Britain's Best Leaders Are Headteachers

A survey commissioned by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) in the UK, carried out by MORI, finds that headteachers are viewed as better leaders than any other group in Britain.

The survey shows that over half (52%) of British adults think headteachers provide particularly good examples of leadership. And headteachers top the poll by a long way. The next best leaders according to the survey are officers in the armed forces - 37% say they provide a good leadership example, closely followed by doctors and the police with 33% each
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Amongst the lowest scoring are local politicians (four per cent), health service managers (four per cent) and civil servants (three per cent).

But despite ranking heads as the country's best leaders, ironically the survey reveals respect for heads and the job they do is not as high as for doctors. Fifty-eight per cent say they have a great deal of respect for doctors while only 38% say the same of headteachers.

Among the lowest scoring are politicians, journalists and council officials.

The survey also shows considerable confidence in the way schools are run today with seven in ten parents (71%) saying they think that school leadership is good and nearly half (46%) saying school leadership has improved in the last three years.

Six out of ten people (59%) also say they think NCSL will help heads to do their job more effectively.

A nationally representative quota sample of 2,001 adults (aged 15 and over) was interviewed throughout Great Britain using the MORI general public Omnibus. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in respondents' homes, using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) between 20 and 25 February 2003.

NCSL was launched by the Prime Minister in November 2000. It aims to:

• provide a single national focus for school leadership development, research and innovation
  
• be a driving force for world class leadership in British schools and the wider community
  
• provide support to and be a major resource for school leaders
  
• stimulate national and international debate on leadership issues.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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