The pool of candidates for headship is shrinking as deputy and assistant roles are being squeezed amid funding pressures, union leaders are warning.

James Bowen, director of NAHT Edge, an association for middle leaders, said that deputy head members in primaries were reporting that their time for leadership duties was being reduced.

“Budget pressures are really starting to bite,” said Mr Bowen. Where deputy heads were teaching three days a week and taking two days out of class, now heads cannot afford to cover those two days, he said. With cuts to training budgets, this situation could make deputy headship less attractive to teachers - and reduce the leadership experience that deputies have before becoming heads, he added.

Who will step up?

“Being a deputy head does not just mean deputising when the head is not there - you want to work alongside the head,” said Mr Bowen. “That is the training ground for headship. If you don’t get the opportunity to do that because you are in the classroom, you feel less confident to step up.”

It is something that Adam Robbins, deputy head of Roding Primary School in Dagenham, East London, recognises. “It’s very difficult for me to say I’m confident to step into headship when I have not had time to work on the budgets or finance because of the demands of my current role,” he said.

Secondary schools are suffering a similar squeeze at the top, according to Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. “What we’re seeing, in general, is a reduction in the number of leadership team posts over the last 18 months, whether that is at deputy level or assistant head level,” he said. “Restructuring means the majority of the job responsibilities are redistributed - some may be put down to senior middle leaders, some may go to the new posts in the leadership team.”

What we’re seeing is a reduction in the number of leadership team posts

Elroy Cahill, vice-principal of The Crest Academy in Neasden, North London, is now one of two vice-principals, after a third left and was not replaced. He teaches 12 hours a week. “If existing heads of faculty or assistant heads want to move up and those [deputy] posts are being reduced, there are less opportunities and that will reduce the number of people ready to become heads,” he said.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recognise the need to work with the profession to develop even more great school leaders.” They added that would be achieved through a range of professional training and the expansion of Teach First.

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