The proportion of Scottish primary headteachers who would recommend the job to others has dropped to its lowest-ever level, according to a survey that has been running for almost a decade.
Primary school leaders’ body AHDS, which has been carrying out its workload survey since 2016, has found that now just 27 per cent of heads would recommend the role to others.
Some 46 per cent of primary heads said they would not recommend the role.
Headteacher role is ‘brilliant’ but ‘lonely’
One primary head surveyed said: ”There are so many brilliant aspects to being a headteacher. It is a privilege. However, it’s a very stressful and lonely job with huge amounts of pressure relating to attainment.”
From when AHDS began surveying primary school leaders about their workload in 2016, the number who said they would recommend the role of head remained fairly stable until 2020, sitting at around 35 per cent.
There was then a surge in enthusiasm for the job in 2021, during the Covid pandemic, but since then each successive year has been “less positive than the last”, according to the latest report.
The survey also reveals that interest in headship among deputes and principal teachers has “declined considerably over the survey period, particularly in recent years”.
When the survey started in 2016, 36 per cent of deputes and 39 per cent of principal teachers who responded indicated that they were keen to become a headteacher.
However, in 2025 those saying they were keen to become a headteacher stood at only 16 per cent of deputes and 11 per cent of principal teachers.
Principal teachers were also more negative about the role than they had been in previous years: 80 per cent disagreed with the statement “I am keen to become a headteacher” - with 60 per cent strongly disagreeing.
“This is, by far, the most negative response since our surveys began,” says the report, which explains that this matters because “deputes and principal teachers are normally the only people who become headteachers”.
Survey respondents in all leadership roles reported working far longer than contracted hours, at 17.7 additional hours on average.
When headteachers were asked what would make the job more manageable, the most commonly highlighted issue was the need for more resources and support for pupils with additional needs.
The report states: “In 2024 and 2025 the need for ‘proper support for inclusion’ was highlighted by a much higher proportion of members than in previous years, and vastly more than any other issue.”
‘Urgent’ ASL investment demanded
On the back of the survey, AHDS is making four recommendations.
It is calling for:
- “Urgent and significant investment” in additional support for learning (ASL) and a national funding formula “to address the current variability of provision”.
- Management capacity in schools to be increased and protected, to address “excessive working hours of school leaders and the continual decline in desirability of headship” - it also warns that the promised reduction in class-contact time for teachers must be “properly resourced”
- Candidates undertaking the Into Headship programme to be released from school one day per week.
- P1 Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSAs) in literacy and numeracy to be discontinued, or run at the discretion of headteachers.
The survey shows that primary school leaders are “positive” about the value of P4 and P7 SNSAs, but “very negative” about the value of the P1 tests. Only 35 per cent agreed the P1 tests are useful, compared with around 70 per cent for the P4 and P7 tests.
According to the survey report, there were “many comments” from primary school leaders highlighting the P1 tests’ “inappropriateness, low value and the high workload associated with them”. The report also says there is a “widely held view that P1 assessments are time consuming and unreliable” - as well as “inappropriate in the context of play-based learning”.
On Into Headship, the survey finds it is a deterrent to some deputes and principal teachers becoming headteachers.
The master’s-level qualification has been mandatory in Scotland for new heads since August 2020. Councils can appoint school leaders without the qualification on the proviso that they gain it within 30 months of being appointed.
One respondent said: “The time commitment required to complete Into Headship is not manageable on top of my current workload. I have no more time to carve out of my personal life to commit to further study. Having seen colleagues undertake this, I would need to be able to protect some time in the week.”
Other reasons for not pursuing headship roles include the perceived pressure and a lack of support, as well as a lack of financial incentive.
One respondent said: “For the increase in pay, it really is not worth the expectation, stress and reduction in quality of life.”
The 2025 survey was completed by 1,252 primary school leaders, almost 700 of whom were headteachers.
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