Nearly one in three primary school headteachers under 50 is leaving their role within five years of taking up the post, according to analysis published today.
Data analysis by the NAHT school leaders’ union shows that 30 per cent of primary heads under the age of 50 who were appointed in 2019 had quit the role by 2024. The union said this is a rise of 9 per cent since the five years from 2011-16.
Heads are leaving secondary school posts in larger numbers, with 38 per cent under 50 departing their role in the same period, although the increase, up from 35 per cent from 2011-16, is smaller.
Recruitment and retention problems
The analysis conducted by the union highlights the problems schools are facing with the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers.
The NAHT said that of the heads who left primary schools, 71 per cent were no longer working in primaries and were “most likely lost to the profession”. In secondaries, 80 per cent of leaders no longer in their posts stopped teaching.
The union’s analysis also shows the retention problem was prevalent in other leadership roles.
Some 26 per cent of primary deputy heads and 33 per cent of secondary peers appointed in 2019 had left the post within five years.
Leaders unlikely to recommend leadership
The NAHT also surveyed more than 1,500 members on various issues concerning school leadership.
A “record” 65 per cent of leaders said they would be very unlikely (35 per cent) or unlikely (30 per cent) to recommend school leadership, up from 53 per cent last year.
A similar proportion (64 per cent) of leaders said they did not aspire to become a headteacher. The NAHT said this figure was 40 per cent in 2016.
The union points to “a legacy of a decade in which school leaders were left feeling undervalued and mistrusted”, and cites mental health issues as a result of increased workloads and “damaging high stakes” Ofsted inspections as other reasons.
When asked about what improvements could be made, 81 per cent of respondents said a “fundamentally different” approach to inspection and 82 per cent cited greater professional recognition.
Earlier in November, the NAHT bid to challenge Ofsted’s new inspection framework through the High Court was rejected.
‘Demands of the job are simply too much’
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said: “Leaders play an absolutely vital role in the direction and ethos of their schools, and in creating the conditions which allow their talented staff to flourish - and leadership can be and should always be a hugely rewarding undertaking.
“But when we have even seasoned headteachers and leaders quitting because the demands of the job are simply too much, it’s little wonder that other senior teachers are thinking twice about climbing the leadership ladder.”
Mr Whiteman said that schools struggling to attract leaders can create “enormous instability” for teachers and pupils, and could impact learning; relying on people wanting to do the job as a “labour of love” is unsustainable because the challenges facing leaders are “too overwhelming and pervasive”.
He added: “That means government action to ease unsustainable levels of workload, further encourage flexible working, restore the real-terms value of pay to 2010 levels, and truly mitigate the harm caused by high-stakes inspection, which will continue under the new Ofsted framework.”
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