Recruitment and Retention of Senior School Leaders in Wales

Main points

• However, maintaining the supply of school leaders in Wales and across the UK is challenging, a situation that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is some evidence that fewer middle leaders are aspiring to become senior leaders and headteachers (NAHT, 2021), and that more teachers are leaving the profession following the pandemic (Zuccollo, 2022). These supply issues will ultimately affect pupils’ experiences and outcomes.
• In this context, this research aims to broaden and deepen the existing evidence base on the challenges in recruitment and retention of senior school leaders in Wales, and how those challenges could be addressed. To this end, this study aims to answer the following set of Research Questions:

• To what extent does existing data demonstrate a shortage of senior school leaders in Wales?
• What are the key factors impacting recruitment and retention of senior school leaders in Wales, as perceived by current, former and potential ‘future’ leaders?
• How do these factors vary by types of posts or by workforce characteristics?
• How are senior school leadership roles perceived by current, former and potential ‘future’ senior school leaders?
• What policies do current, former and potential ‘future’ senior leaders perceive to be effective in improving recruitment and retention?

To explore these questions, we take a mixed-methods approach. This research is based on a review of existing quantitative data on the supply of senior school leaders in Wales, as well as qualitative research with school leaders, to explore their views and priorities in relation to recruitment and retention. We conducted:

• 28 interviews with senior school leaders, including 19 current and 9 former senior leaders;
• 2 focus groups with 3 or 4 potential ‘future’ senior leaders in each, including middle leaders and teachers;
• Scoping calls with stakeholders from 9 Local Authorities (LAs);
• 2 co-design workshops with school leaders, stakeholders from the National Academy for Educational Leadership, and Local Authority (LA) stakeholders.

A key objective of this research it to set out strategic policy proposals, co-created with school leaders and other relevant stakeholders, that could help address some of the identified challenges and that are relevant, practical and achievable, with the potential to secure broad support. These proposals will inform the National Academy for Educational Leadership’s policy work around Strategic Workforce Development.