Annual retention payments to encourage headteachers to work in under-served areas fail to address reasons why leaders quit and risk repeating the failure of a similar scheme for teachers, experts have said.
The government’s “excellence in leadership” programme will include a trial of a “place-based headteacher retention incentive”, aimed at attracting and keeping new headteachers in areas that most need them.
However, sector leaders remain “unconvinced” the scheme will address leadership shortages and say more detail is needed on how the government plans to better support leaders.
The government has pledged £1 million a year, starting next year, to award newly appointed heads annual payments of up to £15,000. It has yet to explain how payments will be allocated or who will qualify.
“We remain unconvinced that the answer to restoring school leadership and teaching as attractive career paths lies in differentiated regional pay rates, and the same is likely to be true of the proposed retention payment for heads in certain areas,” said NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman.
Payments ‘don’t address fundamental issues’
He added such payments “might be welcome” in individual areas, but would be “hugely divisive”, risking new pay inequalities.
“Crucially, it does not address the fundamental issues which are driving leaders to quit and deterring senior teachers from aspiring to leadership.”
Whiteman cited “intolerable workload, high-stakes accountability… and significant real-terms pay cuts since 2010”. He instead called for a reformed national pay structure with minimum pay points, to protect salaries when staff move schools.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, agreed while retention payments “may help”, the difficulties of leading schools in disadvantaged communities would remain.
The scheme shares similarities with a decade-old Conservative government initiative. Nicky Morgan’s National Teaching Service – a 2016 pilot aimed at parachuting teachers into north-west schools struggling to recruit and retain staff – set out to redeploy hundreds of teachers with incentives of up to £10,000. It was scrapped after less than a year after placing just 24 teachers.
“Lessons from that scheme need to shape this new one, otherwise history risks being repeated,” said Teacher Development Trust chief executive Gareth Conyard.
“For us, the key test is whether the support being provided for leadership development meets the challenges of the current system and the new proposals included in the white paper. It is hard to see how the excellence in leadership programme will do this.”
‘Retention incentives can work’
Education Endowment Foundation research has shown targeted incentives can help schools attract and retain strong teachers and heads.
Becky Francis, the EEF’s CEO, said the government’s plan “recognises the importance” of such incentives.
However, money is not the biggest factor driving leaders out of the profession. In the government’s most recent working lives of teachers and leaders report, just 25 per cent of those who left the state sector cited pay.
Among the top reasons were workload (74 per cent) and pressures around pupil outcomes or inspections (53 per cent).
Jack Worth, lead economist at the National Foundation for Educational Research, said studies show teachers still “tend to respond to incentives”. But less is known about headteacher career decisions, and “the jury’s out” on the impact of financial incentives.
“We might expect it to have a positive effect,” said Worth, but it is unclear how strong that will be against the “sheer challenge” of leading a school in difficult circumstances.
Extra cash for wellbeing support
The government will also invest an extra £1 million a year in wellbeing support, giving up to 2,500 leaders a “confidential space” to build resilience strategies, revealed the white paper.
Schools Week understands the funding will extend an existing government contract run by Education Support, which provides professional supervision for heads, and was due to end next March. Education Support CEO Sinéad Mc Brearty welcomed the move.
In the charity’s latest teacher wellbeing index, 86 per cent of senior leaders reported stress, and 43 per cent had considered leaving the profession.
Mc Brearty said professional supervision helped heads perform their roles, and “contributes directly to reducing school leader attrition”.
But for real impact support must be consistent, reach leaders early, and sit alongside wider action on workload, accountability, and budgets, she added.
Whiteman said the support “could be an important step in the right direction”, but called for an entitlement to professional supervision for all leaders.
The government will also invest an extra £500,000 a year in an “improved” early headship coaching offer, expected to reach around 500 additional heads, especially in disadvantaged areas.
It will also create a new support offer for leaders, helping them access mentors and peer support networks.
However, information on these initiatives remain limited.
“We need to see further details of the plans,” said Whiteman.
The white paper also includes a pledge to review headteachers’ standards to ensure they “reflect key expectations for high-quality leadership”.
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