hundred senior staff members will attend this year's conference, at which former education secretary Estelle Morris will be a keynote speaker. The Academy development programme shows strong signs of success: of 70 Primary Deputy Heads at a 2009 conference more than 91 per cent said they were aspiring to headship.

BCC disputes Prof Howson's figures for unfilled vacancies. It says that that in 2007-08, 18 of 26 headteacher vacancies were filled at first advert and in 2008-09, of 21 advertised vacancies, only two were unfilled after the first advertisement.

Councillor Marion Clayton, cabinet member for achievement and learning, said: 'We recognise that the leadership of schools is of vital strategic importance to the future success of our children. Succession planning for headteachers is an issue but we've been working hard to address this in recent years through initiatives like the Bucks Academy of School Leadership. The Academy is supported by all schools in the county and is acknowledged as a valuable means of providing development for our senior professionals, enabling us to grow our own headteachers and deputy heads.'