Most senior staff in primary schools do not want to become headteachers, owing to associated stress, bureaucracy and workload, according to a survey. The poll of 1,008 members by primary school leaders’ body the AHDS found that nearly two-thirds of deputy heads and principal teachers did not want to take the step up, compared with around half last year.

A former Edinburgh primary head has been appointed an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours. Lindsey Watt, who has written about her career in Tes Scotland (“Reasons to be cheerful? Happier staff and students …”, 26 January), retired from Castleview Primary School this year. Other educators to receive honours include: Marie Dunbar, a playgroup leader in Dumfries and Galloway, and Elizabeth Pearson, for services to music and education in Lanarkshire (both British Empire Medal); and Fred Young, former chief executive of the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (MBE).

Some 46 per cent of private nurseries in Scotland do not have access to a teacher, a poll suggests, despite the Scottish government’s aim for every preschool child to benefit from teacher input. The figure emerged in the National Day Nurseries Association’s annual survey, which received responses from 226 nurseries.

Primary teachers can learn and teach new languages within seven months, under a scheme from the Open University and Scilt, Scotland’s national centre for languages. The distance-learning programme - the first of its kind in the UK - will involve participants studying French, Spanish, German or Mandarin for 150 hours, and follows on from a successful trial involving 54 teachers.