23 schools in one county have no permanent head teacher
MORE than 20 schools in one Welsh county are without a permanent head teacher as the crisis in recruitment across Wales grows.
The situation in Carmarthenshire is reflected in other parts of Wales and is bound to affect standards, a leading educationalist warned.
Carmarthenshire County Council confirmed that 23 schools have no permanent head teacher and are being led by acting heads.
Of those 23, a total of 13 schools share head teachers through what the council describes as “informal federation arrangements”.
Only one of the 23 schools has an appointment pending for a permanent head from September this year.
The figures come after an NAHT Cymru report last month revealed heads are under increasing pressure across Wales, dealing with everything from leaking roofs and power cuts to exam results as they struggle with dwindling budgets.
And last month’s annual report from Wales’ schools chief inspector, Meilyr Rowlands, warned that leadership in half of Wales’ schools is failing to raise education standards.
The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said heads are often taken away from the most important tasks by the challenge of running schools on increasingly tight funding.
The NAHT called on the Welsh Government, local authorities, regional consortia and heads to work out ways to ease the workloads of school leaders so they can concentrate on driving up teaching and learning standards.
Educationalist Professor David Egan, from Cardiff Metropolitan University, said research shows shortages of head teachers impact on pupils’ results.
“What we know is that leadership is absolutely critical. Teaching is the most important thing that happens in school and obviously leadership is critical in providing a basis for that,” he said.
“School leadership affects standards. The research is there that if you have not got leadership and leadership succession that has a big impact on staff morale and a worrying impact upon young people and their achievement. It is the uncertainty. If there is not leadership, people drift.”
Rob Williams, from the NAHT Cymru, said sharing head teachers was not a long-term solution and pressure of the job was putting some teachers off stepping up to take on headships.
“Some local authorities are looking at federating schools as a solution but such an approach should only be used for the benefit of pupils and not as an answer to head shortage.
“For a group of federated schools, you still need heads of each ‘campus’ with an executive head overseeing the group so we are not sure it either solves the recruitment issue nor any funding difficulties.”
Carmarthenshire County Council said it was looking at “innovative ways” to address the recruitment problem.
Executive board member for education Cllr Gareth Jones said: “School leadership is evolving and governing bodies with support from the local authority are looking at innovative ways to address this need.
“Many schools in Carmarthenshire are part of informal federations where they share a head teacher, while others engage the services of senior leaders from other schools to provide leadership.
“These arrangements have been highly effective in improving standards of teaching and learning and improving outcomes.”
A Welsh Government spokesman said: “It is the duty of governing bodies and local authorities to manage staffing requirements, including making appropriate arrangements for temporary cover.
“Leadership is a central part of our national mission of education reform and that is why the Education Secretary has established the National Academy of Educational Leadership and proposed new professional teaching and leadership standards.
“Our ambition is to provide all leaders with the right skills to benefit pupils and make sure schools can deliver the new curriculum and vision for education in Wales.”