The sustainability of the school leadership workforce is an increasing concern for researchers, policy makers and school leaders themselves. In this seminar I will present early findings from the secondary data strand of an ESRC-funded comparative study of sustainable school leadership across the UK seeking to understand how the UK nations recruit, train and retain school leaders. The focus will be emerging findings from analysis of the School Workforce Census data in England (2010 to 2022). I will provide an overview of the demographic composition of the senior school leader workforce, the changing role and circumstances of headship, and how these vary by context, location and over time. I will also provide preliminary results of analyses of senior school leader turnover and career progression, exploring how these have changed over the period and the personal, structural and geographical factors associated with each. The results will be discussed in connection with emerging findings from the wider mixed methods research project, outlining the key themes, issues and policy priorities for strengthening and sustaining the senior school leader workforce.

Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/81676896885?pwd=aHh0b0J0aDh0eEZUZVc3R1ZJaG5Kdz09