In response to Education Data Surveys’ 22nd Annual Survey of Senior Staff Appointments in Schools in England and Wales, which highlights the growing difficulties many schools face in recruiting teachers to leadership posts, Patrick Nash, Chief Executive of Teacher Support Network, said:

“Teacher Support Network believes it is vital that in order to enable teachers to move into more senior roles, schools must provide them with the opportunity to develop themselves both personally and professionally throughout their careers.

“We believe that teachers need allocated time not only for their continuing professional development, but also for their personal development, for coaching and for mentoring. Through our work with thousands of teachers every year, Teacher Support Network has come to understand that professional development will be most successful when a teacher has considered their personal development at the same time.

“With the exception of our online and telephone-based support services, teachers often find that coaching and mentoring is hard to come by between the induction year and taking on a headship. But coaching and mentoring is far more effective if it exists consistently, throughout a career, rather than as something they dip in and out of, when problems loom.

“A teacher stepping into a leadership role with an understanding of coaching and mentoring is likely to be more effective in their relationships with other people and can themselves train to coach or mentor for others.

“In essence, what we are looking for is a change in policy which allows for career-long development of the whole person. With a growing focus on Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning for pupils it certainly seems common sense to also invest in this kind of development for the teachers of today who will become the headteachers of tomorrow.”