Mass exodus of heads leaves schools in crisis

An inspection regime that lays the blame on heads, a growing red-tape burden and meagre salary incentives are leading many heads to quit early. As thousands of pupils return to school after their summer break today, an investigation by The Scotsman reveals that in Fife alone 57 teachers have taken early retirement in the past eight years and in West Lothian 27 heads have taken early retirement over a decade.

Headteachers say they are suffering a "crisis of confidence" and warn the number of teachers willing to take up the top job is falling as they see the current incumbents suffer.

Figures published in June by the Scottish Government showed 85 headteacher vacancies were being advertised and 39 posts had been vacant for more than three months. There are 2,755 schools in Scotland.

Recruitment difficulties have, for the first time, forced the Catholic Church to put a Protestant in charge at two of its Scottish primary schools. Morag McCreadie will be taking over at St Joseph's in Selkirk and St Margaret's in Hawick, both in the Borders, although she will be known as a "manager of learning".

Linlithgow Academy had to advertise its top post several times last year before a suitable candidate was found and local authorities are increasingly using schemes where two or more schools share a head to tackle the shortage.

A key problem is "job-sizing", a formula which calculates the salary of a headteacher based on the size of the school and level of deprivation. However, this can create anomalies where a depute head in a large inner-city school can be earning more than a headteacher in a small, wealthy rural primary.

Faced with rising pressures and accountability, deputes are increasingly unwilling to seek promotion.

Matthew MacIver, chief executive of the General Teaching Council in Scotland, warned in 2006 that demographic trends meant one new headteacher would need to be appointed every day for the next ten years simply to maintain the current number.

The pressures on school leaders were brought into the spotlight earlier this year after Borders headteacher Irene Hogg, 54, was found dead days after inspectors visited her school. Mrs Hogg's body was found shortly after Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) spent five days at Glendinning Terrace School in Galashiels in March. Colleagues described her as very distressed by the verbal report given by inspectors at the end of their visit.

Her body was found near her car in the countryside, close to the hamlet of Hownam near Jedburgh, after she failed to turn up for work. Her brother, Roger, revealed his sister had asked Scottish Borders Council for help with stress.

HMIe later said it was planning changes to inspections to make them less hands-on, but this was unrelated to Mrs Hogg's death.

A retired headteacher from the Highlands said: "I know exactly where Irene Hogg was coming from. I want to save people from the same fate – the system needs to change. One teacher I know was absolutely destroyed by a negative inspection report. People are frightened to speak out.

"It is not the paperwork that is important, it is the children, and that has been forgotten about. When my school was inspected I told HMIe it was the worst week of my entire career. There is no redress for headteachers who are being criticised – I was told by the local authority not to argue with the inspectors."

Greg Dempster, general secretary of the Association of Heads and Deputes, said: "Future headteachers are already in schools watching heads and seeing what pressures they are under, and there is not a big enough financial incentive for them to want to take their place. The isolation and accountability of the headteacher's role seem to be among the biggest deterrents."

A senior education source revealed early retirements were being forced on heads by stress or, unfairly, by local authorities. He said: "There are many headteachers who take early retirement around inspections but I imagine that has always been the case and always will be. The council might encourage or push folk to early retirement, but people might think they have been slogging their guts out for years only to be told it is not good enough."

Research into issues influencing the recruitment and retention of headteachers is being carried out. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Over the past six years vacancy figures have fluctuated as expected, in line with the number of retirements. A draft report is expected towards the end of 2008."

7am to 10pm – a long day in the life of a school figurehead

MY TYPICAL day as a headteacher would start early around 7am and I'd arrive at the school at 8am, writes former head Ken Cunningham.

First job was to deal with the large pile of mail on my desk, then the usual range of Tannoy announcements.

Then I turned to my many e-mails which needed to be printed, read and filed, or read and forgotten, or passed on to someone else.

In the morning I organised future visits and events around the school, such as co-ordinating which pupils and staff the schools minister would meet on an upcoming visit.

Over the course of the day I chatted with six or seven staff over a range of issues, including special projects such as tackling youngsters who were at risk of falling into the "not in education, employment or training" category.

Various meetings took place with external figures, such as the pastoral head of service or the directors of child guidance. Often I would have awards events or celebrations of pupil excellence and, if I was a speaker, I would have to prepare notes.

On these occasions, it was not uncommon for me to get home after 10pm.