The prospect of head teacher posts being removed from all East Neuk primary schools is the result of “negligence” from the Scottish Government, a Fife councillor has claimed.
Labour councillor Colin Davidson said the “chronic shortage of candidates” was, in part, the reason behind proposals which could see individual head teacher posts removed from primary schools in the coastal towns and replaced with one ‘superhead’ instead.
Councillor Davidson, who represents the Leven, Kennoway and Largo ward, argues that more needs to be done to attract candidates to fill these posts and says the Labour group on Fife Council will “not support the proposals in their current form”.
Lack of head teachers known for years
In a paper presented to Fife Council’s Education & Children’s Services Sub-Committee in September last year, education officers outlined that the local authority were struggling to recruit headteachers as far back as 2016.
The paper detailed how an “extensive review” on school leadership conducted six years ago found “it was clear there was a shortage of high-quality candidates coming forward to apply for head teacher posts”, particularly in primary schools.
See plans for ‘Model A’ below:
Mr Davidson, a qualified teacher and past president of the EIS Fife branch, says this is not a problem unique to Fife but rather a Scotland-wide issue that stems from government policy.
He said: “I think it’s a negligence on the part of the Scottish Government and us trying to implement a policy like this is supporting that negligence.
“The Scottish Government should be investing in the training of potential head teachers and making the role one that is worth going for.
“They need to look at why people are not coming forward to be head teachers rather than creating situations where we put depute head teachers in, ask them to do a head teacher’s job and pay them less money.”
See plans for ‘Model B’ below:
Why the lack of head teacher candidates?
A number of factors attributing to the head teacher shortage were outlined last year’s committee paper.
These included a large number of head teacher retirements, a “reduction in management time” which made the post of head teacher “less attractive” and an increase in workload.
See plans for ‘Model C’ below:
Mr Davidson added: “They have been asked to do far too much and they don’t get the support and training necessary.
“I think we need to be looking at a review of how we encourage people to go into management and education and putting facilities in place that allows them to become head teachers – that’s lacking.”
‘Record high’ on programme for aspiring head teachers
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The number of prospective school leaders enrolling on the Scottish Government funded Into Headship programme hit a record high of 273 in 2021.
“The reconvened Headteacher Recruitment Working Group will continue to consider issues relating to the recruitment and retention of school leaders.
“School organisation is a matter for local authority employers to determine.”
