Senior leaders
The publication includes senior leaders at state-funded schools in England. We follow the same definitions of senior leadership as defined in the School Workforce Census, and report on Assistant Head teachers, Deputy Head teachers, and Head teachers (including executive Head teachers employed by a School). The number of teachers are reported as headcount and do not account for full-time equivalents.
Senior leaders who are in centrally employed leadership roles within an Academy Trust are not included in this analysis as they are not in scope of the School Workforce Census. Similarly, it is more likely there will be missing data for executive leaders working across multiple schools (academies or LA maintained), if no individual school reports them. As such, these data only reflect retention of senior leaders within schools as reported in the School Workforce Census; we would expect retention rates for Head teachers within the whole state-funded sector (including central and executive leadership positions) to be higher. We expect this to be more prevalent with Head teachers in secondary schools but may affect all levels of senior leadership.
Middle leaders
Teachers with middle leadership roles are not included in this publication. In previous published School Workforce Census analysis (opens in new tab), middle leadership roles were defined as teachers who receive a Teaching and Learning Responsibility payment above £100 or had a defined role or post such as Head of Department or Head of Year. However, we now know that the information used to identify middle leaders within the School Workforce Census is reported inconsistently, making the identification and, therefore, the retention of these teachers less reliable than for other leaders.
New to post
The publication determines a teacher is “new to post” if they are in a senior leadership position in the School Workforce Census, and were not in the same level of senior leadership post in the previous school workforce census, or were not present in the previous census year. To be included as “new to post”, teachers must be on a permanent contract, and must be under 50 years of age at the time of entering their leadership position. This is to exclude teachers who are on temporary contracts, and those who may leave teaching due to retirement. A leader moving between school phases at the same leadership level is not counted as new to post as they have remained the same level of seniority.
Retention at the same post or higher within the same school phase
For the purposes of this analysis, “retention” is defined as the proportion of teachers who were employed in subsequent years in a role of the same leadership level or higher, and in the same school phase, as recorded by the School Workforce Census.
Teachers are counted as being retained at the same post or higher if they are present in a given census year, and are also present in subsequent years of the school workforce census at the same or a higher leadership role and in the same school phase (primary or secondary). Retention is counted for up to the 5 years after a teacher is new to post.
For example, if a teacher was new to post as an assistant head teacher in year 1, and was promoted to a deputy head teacher the following year, this teacher is counted as being retained at the same post or higher in the assistant head figures from year 1 and would also appear in the deputy head figures from year 2.
Retention at the same post or higher can be in non-consecutive censuses, so if a teacher does not appear in a census one year, but then returns to the census the following year, they are counted as being retained for the years which they are present, even if there are years where they are not present in between. For the year which they do not appear in the census, they are not counted as being retained, but the following year which they do appear in the census, they are counted as being retained for that year. Leaders who move between school phases are not counted as being retained, and are not counted as “new to post” either, but would become new to post if they move between phases and also change leadership level.
Retention at any teaching post within the same school phase
Teachers are counted as being retained within the same school phase if they are new to a leadership post in a census year, and present in subsequent years of the school workforce census at any teaching role (including a lower leadership role or a non-leadership teaching role) and still within the same school phase. Retention is counted for up to 5 years after a teacher is new to post.
For example, if a teacher was new to post as a deputy head, and appeared as an assistant head or a classroom teacher in the same school phase in the next census, they would be counted as being retained within the same school phase but would not be counted as retained at the same post or higher.
If a secondary school head teacher moves to become a deputy head teacher at a primary school, they would not be counted as retained at post or higher or at any post within the same school phase, as they have left the secondary school phase.
Retention within the same school phase can be in non-consecutive censuses, so that a teacher may not appear in a census one year, but then return to the census the following year. For the year which they do not appear in the census, they are not counted as being retained, but the following year which they do appear in the census, they are counted as being retained for that year. Leaders who move between school phases are not counted as being retained, and are not counted as “new to post” either, but would become new to post if they move between phases and also change leadership level.