Career Trajectories of Deputy and Assistant Headteachers and Their Perceptions of Secondary Headship

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The headship crisis

I have been very interested in examining the Headship crisis in England.  Developments in education policy over the last 30 years have led to significant changes in the Headship role and school leadership in England.  Although there is now a considerable body of research about Headship, the careers and experiences of Deputy and Assistant Headship in England remain under-researched. Further educational concerns include the increase in graduates leaving the teaching profession, meeting the needs of those in special education provisions, school exclusions and diversity in school leadership structures.

My research at the University of Birmingham examined the career trajectories of 14 Deputy and Assistant Headteachers and their perceptions of Headship in secondary schools in Birmingham, England.  A two-phase, mixed-method study (survey and semi-structured life history interviews) was employed as part of an explanatory sequential design.  The research drew on previous work in life-history studies notably Ribbins, (1997; 2003), Gronn (1999), Oplatka and Tamir (2009) and Smith (2011) along with career phases and anchors research forwarded by Schein (1971; 1978; 1996).  I developed a model which draws on Putnam’s (2000) distinction between bonding and bridging social capital. The findings from this study add new insights to the senior leadership role and the perception of Headship and tentatively suggests that Deputy and Assistant Headteachers lean towards displaying mainly Bonder, Bridger or Leaver characteristics that contribute to the critical decisions made in their career journeys.

Career Trajectories of Deputy and Assistant Headteachers and Their Perceptions of Secondary Headship

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