Concerns as number soars of unfilled posts for headteachers

Vacancies that remain open despite the job being publicised have increased in primary, secondary and special schools in the past academic year.

The teaching union which compiled the report is now calling for an urgent investigation into the jobs market for headteachers amid fears over a shortage of suitable candidates.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) warns schools being forced to re-advertise their top job is expensive and creates uncertainty for staff, pupils and parents.

It has also voiced concerns that any increase in the numbers retiring will be difficult to manage and that changes to teachers' pensions could lead to an exodus from the profession.

Retirement remains the biggest reason for vacancies, although the level did not increase last year.

The report says that making it mandatory for candidates to sit a National Professional Qualification for Headship has not solved the problem of a shortage of candidates.

The education labour market survey, carried out by the NAHT, has revealed that just over a third of primary school heads' positions went unfilled after being advertised for the first time, compared with 26 per cent a year earlier.

Almost half of the available headships in special schools – 43 per cent – were still vacant after being advertised compared with 27 per cent in 2008-09 and a fifth of secondary school headships remained unfilled, a slight increase on the previous year.

Of the 90 primary school headteachers' vacancies surveyed in Yorkshire, 29 remained unfilled after being advertised.

The survey, which has been carried out for 16 years, assessed almost 1,500 teaching vacancies at schools across England between September 2009 and April this year.

It revealed a drop in the number of applicants for headteachers' jobs across all sectors. There was an average of 4.5 applicants for every primary school job in 2009-10 compared with 4.8 the year before.

In secondary schools, there was 13.6 candidates for every job, down from 15.9 a year earlier and special school headships attracted an average of 4.3 applications compared with 5.5 in 2008-09.

The NAHT's general secretary Russell Hobby said: "You can't have great schools without great school leadership.

"The issues highlighted by this report make it essential that all those within education promote the job of school leadership. This applies to the unions, the media and the Government.

"To encourage the leaders of tomorrow we need to give leaders today freedom and autonomy under fair and accurate accountability in order to flourish in what, on a good day, is 'the best job in the world'.

Prof John Howson of Education Data Surveys, who helped to combine the labour market survey, said: "I am concerned that the new arrangements for the mandatory NPQH qualification have not yet solved the problem of head teacher recruitment."

The survey found that although women make up the majority of newly-appointed head teachers in primary schools, there has been a "disappointing" drop in the number of female applicants being chosen as secondary school heads.

However, it did show an increase in the level of women being appointed to junior jobs within secondary school management teams.

The report also highlighted that teachers from ethnic minorities continued to make up a "very small percentage" of head teachers.

It called for this situation to be monitored.