and 17 per cent of the primary women heads said that they had never formulated a
plan including headship. The proportion of men saying this was very small. In
contrast 25 per cent of both the secondary and primary men had decided early in
their career, at the point of entry to teaching, that they planned to be a head or
deputy compared to only about ten per cent of the women. Men are more likely than
women to rate the influence of their own teachers as important. There does seem to
be some evidence for men being more determined and more confident in their career
planning as they are more likely to set their sights on leadership from a relatively
early stage in their career and in this they appear to be supported by the
expectations of others such as their own teachers.
More men appear to think about their career earlier, but more women are appointed
to secondary headship at a younger age. What happens to women in secondary
schools in the middle of their career and in the emergent leader stage that brings this
about? What supports them towards headship? It does appear that once women do
make up their mind to think about headship - most typically when they have reached
a post of responsibility - they then make speedy progress. This may possibly be
associated with their children then being older and less dependent. Amongst the 272
secondary women headteachers that responded to the survey in 2004 there were
only 38 children under ten of which ten were under five. A woman secondary
headteacher with young children is therefore a relative rarity and it would seem that
many of those who do have children have had them earlier in their career, before
going for headship.
Despite the fact that women seem to be appointed to secondary headship younger
than male colleagues they still face negative attitudes about their relative youth, such
as those reported by a woman secondary head now in her late 40s:
I was constantly challenged by male colleagues in the early years of headship
and even described by a governor as 'a mere slip of a girl'. Members of the
local community expressed their doubts as to whether I would succeed in the
headship.
Women are less likely to plan their career from an early point and are more likely to
have doubts associated with achieving headship. These doubts relate to their
commitments as mothers and partners as well as to their confidence.
Confidence and doubting their ability to become a head
The belief that women lack confidence in relation to career planning is often cited (for
example, Shakeshaft, 1989). Although they were not directly asked whether they
rated themselves as confident, the heads were asked if they had ever doubted that
they would achieve headship. The responses showed that the male primary heads
were least likely to doubt that they would get a headship (61 per cent), perhaps
reflecting the fact that the odds for men primary school teachers of becoming a head
are relatively good. The most common reason for men and women doubting that they
would achieve headship were their experiences of rejection after applications. Many
of them also related their doubts to their own lack of career planning.
Overall, women in both primary and secondary schools were a little more likely than
their male colleagues to doubt their ability, see Table 7.
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