The Recruitment and Retention of Headteachers in Scotland Technical Report

8. Analysis of Teacher Data

Table 92: Teachers' Career Destinations (%)

Destination	Percentage
A classroom teacher	32
A chartered teacher	11
A principal teacher	18
A head of faculty/department	5
A depute headteacher	14
A headteacher	8
A local authority staff member	2
Leaving teaching to take up family responsibilities	1
A career outside of teaching	2
Other	6

Table 93: Teachers' Career Aspirations, 2-3 Years (%)

Aspiration	Percentage
A classroom teacher	40
A chartered teacher	3
A depute head	6
A principal teacher	16
Seek promotion to principal teacher	10
Apply for depute vacancy	8
Apply for headteacher vacancy	3
Apply for local authority vacancy	1
Seek training for school leader position	2
Apply for chartered teacher status	5
Leave teaching for family responsibilities	1
Seek a career outside of education	1
None of the above	5

Table 94: Teachers' Career Priorities (%)

Priority	Not at all important	Not very important	Quite important	Very important
Opportunities to influence others	3	11	47	37
Opportunities to challenge my abilities	1	4	46	48
Encouragement from friends, family, spouse, partner	4	15	41	40
Encouragement from colleagues	2	10	46	40
Opportunity to teach children on a daily basis	1	7	28	64
Potential stressfulness of the position	3	15	40	41
Status in the eyes of the community	21	38	30	10
Opportunity to work directly with children	0	3	24	72
Salary and benefits of the position	2	13	58	26
Geographic location of the position	2	10	48	38
Time for family	2	6	24	68
Reputation of school in which post is available	6	26	45	22
Ethos of school in which position is available	6	4	33	61
Opportunities to help others	1	3	37	59
Opportunities to influence change	1	10	47	42
The PRD process	9	22	46	12

Table 95: Teachers' Career Confidence in Abilities (%)

Ability	Not at all confident	Not very confident	Quite confident	Very confident
Provide strategic focus and direction to colleagues	2	16	59	22
Lead the development of teaching and learning	3	19	52	25
Manage teaching staff	6	24	43	25
Manage other staff	5	18	50	25
Manage school budgets	26	29	31	12
Build relationships with community agencies	4	19	48	28
Deal with stress and pressure	4	18	62	16
Deal with difficult parents	3	16	59	22
Problem solve	1	8	60	31
Manage myself and my time	1	9	52	37

Table 96: Teachers' Career Aspirations Advice Sources (%)

Advice Source	Never	Rarely	Occasionally	Always
My friends	11	23	48	16
A teacher colleague	4	9	52	33
My headteacher	16	20	41	21
My depute headteacher	20	20	37	15
My spouse/partner	9	8	21	58
Other family members	17	26	37	19
My mentor	50	10	13	7
A professional association	57	25	13	1
My coach	66	8	3	1
Other	9	0	2	2

Table 97: Influences on Teachers' Career Aspirations (%)

Influence Sources	Never	Rarely	Occasionally	Always
My headteacher	17	16	44	20
My depute	23	16	39	13
My head of faculty/department	28	13	27	11
My professional reading	11	16	54	15
My professional association	32	31	28	4
Media reporting of education	31	36	28	2
My parent council/ board of governors	55	28	11	1
The Scottish Government	33	32	29	3
My school's parents	32	29	31	4
The local authority	30	27	34	6
Teacher colleagues	5	10	63	20
My family	6	12	35	45

Table 98: Likelihood of Changes in Teachers' Employment Expectations (%)

Likelihood of change	Percentage
Highly unlikely to change	43
Unlikely to change	29
Likely to change	21
Highly likely to change	6

Table 99: Teachers' Headship Intentions (%)

Intention	Percentage
Currently applying for posts	1
Have applied and will do so again	2
Have applied but do not envision doing so in the future	4
Have applied and are unsure whether they will do so again	1
Have not applied but intend to do so in the future	6
Have not applied and do not intend to do so	67
Have not applied and are unsure whether they will do so	18

Table 100: Teachers' Applications for Headship (%)

Encouragement to Apply	Percentage
No	80
Yes	17

Table 101: Teachers' Sources of Encouragement to Apply for Headship (No.)

Source of Encouragement	N= 139*
Current headteacher	66
Head of department	7
Previous headteacher	84
Depute	56
Local authority education officer	56
Teacher colleague or colleagues	99
Another person	66

* Of 207 potential respondents (= 17% answering "Yes" in Table 100), 139 answered and nominated one or more sources.

Table102: Influences on Teachers' Thinking about Headship (%)

Influence Source	Not at all	A little	Some	A lot
Observing current headteacher	20	12	26	34
Talking with teacher colleagues	17	13	36	25
Professional reading	26	25	31	11
Observing a previous headteacher	23	12	26	31
Media reporting of education	37	24	23	7
Talking with current headteacher	37	17	20	18
Talking with my previous headteacher	39	18	20	14
Talking with partner/spouse	30	16	22	23
Attending coaching sessions	71	8	6	2
Attending CPD sessions (face to face)	56	16	14	4
Attending CPD sessions (online)	73	8	5	1
Other	10	0	1	4

Table 103: Teachers' Perceptions of Sufficient Resources (%)

Resource	Nowhere near Enough	Some	Enough	More than Enough
Material resources	18	33	40	6
Support with regard to facilities and maintenance	22	40	32	4
Support from parents and the community	6	31	47	12
A staff that is competent and able to meet the needs of students	1	12	50	34
The help required in handling students who may be disruptive	26	39	23	4
Clear understanding of what the school is expected to achieve	3	19	53	23
Staffing to fulfill requirements	16	34	40	7
Support and guidance from the local authority	17	42	33	4

* Data is missing as not every teacher answered every question.

Table 104: Influences on Teachers' Applications for Headship (%)

Influence	Strongly discourage	Discourage	Encourage	Strongly Encourage
Opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others	2	2	53	37
Level of support received from local authorities	9	19	45	20
Opportunity to effect change in school	2	3	52	35
Accountability to more than one person	16	45	27	5
More varied work than teachers	8	22	49	13
Sufficient level of autonomy	5	17	58	13
Pressures of headship	45	36	10	2
Opportunity to work more closely with parents and community members	4	19	60	11
Impact on personal and family life	46	36	9	3
Opportunity to be professionally challenged	4	11	60	18
Perceived gender bias	15	38	27	5
Perception that vacancies are often 'filled' before advertised	26	54	9	2
Prestige of the position in the community	7	27	51	3
Rigorous nature of selection and interview process	20	41	26	4
Salary and benefits	4	12	58	18
Training and induction procedures	7	26	51	7
Being the sole person at the top	20	40	28	3
Opportunity to shape educational vision for the school	3	7	56	26
Opportunity to contribute to the mission of the church in a faith-based school	34	22	19	8
Lack of direct contact with pupils and their learning	42	46	4	1

Table 105: Teachers' Perceptions of Headship (%)

Perception of Headship	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly agree
Headteachers have sufficient support from their local authorities	15	43	35	2
Headteachers have to be accountable to too many 'bosses'	2	22	52	20
Headteachers do more meaningful and interesting work than teachers	29	57	9	2
There is not enough autonomy for headteachers	3	34	48	9
The pressures of headship are too stressful	2	15	39	41
There are too many accountability demands by local authorities	1	11	47	38
The role of headteacher intrudes too much on personal and family life	1	13	40	41
There is too much responsibility involved in the role of the headteacher	2	29	35	30
Headteachers experience positive professional challenges	2	14	67	13
Man seem to be more valued as headteachers than women	18	45	22	11
There is sufficient monetary incentive to make the leap from principal teacher or depute head to headteacher	11	34	41	9
Headteachers have prestige in the community	3	24	62	7
Headteacher interview processes are often too demanding, intensive or rigorous	5	42	34	9
Headteachers have good salaries and benefits	3	20	58	14
Recruitment processes for headteachers are inadequate	3	46	35	5
Headteachers have few close relationships with students and staff	7	42	37	9
Headteachers have the opportunity to shape an educational vision for the school	1	6	59	30
Being a headteacher is a lonely job	2	32	45	16
The accountability requirements of national inspections are too demanding	1	17	42	36
Training and induction processes for headteachers are inadequate	1	34	42	10
Headteacher receive sufficient monetary reward for the job and all it entails	9	29	47	9
The position of headteacher is often perceived to be 'filled' prior to advertising	5	43	38	7
Headteachers do not have enough contact with pupils and their learning	2	26	49	19
Headteachers have autonomy over their School Improvement Plan	6	44	40	4
With budgetary requirements, headteachers have autonomy over staffing	11	41	38	4
There is sufficient protected management time to do the job of headteacher	16	36	34	6

Table 106: Teachers' Perceptions of Heads' Weekly Time Commitment (%)

Time Commitment	Percentage
35 hours	1
36-40 hours	4
41-45 hours	12
46-50 hours	21
51-55 hours	18
56-60 hours	18
61-65 hours	9
66-70 hours	7
> 70 hours	7

Table 107: Teachers' Perceptions of Heads' Activity Time Commitments (%)

Activity	None	< 3 hours	3-5 hours	6-10 hours	> 10 hours
Curriculum management	3	28	34	19	6
Development of teaching and learning	4	31	32	17	6
Strategic planning	1	16	37	26	10
Budget and finance	1	19	35	26	10
The school building and fabric	6	48	24	9	2
Absence cover	33	37	15	5	2
Providing RCCT for teaching staff	18	36	14	3	1
Classroom teaching	48	33	8	2	1
Staffing matters	1	37	32	17	4
Matters for parent council/ board of governors	2	47	30	10	2
Relations with external agencies	1	20	37	26	8
Dealing with challenging pupils	3	27	29	22	10
Other	2	1	3	3	3

Table 108: Teachers' Perceptions of Heads' People Time Commitments (%)

People	None	< 3 hours	3 - 5 hours	6 - 10 hours	> 10 hours
Classroom teachers	9	50	23	9	3
Principal teachers	3	37	37	13	3
Parents	1	28	42	18	5
Children and family services	5	40	34	12	3
Visitors	1	39	39	13	2
Local authority staff	2	34	36	17	5
Depute (s)	3	9	28	32	19
Senior management/leadership team	2	14	31	30	15
Administrative staff	1	27	35	23	8
Learning support staff	16	62	12	2	1
Pupils	6	40	27	12	7

Table 109: Teachers' Current Appointments (%)

Appointment	Percentage
Depute headteacher	9
Acting depute headteacher	1
Principal teacher	24
Acting principal teacher	2
Chartered teacher	3
Classroom teacher	58

Table 110: Teachers' Time in Current Role (%)

Years	Percentage
< 1 year	4
1-2 years	6
3-5 years	20
6-10 years	20
11-15 years	16
16-20 years	11
21-25 years	8
25+ years	13

Table 111: Teachers' Employment in Schools (%)

Number of Schools	Percentage
1 school	25
2 schools	20
3 schools	17
4 schools	13
More than 4 schools	24

Table 112: Teachers' Time in Post in Current School (%)

Years	Percentage
< 1 year	5
1-2 years	11
3-5 years	28
6-10 years	22
11-15 years	14
16+ years	18

Table 113: Teachers' Employment Basis (%)

Employment	Percentage
Full-time basis	84
Part-time basis	14

Table 114: Teachers' Leadership Roles (%)

Leadership Role	None	Small Role	Moderate Role	Large Role
Developing and providing continuous professional development to colleagues	22	37	27	12
Supporting new staff	17	35	26	19
Hiring new teachers	76	10	7	3
Evaluating new teachers	46	27	15	9
Developing the school schedule	40	33	17	6
Establishing and planning the school budget	74	16	5	2
School improvement planning	21	42	24	9
Establishing school priorities	29	38	21	8
Reviewing teacher practices and curriculum	15	35	31	17
Reviewing student performance data	21	29	27	19

Table 115: Teachers and the SQH (%)

Teachers and SQH	Percentage
Currently undertaking SQH	2
Intend, though not currently, undertaking SQH	5
No intention to undertake SQH	73
Unsure about intentions for SQH	15
Was undertaking but did not complete SQH	1

Table 116: Teachers' Qualifications (%)

Highest Qualification	Percentage
Bachelors degree	56
Masters degree	16
Doctorate degree	1
Other	21

Table 117: Teachers' Partnership Status (%)

Partnership Status	Percentage
Single	15
Partnered	78
Widowed	2
Not disclosed	3

Table 118: Teachers' Family Care Responsibilities (%)

Responsibility	Percentage
Sole carer	5
Shared carer	40
No care responsibilities	52

Table 119: Teachers' Gender (%)

Gender	Percentage
Male	30
Female	71

Table 120: Teachers' Ethnicity (%)

Ethnicity	Percentage
White	99
Mixed	1
Asian	0
Black	0
Other	0

Table 121: Teachers' Age (%)

Age	Percentage
25-30 years	7
31-35 years	11
36-40 years	12
41-45 years	10
46-50 years	18
51-55 years	23
56-60 years	16
61+ years	2

Table 122: Teachers with a Disability (%)

Teachers with Disability	Percentage
No	90
Yes	3

Table 123: Disabled Teachers' Type of Disability (number)

Type of Disability	Number
Deafness or hearing impairment	0
Blindness or vision impairment	0
Condition limiting physical activities	0
Learning disability	0
Learning difficulty	0
Mental health condition	1
Chronic illness	2
Other	3
Not disclosed	3

Table 124: Impact of Disabled Teachers' Disability (number)

Disability Impact	Number
No	3
Yes	4

Table 125: Teachers' Employment Sector (%)

Sector	Percentage
Primary	37
Secondary	58
Special School	2
Combined School	3

Page updated: Thursday, November 05, 2009

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