19,000 more school leaders needed by 2022, report finds

A report has suggested English school’s will need up to 19,000 more school leaders by 2022 unless more teachers and leaders are supported to take on these roles.

The report, The School Leadership Challenge: 2022, was compiled by three education leadership organisations – The Future Leaders Trust, Teaching Leaders and Teach First.

Its aim was to investigate the extent and causes of the current challenges in school leadership development, progression and retention and outlines solutions the three charities will pursue to address the challenge.

The report predicts that the need for more leaders may be caused by the growth of MATs, an increase in pupil numbers, and school leaders retiring or leaving early.

The three organisations propose to expand their existing work to develop school leaders and explore new solutions to tackle these predicted challenges.

The report found that challenges include: potential applicants not being effectively incentivised to apply; recruitment and placement practice being inconsistent; limited leadership development opportunities and leaders not getting the support that would keep them in role.

The report makes four recommendations: Develop a new generation of school leaders by supporting career progression; Explore expanding the pool of candidates for non-teaching executive roles to those outside the profession; Support leaders more effectively and provide clear career pathways; Build positive perceptions of school leadership to encourage more teachers to step-up.