The number of headteachers in England quitting their jobs within the first five years of starting is on the rise. One in four (25%) primary school heads and more than one in three (37%) in secondary schools who started their roles in 2015 had left by 2020 – up from 21% and 35% since 2011. “Crushing workloads” and frozen pay were to blame, said the NAHT union. The government said that while school leaders have faced challenges, the overall picture is positive. The latest Department of Education (DfE) figures have been seen by the BBC following a Freedom of Information request by the NAHT, which is the union for headteachers.
‘Brutally difficult’:
Paul Rose was the head teacher of a primary school in Derby for four years. He told the BBC he loved the job, enjoyed supporting the children and felt he was helping to change lives – but at a huge personal cost. “It’s the loneliest job I’ve ever done,” said the father-of-two. Paul said he worked seven days a week, sometimes racking up 100-hour working weeks, which meant he spent very little time with his young children.
“I regularly opened up the school on a Saturday and Sunday and worked in my office at my desk over the first three-year period. It was brutally difficult,” he said. “In my final year I sat down with my governing body and said, ‘look, I can’t continue working in this way for my health, both my physical and mental health’.”
Paul left his role after four years to set up an educational technology company. He says he is still passionate about education but doesn’t miss being a headteacher “at all”. “I’m a better husband and a better father because I’m not a headteacher anymore. People have no idea how hard education leaders, teachers and everybody involved in education works.”
‘Supply on the brink’
The DfE collects data every year on the number of headteachers, assistant and deputy heads, and middle leaders under the age of 50 who leave their posts within five years. It shows that every year since 2011, a higher percentage of leaders are leaving. Of headteachers who started in 2011, no fewer than 21% had left five years later, but of those appointed in 2015, a total of 25% had quit by 2020. For middle leaders, the picture is worse with almost half leaving within five years, and in 2021, 46% left their position. NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said leadership supply for schools is teetering on the brink.
“School leaders’ pay has been cut by 15% in real terms since 2010, and this, in combination with high stakes accountability, crushing workload, long hours, and inadequate school funding, is driving leaders from the job they love,” he added.
A DfE spokesperson said that although the figures show the number of people leaving school leadership posts is rising, many remain in the teaching profession. They say vacancy rates “are low” and “the quality of leadership is high”. “That is why we are taking a wide range of activities to support the profession, including investing £250m in training opportunities across all stages of teachers’ careers, plus the government’s pay reforms giving schools greater flexibility to reward exceptional leaders,” added the spokesperson.
