Headteacher crisis to hit Wolverhampton schools as dozens of leaders retire

Council bosses are now desperately trying to train senior staff to be able to step up to the roles.

In total, 43 headteachers will reach the early retirement age of 55 by 2020.

Approval has been given to use £299,600 of funding from the Local Education Partnership in 2015/16 for a training and development programme to transform the leadership of city schools. The figure includes £124,440 to bring in specialist headteacher trainers from Edge Hill University, Lancashire.

Wolverhampton's cabinet member for education, Councillor Claire Darke said: "The funding is from the LEP so it's not part of the council budget and it is for supporting development of our staff.

"The headteachers that we have got are nearer retirement than not.

"It is difficult to draw new people into Wolverhampton, we have decided to develop the people that we have got here. We are looking to train our department heads and other senior staff within our schools so they can move up and be the heads of our schools in the future.

"It is about developing the staff we have got and developing their skills so they can take on headships later.

"In the next five years, 47 per cent of our current headteachers are due to retire - that is an awful lot of them.

"That is quite a lot of our headteachers that could potentially retire and so that will leave a big hole in our headteaching.

"Of course there will be a huge recruitment demand on us so we are thinking of growing our own and training our own to fill that gap.

"It is about improving leadership and improving schools and improving the whole offer that we have got in our schools."

Asked why it was difficult to draw people to Wolverhampton, Councillor Darke said: "I think there is a big draw to London and Wolverhampton, like many places, isn't top of the list of places to go to work."

In May, a national survey revealed that two thirds of schools are struggling to recruit teachers, particularly in vital subjects like English and maths.

The findings, published by the National Association of Head Teachers, came amid growing concerns about a crisis in the recruitment and retention of school staff. In total, 62.4 per cent of the more than 1,000 NAHT members surveyed said they had faced difficulty recruiting classroom teachers, while a similar proportion, 61.8 per cent, had struggled to find teachers on the upper pay scale – those more senior members of staff.

Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw has also previously warned that teacher recruitment is a pressing issue, with not enough new staff joining the profession and good entrants not always going to the schools where they are most needed.

In June, it was revealed that more than £1 million was spent on agency staff in primary schools across Wolverhampton over the last academic year.

The figures relate to 2013/14 and show that casual teachers and admin workers were brought into 52 primary and nursery schools in the city.

Wolverhampton council spent almost £600,000 with just three agencies, while the biggest expense on any single school was £71,000.

The figures do not include academies, which are run independently. Teachers' union leaders branded the expense a waste of taxpayers' money, but council bosses said the staff were necessary to cover temporary absences.