§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many vacancies there were for head teachers in(a) primary and (b) secondary schools between (i) June 1998 and June 1999 and (ii) June 1999 and June 2000. [130011]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 11 July 2000]: Information about the annual number of vacancies for head teachers is not collected centrally.
Temporarily filled vacant head teacher posts1in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in England at January in the years 1998–20002 LEA maintained only3 All maintained 1998 1999 2000 Temporarily filled vacant head teacher post Nursery and primary 470 400 390 Secondary 60 50 90 Temporarily filled vacant head teacher posts as a percentage of head teachers in post Nursery and primary 2.5 2.2 2.1 Secondary 1.8 1.6 2.2 1Temporarily-filled full-time permanent appointments. A post is included in this table: a. if there is no incumbent who is expected to return to the post; b. whether or not filled on a temporary basis, i.e. either without a contract or on a contract of less than one year; c. whether or not advertised; d. if an appointment has been made but not yet taken up. 2Data are collected in January of each year. 3Excludes vacancies in grant maintained schools. Head teachers have a key role in boosting standards in schools. We are establishing a National College for School Leadership to give a focus to school leadership 554W development, and are designing a coherent package of training and development programmes for aspiring, new and serving head teachers.