More women at the top as headteachers get younger

The body responsible for training teachers said since 2004 it had seen a 38 per cent rise in the number of teachers under 45 reaching the top, with a 35 per cent surge in the number of women becoming secondary school heads in the past decade.

Women made up 70 per cent of the teaching workforce and filled 67 per cent of head and deputy head posts, the TDA said, while existing figures showed that despite comprising 60 per cent of the British workforce, women occupied only one in eight (12.5 per cent) senior management positions in the top 100 British companies.

It said just under a third of career-changers interested in becoming teachers already had previous management experience.

Graham Holley, TDA chief executive, said: “Younger teachers of both genders are in the position to rise up the ranks.”