Drowning or waving? Coping strategies among Scottish head teachers

Abstract

In the year 2007 in Scotland, in common with countries elsewhere in the world, the difficulty of recruiting high-calibre school leaders was becoming an increasing concern. The recruitment and retention study, commissioned by the Scottish Government and undertaken by three universities (Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow), was charged with exploring the reasons for the shortfall of appropriate applicants. The study involved a national survey of teachers and head teachers, discussions with local authority administrators and follow-up interviews with a sample of respondents. The study identified on the one hand a common core of ‘satisfiers’ and ‘dissatisfiers’ of headship together with incentives and disincentives to apply for the job. A range of strategies adopted to cope with the pressures of the job illustrate the degree to which individuals respond by simply drowning in excessive paperwork and multiple accountabilities or are able to be adventurous and risk-taking with an ability to ‘fly below the radar’.

Keywords:

• recruitment
• retention
• policy
• well-being
• stress
• intensification