Headship certificate made tougher

Applicants will face a two-day assessment of their readiness

The qualification that head teachers in England must have is being made tougher - just as vacancies are increasing.

The change by the National College for School Leadership to try to ensure that only those set on headship apply.

It says that of the 30,000 or so who have been on the course, only just over a third have actually become heads.

It also says the role has changed since the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) was devised in 2001 and an update was needed.

The college's chief executive, Steve Munby, said there was a concern that it was becoming a general leadership development programme - and it was too inflexible.

In a pilot programme starting this month, aspiring head teachers will have to undertake a placement in a school unlike their own.

Competence and confidence

There will be a greater focus on big government initiatives such as the new Children's Plan and personalised learning.

More of the course will be online.

The director leading the process, Jane Doughty, said: "We want to maintain and improve the flow of high quality graduates into headship, so our re-designed programme focuses on ensuring that graduates will have the competence and confidence to apply for headship as soon as they have finished the qualification.

"We anticipate individuals will take between four to 12 months to graduate depending on their personalised needs."

But the flow of school leaders out of the profession is rising as the Baby Boom generation retires.

Some fear that making the qualification harder to obtain might restrict the pool of available talent at just the wrong time.

'Sharper'

Prof John Howson of Education Data Surveys said the college had a dangerous balancing act to perform.

"They could actually end up with a shortage of people with NPQH," he told the Times Educational Supplement.

"What they must not do with this relaunch is to make the recruitment situation worse."

But the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, John Dunford, said it warmly welcomed the redesigned programme.

"The sharper, more personalised content has been developed in consultation with the profession to meet the needs of tomorrow's head teachers," he said.

"It will give the next generation of heads an excellent foundation on which to start their careers."