Recruiting a Headteacher

[nettie]

Is there any teacher/ parent/ governor or other education bod that can give me their experience of recruiting a headteacher recently.
We are in the process of succession planning at the moment and all the information about recruiting a headteacher is negative, lack of suitable candidates if any being the main issue. It seems that we are being pushed towards federation.
I just wondered if the situation is a bad as we are being led to believe or if it is the LA's/ Governments way of making federations the norm.

Yes, we were in same position. Said there would be no good applicants for nursery head, but we ended up with six applicants and 2 outstanding applicants which it was very hard to choose between in interviews.

Without a doubt the most important job of a Gb is to appoint a Head as the Head is absolutely critical to the future of the school.

In my experience, plan well, get the whole process going early/quickly and be fully prepared to re-advertise the post if you don't find a suitable candidate.

Get the LA involved and use their expertise.

Only appoint when you are sure that you have found the right candidate. It is far, far better to deal with the problems of not having a Head than to deal with the problems of a bad or unsuitable Head.

I have heard bad things about federations: they never seem to work like everyone promised they would in the planning stages. Speaking as a parent I would, and have, avoid federations when choosing a school.

I am a school governor who was recently involved in recruiting a HT and yes, it is difficult. However, our situation was made worse by being a faith school so we already had a much reduced potential pool of applicants and by being close enough to London that if candidates went a little further up the motorway they could earn more money. So some of the difficulty will depend on your school's particular circumstances.

From this year, it will also no longer be compulsory for HTs to have the NPQH which has also been a limiting factor to date because, not only do the applicants have to have completed the qualification but they also have to apply for a HT position very soon after finishing the course so it's quite a tricky timing situation for them.

From this year, it will also no longer be compulsory for HTs to have the NPQH ...
Eh? that's the first I've heard of this.
Do you have any references/links/info?

OK, just found the info and I'm readin' it.

Yes, you can imagine our joy when, shortly after recruiting our HT - 4 lots of advertising and 2 rounds of interviews, the Govt announced their intention to not make it a compulsory requirement any more!

Thanks, really great and encouraging that you found suitable Heads.

Could somebody please link to where it says the requirements have changed, because nobody from the LA has drawn this to our attention, it really seems to me we're been encouraged to federate.
Which as far as I can see is not popular with parents or staff!

Nettie - We (primary school) were being pushed towards federation by the LA and the local school's headteacher who wanted to become the head of the federation. We felt very pressured. Our main worry was what happened when the head, who is very good, decided to move on. It was going to be really hard to fill their position with somebody of the right caliber. Running a small school with 4 teachers is relatively easy compared to a large school with 16. Our schools combined would have double that with the head on site for 2.5 days a week at best. The deputy head at each school would have become head for their prospective schools - another concern, once those teachers had moved on would it be easy to fill their positions with good candidates.

We didn't have many candidates to be honest. We were very pressured and brow beaten by the LA, we resisted becoming a federation and appointed a new head.

here and here and here gives some information about it, although it is difficult to find an official,straightforward statement on it.

Removing the requirement for this to be an essential qualification for aspiring heads doesn't necessarily solve all the problems with shortages of course as your Governing Body may well decide that the only want to continue looking for candidates with the qualification but it does at least open up the field to other possibilities or to being able to interview people who have applied for the course or who are part-way through but will not have completed by the time you need a HT in place.

Strawberry they are our concerns too, also don't want to end up in a federation just because thats the easiest thing to and don't want to get stuck in a federation because its too complicated to get out.

We're getting loads of support from LA, federations are brilliant don't you know Ofsted love them

Dd's primary school went through the recruitment process four times and did not find a suitable applicant. Part of the trouble was that it is an outstanding school. Potential heads are afraid, understandably, of presiding over a school's decline, or want to put their mark on things so would rather go to a satisfactory/good school.

As a governor (of another school) I went on a head teacher recruitment course. The head of the county's personnel stressed again and again that it is far better to have no head than to settle for someone, as it is nearly impossible to get them out. She said to beware in particular of people looking to ride out their working life till retirement with no ambition/drive to improve the school. She said this category likes to go for outstanding schools, as they present no real difficulties.

However, I think recruiting heads is like waiting for the no. 19 bus, after waiting for ever 3 come along at once.

But if you're doing 'sucession planning', can't you also look at your SLT and see if any of them would feature in your plans?

We were in that exact situation indigo - we had only two applicants (the rule of thumb appeared to be that no-one wanted to take over a very successful school, because any dip in attainment would be attributed to new ht) and one was the current dep ht.

I found the entire process fascinating. We were also heavily advised by the lea that no ht was better than a poor one, and readvertising with the dep ht in an acting post would be far preferable. In the event, the dep ht did get the job, but I'm v curious that they are now pushing towards federation. We saw it with junior schools, but not at infant level... Although interestingly, the outgoing ht had sought permission from the lea and gov body to go p/t for her last two terms, so that she could take up her new role p/t before the summer holidays... It did give the dep ht some time to try out the role before she applied lol.

strawberrymivvi - interesting comment - have you ever been the head of a small school? It sounds easier, but there are many more pressures put on fewer people - everyone has to take on numerous responsibilities. There is no reduction in paperwork and initiatives simply because there are fewer children and staff, so everyone has to do more of everything!

And payment of course is (at least in part) by pupil numbers, so small schools are stymied in that regard.

Indigobell succession planning in education is somewhat different (in my experience) to the commercial sector. Promotion from deputy to head cannot happen - at least not in our LA. Everything has to be an open recruitment process. I know of a few deputies in acting Head roles who have applied for the Headteacher post and have been unsuccessful.

Have to endorse the comments above - if you don't get the right candidate, re-advertise. As a Governor I have experienced having to 'go again' and whilst it is daunting what kept us going was the fear that if we got it wrong we would find it very difficult/impossible to do anything about it.

Yes, the deputy would have to apply and interview for the position.

But I would have thought succession planning would involve making sure she had the right skills and experience so that you'd want to hire her.....

You will often find (and increasingly so these days) that deputies are not interested in the HT position. That was the case in our school and in a faith school you have the additional complication of needing to be of the "right" faith as well.