Do you know your ‘executive principal’ from your ‘head of school’?

Claire Heald, principal of the Jane Austen College in Norwich, which has a long waiting list less than two years after opening. Photo: Bill Smith (Image: Archant © 2014)

But over the last few years, other job titles have emerged: head of school, principal, executive headteacher, executive principal, chief executive. Why have the roles changed, and what do they actually mean?

It is no coincidence these new positions started appearing at the same time schools themselves were changing, and Tony Hull is a case in point.

He became a head in 1996, and won a national headteacher of the year award in 2010 as head of Costessey Junior and West Earlham Junior. He is now chief executive of the Evolution Academy Trust, which is based at Costessey Junior and has seven schools.

'A lot of parents expect to still see the headteacher walking around the playground and teaching every day, but those days have gone,' he said, adding that 'the role of leadership, no matter what it's called, has changed markedly over the last 10 years, and the last five in particular'.

One of the biggest changes is the rise of executive heads or executive principals, who oversee more than one school.

Mr Hull said: 'It's changed most because the number of schools does not equate to the number of headteachers available. They believe that by sharing a head with another school, they will get a better quality person, but that also trains up people beneath.

'When I was at Earlham, I was in charge, but when I was at Costessey, the two deputies were in charge. That was career progression, so that when they got a job, they have got the skills.

'I think it's a really positive thing. It's linking schools up, so they are not working in isolation. It brings a really good cross-over of professional development for staff.'

At Evolution, he tries to help school heads by taking away any responsibilities not directed related to teaching and learning, such as buildings and finance, although some heads want to know how they fit into the bigger picture.

For him, executive heads can be particularly attractive to smaller, rural schools, which could not afford to attract good leaders as single schools, and can offer more appealing career opportunities for ambitious heads.

In recent years, Norfolk County Council has actively encouraged such schools to form strong partnerships and federations, with shared heads and governors.

However, Mr Hull said some parents worry their school is deemed less important if it does not have its own head, and 'it breaks down because people don't understand why that head is not in that school'.

He added: 'We have always said the parents will know who is in charge of each school. It could be an executive principal, headteacher, or head of school. That's the person who parents would go to see. There needs to be a named person.'

Eaton Primary is a member of the Evolution Trust, and headteacher Allan Lowe said: 'The headteacher must always keep their eye on teaching and learning. There are many aspects of the role, but in the end headteachers must understand how to drive improvement in education. It's very easy as a headteacher to get distracted.'

For him, another benefit of executive heads and shared leadership is helping to keep talent within the teaching profession.

But in the evolving world of schools grouping together in federations, cooperatives or academy trusts, the roles themselves are evolving too.

Mr Hull says an academy trust has to have someone in a chief executive role, but what that position involves will change as the trust grows.

With four or five schools, he says the chief exec could also be an executive head.

In his position as chief executive of a trust with seven schools, he can visit them and know them well individually, but if Evolution grew to 15 schools, his role would change, and he would envisage others below him increasingly stepping up into trust-wide roles.

What skills do these roles need?

'I would allege that the success is based on your drive to achieve that inner vision you have, coupled with acute people skills.'