Headteacher recruitment

[Namechange75311]

Namechanged for obvious reasons.
What happens if a school can't recruit a headteacher?
Dd2's headteacher left last Easter. As far as I can see the new academy trust (only joined Sept 21 pushed by headteacher) didn't try to recruit until after she'd gone.
Apparently there was only 1 candidate, so they didn't interview (weird to me in business what if they were perfect but according to teacher friend standard?)
So they started recruitment process again in Sept & again have said today they are not in a position to go ahead with interview stage.
So what happens now? Acting assistant head also left in the summer so there is only deputy head & acting assistant heads for EYFS & Lower School. Dep head is acting up but apparently for personal reasons doesn't want the role f-t.
Doesn't this put too much stress & workload on them?
It's not affecting anything visibly as a parent at the moment, but what signs should I be looking for if things start to crumble??

I do a lot of HT recruitment
The market is terrible. Typically less than 5 applicants and rarely more than 2 suitable to interview. Lots and lots never go to interview. I sometimes interview 1 but honestly they would have to be very good with no holes in their employment history.

They recruit an Interim Head (either full time, someone acting up or someone from another school covering)

The 30th Sept is one of the main appointment cut offs- the start date for an experienced Head for January. Next main start point is after Easter and then September. A few start at other times.

MATs can appoint internally without an open process.

Why is is so hard to recruit HTs?

Workload
Constant belittling of the profession on social media like Mumsnet (for example MN dont remove bullying posts/individual attacks about individual HTs even when requested and when the poster has a history of leaping on a thread whenever a certain school is mentioned)
Very small salary differential between head and deputy in some schools
Legal minimum holiday (HTs are on all year round contracts)
The upsurge in head of school posts in MATS rather than His which I think has squashed the market
Increased budget, SEND and behaviour challenges. Lack of system support for SEND and lack of funding
Easier jobs elsewhere in the education system

Thank you for such a comprehensive answer.
It's definitely a tough job - especially on the back of Covid & literally you can't please everybody all the time with parents/staff/ofsted to consider and I didn't realise that they didn't get school holidays off (although knew they were working during them!)
The previous head started as dd1 started school & grew into the role fantastically but there were teething issues - i guess the learning curve is hugely public.
Hopefully they get the right person next recruitment round - cynical me suggests it will be an internal MAT appointment since they have already installed the chair of governors from another trust school.
Let's wait and see....

I was honestly quite surprised when I looked at the salary for a HT, although I do admit it shouldn’t have been a shock knowing the salary of a class teacher. There’s so many jobs you could do with less stress/angry parents/staff problems for the same pay.

I imagine being the HT is quite lonely - a lot of parents will be against you and you’re not part of the staff group. In particular, I know staff at our school were unimpressed with Covid handling and blamed that on the HT whilst the staff also blamed them.

In your case I would be hugely suspicious of what the Head did! Leaving so soon is odd. Obviously her exit strategy was lined up.

Recruitment can be hard. Schools on national conditions give salaries within bands depending on size of school. Heads of medium sized schools should get L8 minimum. It goes up to L21. More if school
is bigger and Group 3. You don’t have to appoint on the bottom either. You pay according to the skills your new head has and obviously previous salary.

Number of applicants is besides the point. Three (or even 2) great ones is better than 6 average ones. Yes. The mat left it too late but they can take action to cover the post.

However there are huge downsides to not having a head. Deputy doesn’t want to be a head so they won’t drive anything forward. Probably lack the skills anyway. It’s not really lonely being a head. It’s collaborative, especially with SLT and senior teachers. However you make decisions. Deputies who don’t want to be heads usually will just allow the school to coast. Are they interpreting assessment data, amending the improvement plan, gathering evidence, planning training, and everything else that’s required? Possibly not.

Most schools really don’t have lots of angry parents. This isn’t a big part of the job. Clarity of vision, getting the best teachers and keeping them and meeting targets is vital. Lots of data analysis. Heads need a SLT on board with their vision and the GB.

They do get holidays. They just don’t have the same contract as teachers and directed time. Most take a big chunk in the summer but some don’t. Depends on the school and circumstances. Heads trying to improve schools work very hard. Others can afford to coast a bit occasionally. You cannot make people do the job. MATs have not made it any more attractive. But for some it’s a dream job. I’ve met many who think it is and thrive. We need to federate smaller schools more under one head and pay more. This helps a lot. No one needs 3 heads for 3 close village schools for example. Get one and pay more.

Usually in these situations - the deputy will act up until a permanent replacement is appointed. If after a set period and they’ve failed to recruit for whatever reason, I have known the LA to either appoint an executive headteacher (HT from other local school who works with the Deputy) OR an experienced Deputy is promoted into the role.
There is definitely a shortage of HT’s right now and I dread to think the state of what it will be in years to come -

big changes will need to happen to attract teachers to advance into headship.

Our junior school has been unable to recruit a head for more than a year. Last year we had six 'heads'. An interim, two seconded and shared with another school, the assistant acting up, another borrowed head......

The school is pretty terrible and being made more and more so thanks to the lack of leadership.