We Need More Female Heads

When the primary teaching workforce is 85 per cent female, why are only 71 per cent of heads women? Wendy Jones investigates...

Teaching – especially primary teaching – is a female-friendly and female-dominated profession. It offers one of those (still rare) careers where women can and do rise to the top, where barriers and prejudices are non-existent, where positive role models abound. 

Right?
Well, up to a point. In truth the picture is more nuanced. The figures don’t quite back up the ‘women-on-top’ proposition. Women are simply not becoming primary headteachers in the numbers they should.

This shortfall in female heads is highlighted by the Future Leaders Trust, a charity dedicated to recruiting excellent school leaders to transform challenging schools.

It points to government figures showing that 85 per cent of the primary teaching workforce in England are female but only 71 per cent of primary heads are women. Admittedly this is better than for secondaries (62 per cent female workforce, 36 per cent female heads), but it does nonetheless suggest many hundreds more women would be primary heads if their numbers were proportionate to the female primary workforce overall. 

It may be that amidst efforts to recruit more men into primary teaching, this other gender issue – female promotion – has been overshadowed. For there has been little change in the proportion of female heads since 2010.

So why are there so many ‘missing’ female primary heads? Why are too few women willing to put themselves forward and, if they do, what hurdles do they face – and what support can they expect? 

I have spoken to several women – heads and aspiring heads – about what it takes to make the jump from classroom teacher through middle leadership and into primary headship. Some firm themes emerged.

Family first

Amelia Nelson identified the most obvious of those themes – combining headship with parental responsibilities. Currently deputy principal of a Bristol primary academy, she went on a Future Leaders training programme but decided to put further ambitions on hold while she started a family. Her first child is due in July.

“I’d really like to be head of a challenging school, so it’s toying with what’s ethically right,” she says. “Does a challenging school deserve to have a headteacher who then goes on maternity leave?”

Amelia plans to apply for a headship as soon as her youngest is in daycare. In Cornwall, Samantha Williams thinks it will be a few years before she gets there. She has a national primary qualification in middle leadership and has benefitted from the NAHT’s Edge programme for emerging leaders. But she is also a mother. 

“I don’t get much sleep at the moment – that’s a definite barrier,” she says. “As a head, I would need to have my finger on the pulse and I’d have lots of extracurricular responsibilities. That’s difficult with young children.”

Liz Robinson took a different approach. She was 29 when she became head of Surrey Square Primary School in London. She was clear that she “wanted to get there first and then have children”.

She now has two small children and is co-head with her former deputy, each working a four-day week. “Once you’re head, you can structure it so it works for you,” she says. “We leave school at 5pm, do tea, bedtime, see our kids, then do an hour of work later.”

But it can be hard establishing a culture where those practices are accepted. Nadia Paczuska is about to become a primary head in Suffolk and says women face a lot of pressure not to sacrifice their work for the sake of their families.

“As women senior leaders, we downplay how hard it is for us to manage home and work. I feel very committed to women being able to ‘wear’ their motherhood at work – it’s a big part of who they are and it’s relevant to teaching.”

Although the new law on shared parental leave may help to even things out, there is no doubt that expectations – if not practicalities ¬– can still be very different for women. When Nadia first mentioned her interest in going for a headship, her then (male) head asked: “How can you even consider that as a single mum?”

Old-school attitudes

Actual prejudice can be hard to prove – and of course sex discrimination is illegal. But women do often speak of male-dominated interview panels, with chairs of governors and local authority or academy chain representatives commonly being men. 

Amelia Nelson admits to having taken off her wedding ring when going for interviews. (“I don’t think it’s worth any risk.”) Others have sensed panels being excessively interested in their ability to handle tough situations.

Gail Larkin, who has just stepped down as NAHT president, remembers one headship interview taking place at a golf club. “The other candidates were smartly suited and booted men. I was the token woman,” she says. “Talking to the men afterwards, I realised they’d had different questions from me. I’d been asked about discipline and how I’d cope with difficult behaviour from boys.” 

Selection panels may no longer be convened at golf clubs (one hopes!) but false assumptions about women’s abilities still sometimes prevail. The age-gender combination is another factor often mentioned – women can be perceived as ‘young’ when that is not an issue for men of the same age.

But Liz Robinson feels some problems are self-induced. “If you’re preoccupied with being young, the panel will be too,” she says. “Undoubtedly there are attitudes that need challenging. But there’s a genuine problem around women discriminating against themselves and thinking ‘oh no, I’m not ready’.”

Challenging stereotypes

The key factor, says Liz, is confidence. Gail agrees that men often have that ‘I can do it’ attitude, while women look for reasons why they can’t do it. “Blokes think they’re a great headteacher,” she says. “When I first became a head, all I could think about were the things I thought I was doing wrong.”

All the women say that role models are crucial and that support programmes such as those run by Future Leaders can make all the difference. Amelia feels this support has fast-forwarded her career. “I have the back-up of about 20 established female heads. I’ve got coaches, a development adviser, people I can just call up. It’s an amazing scheme.”

Everyone agrees too that getting more women into leadership is good for education, not just individuals. It expands the talent pool at a time when many schools are struggling to fill posts.

From Gail Larkin’s perspective, that is key: the system cannot afford not to have more women aspiring to headship. “It’s a very isolating job – your head’s on the block. But at the end of the day, it’s the best job in the world.” And that’s what she tells any woman thinking of going for it. 

Similarly Liz Robinson feels that women (or, for that matter, men) should not be put off by the negatives: “The job is very stressful and often brutal, there’s no getting away from it. But it’s not about Ofsted, it’s about learning, it’s about children, it’s about the difference you can make.”

Nadia Paczuska – on the brink of taking up her first headship – knows what she would say to women still unsure. “I’d get them on the Future Leaders course. We have a responsibility to get the best people into post as heads. What’s it saying to young girls if we don’t? We’re not challenging the stereotypes enough.”

The ‘motherhood penalty’

A survey of school staff carried out by the Future Leaders Trust suggests there is a ‘motherhood penalty’ and a ‘fatherhood bonus’ in England’s schools that affects pay, attitudes and career.

50%

Over 50 per cent believe women’s pay is negatively affected.

60%

The proportion who believe women’s training opportunities are negatively affected.

75%

Over 75 per cent believe women’s promotion opportunities are negatively affected.

1/2

Nearly half of the female heads responding had one or no children, while over 80 per cent of male head respondents had two or more children.

The survey was answered by 285 respondents: 114 men and 171 women (future-leaders.org.uk).