I was reading recently about the difficulties schools have been having in terms of recruiting Head Teachers for vacant posts. The problem has arisen mostly as a result of a ‘demographic bulge’ which has meant a generation of Heads reached retirement age at the same time, while teachers on the level below are unwilling or unable to fill the gap. There are a number of factors that have further complicated things, including the increasingly heavy workload for Heads, senior staff retiring / leaving teaching before they take headship and a lack of leadership training which means that teachers often do not feel adequately prepared to step up.
Several suggestions have been made to overcome the problem, including introducing managers and directors that are not from teaching backgrounds. More recently, it has been suggested that leadership of schools be federated to save costs, although this is not an idea that was warmly received by the Association of School and College Leaders, who felt that reducing and spreading leadership teams across several sites cannot deliver an adequate level of leadership within schools. While this problem remains unresolved the spectre of a range of negative consequences looms over pupils and more junior teachers alike.
Whether any of these suggestions are implemented remains to be seen, but I can’t help but wonder is if this ‘succession gap’ situation will also be seen in other industries. The recession has caused a recruitment freeze in many large organisations as they bid to reduce costs, while the potential fate a ‘lost generation’ of young people who are struggling to find employment has been well-documented in the media. This is obviously causing immediate difficulty for our young unemployed, but there could be bigger problems in store further down the line as current managers retire and nobody is suitably positioned to follow behind.
A related risk that may compound the problem is that management and leadership development programmes are often the first things to be cut in a financial crisis. This means that not only will the numbers be lacking, but those who are available may not be ready to step up. Organisations may believe they are saving money now – the public sector to claw back government deficits and the private sector focusing on profits for shareholders, but these strategies may not prove cost effective in the long run. When the economy improves and things starts to move quickly again some organisations may struggle to keep up, as their leaders and managers lack the training and experience to make the right decisions – in effect, they will find that a level of management is ‘missing’.
So while the current problem of head teachers is debated, I think it is important for other sectors to continue to prepare and invest in their staff – especially now that the end of the current troubles may be visible on the horizon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7463433.stm
