Today (Tues 26 Apr), school leaders’ union NAHT will be giving
oral evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB). As part
of that evidence, the union has obtained new information that
shows increasing numbers of school leaders are leaving their
roles after less than 5 years in post.
The DfE collects annual data that reports the number of head
teachers, assistant and deputy heads, and middle leaders – aged
under 50 and new to post – who leave their role within 5 years of
appointment. The latest figures, obtained by NAHT through a
Freedom of Information request, reveal that five-year retention
rates have got worse in every category of school leadership since
this data was last published in 2018.
More than 1 in 4 primary school leaders, and
more than 1 in 3 secondary school leaders leave
within five years of appointment. Approaching half of
middle leaders in both the primary and secondary phase
leave within five years.
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: “Leadership supply
for our schools is teetering on the brink. School leaders’ pay
has been cut by 15% in real terms since 2010, and this, in
combination with high stakes accountability, crushing workload,
long hours, and inadequate school funding, is driving leaders
from the job they love.
“NAHT has pressed the DfE, literally for years, to act on this
crisis, but the DfE remains in denial about the systemic problems
afflicting the profession.
“It matters because children and young people need the stability
and skill that these experienced professionals bring to their
schools. Yet the DfE still has no leadership strategy in place to
stem the ever-worsening losses.”
Recent member survey data from NAHT showed steeply rising levels
of dissatisfaction among school leaders, with the number who
would recommend school leadership as a career falling by over a
third (36%), from 47% to 30% between 2020 and 2021. More than
half of assistant and deputy heads (53%) said they did not aspire
to headship (up from 40% in 2016) and 23% said they were
undecided.
Mr Whiteman continued: “We urgently need the government to work
with us to build a new, fair deal on pay, workload and
accountability, to relieve the extraordinary pressures on the
profession and make a life-long career in education attractive
and sustainable.”
Ends
Notes to Editor:
-
School leadership 2010
to 2016: characteristics and trends was published in
2018. Despite frequent requests, there has been no
published update.
- In order to ascertain whether the Department continued to
collect these data, NAHT submitted a request made under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. The response showed that
DfE has continued to collect and analyse these data.
- The information released reveals that wastage
rates for school leaders at
alllevels have continued to
increase. These increases, although known, have
not been reported or acted upon by the Department.
- The table below compares:
- previously published data showing the percentage of school
leaders aged under 50 and new to post in 2011
that left within five years of appointment
against
- unpublished data, secured by NAHT as a result of our FOI
request, showing the percentage of school leaders aged under 50
and new to post in 2015 that left within five
years of appointment.
- The table shows that in all school
leadership categories wastage rates have
increased when comparing period 2011-2016, with
the period 2015 -2020.
|
|
Year of appointment
|
Percentage of postholders new to post
that have left within 5 years of
appointment
|
|
Head teachers
|
Deputy heads
|
Assistant heads
|
Middle leaders
|
|
Primary phase
|
2011
2015
|
22%
25%
|
25%
26%
|
26%
29%
|
43%
46%
|
|
Secondary phase
|
2011
2015
|
35%
37%
|
32%
37%
|
37%
39%
|
43%
44%
|
Wastage rates of new school leaders aged under 50 within five
years of appointment
- NAHT’s report Fixing the leadership
crisis: Time for change, sets out the findings of our
most recent survey evidence of over 2,000 school leaders.
