Gender and headship in the twenty-first century

school. The encouragement of colleagues was particularly important for women
secondary heads who rated this ten per cent higher than any other group.

Table 8: Encouragement to apply for headship %

One of the most important sources of support in career terms is mentoring. In the
past it seemed that men as 'gatekeepers' were more likely to mentor other men both
formally and informally. In addition, the absence of women from senior roles both
denied role models to younger women and meant that there were less senior women
to mentor other women. Mentoring is generally regarded as vital to support women
to obtain senior roles in the most crucial middle stages of career progress in schools
(Hill and Ragland 1995, Gupton and Appelt Slick, 1996).

Overall, in 2004 about 60 per cent of the heads, both men and women, stated that
they had a mentor, and this figure is about the same as the 1990s. However, the
overall figure masks a real difference in the experience of the younger age groups.
The development of NPQH, Headlamp and other related initiatives which often
include having a mentor, seems to have made a mark, as mentoring is much more
likely to be mentioned amongst the younger heads who would have experienced
these initiatives. Over 90 per cent of the women secondary heads who are under 45
reported that they have had a mentor.

The fact that there is an imbalance between men and women in the secondary sector
means that male mentors are much more common for both men and women and the
same is true for men primary heads, but women primary heads are twice as likely to
be mentored by a woman as a man as there are so many more senior women in the
primary sector.

The most important source of encouragement and influence is a previous
headteacher, although the influence of the partner and family is strong, particularly
for women. Mentoring is important and has become more common for the younger
age groups of headteachers.

How can gender related barriers be overcome?

What lessons can be learnt from the experiences of the women and men
headteachers reported here?

Some of the points that follow are particularly relevant to younger women and men
who aspire to senior positions, some are more relevant to those already in senior
posts. All the points are relevant to those interested in gender equity.

Learning points

There are issues in relation to the views and attitudes particularly of some
governors and other members of interview panels who are biased in favour of
men in both secondary and primary headship and still discriminate against

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