Gender and headship in the twenty-first century

Most men and women deputies spend under five years in the role, but more women
than men in the secondary sector spend between five and ten years as a deputy.

In past studies (McBurney and Hough, 1989, Singleton, 1993) there have been
considerable differences in the areas of responsibility held by men and women
deputies in secondary schools leading to a very gendered distribution of roles in co-
ed schools where women tended to be given pastoral responsibilities and men
responsibility for curriculum. That difference is now diminishing. In the 1990s the
gaps in experience were smaller, but still applied with a marked tendency for men to
have had experience in the important area of curriculum (Coleman, 2002).

Table 5: Secondary headteachers - specialism as a deputy %

In 2004 (see Table 5) there was little difference in the experiences of men and
women deputy heads, with 82 per cent of the men and 76 per cent of the women
having curriculum responsibility as deputies. There were still some differences in the
area of finance though, with 36 per cent of the men and only 20 per cent of the
women having deputy experience in this area. There was a similar difference in the
experience of male and female primary headteachers. In both primary and
secondary schools, specialisation in finance is relatively unusual, although claimed
by more men than women. Perhaps the growing importance of bursars means that
the specialist handling of finance is less likely to be the responsibility of a deputy
head, particularly a female one.

In the secondary sector, it may be that changes in structure have allowed women to
take on more varied roles. Where management responsibility is given for key stages
rather than dividing curriculum and pastoral the key stage dimensions could allow
individuals of either sex to obtain experience of both curriculum and pastoral. It may
also be that women have 'wised up' to the need to have curriculum experience and to
therefore be making sure that they get it.

It is clear that the distinction and gender stereotyping in senior management and
leadership roles in secondary schools that existed in previous studies in the 1980s
and 1990s is now much reduced. Men and women secondary deputy heads are
having similar experience. The days when women were automatically expected to
take on the pastoral role in secondary schools appear to have passed, although
some of the comments of women heads did hark back to this earlier experience.

In the primary sector, a small number of men commented on the difficulties faced by
men in working with the younger age groups of children because of stereotypes
related to this being women's work, or concern about child protection issues.

Some of the issues relating to gender differences in promotion have been related to
differential expectations of men and women about careers, for example career
breaks, career planning and women having less confidence than men in making
applications.

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