Schools in Bradford could face a leadership crisis as workloads mount on head teachers across the district.

Union leaders and heads have spoken out in the wake of a nationwide poll which claims only four per cent of teachers want to take on the top job within the next five years.

The findings have been published by the General Teaching Council in England, the profession's regulatory body. It has warned that schools will soon struggle to fill 40 per cent of head teacher vacancies.

Ian Murch, Bradford branch secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said he believed the number of vacancies for headships in Bradford was "above the national average".

"We are aware certainly that headships, particularly in inner-city schools, are very difficult to fill," said Mr Murch.

"It's partly down to the fact that most teachers do not want to be head teachers due to the nature of the job, the enormous amount of statistical work that has to be carried out for the Government, the paperwork, and running the school like a business.

"A large school can probably afford to employ a bursar to carry out this work but in smaller schools and primary schools, the head teacher would have to take on this role."

Gloria Gott, head teacher at St John's Primary in Bierley, said there were "many reasons" for the shortfall.

"Workloads, Government initiatives, standards and league tables and the litigious society we live in are all responsible."

Nigel Cooper, chairman of the Bradford Secondary School Heads' Association, said the information collected in the survey was related to "what is going on on the ground in schools". According to Bradford Council four of the district's 209 schools - three primary schools and one secondary school - had deputy head teachers acting as head teachers.

There was only one school with a vacancy for a head teacher which was a new special school where the recruitment process had yet to begin.

Anthony Mugan, head of Bradford Council's education client team, said: "We don't experience unusual levels of difficulties in recruiting for head teachers, although individual schools can sometimes need to re-advertise in order to find a suitable candidate as these are key posts, and very demanding jobs."

A spokesman for the DfES in Yorkshire and the Humber, said: "Head vacancies have remained low and stable for some years now.

"Less than one per cent of schools at anyone time will have a head vacancy, and even then there will always be an acting or temporary head in place. No school should ever be without a head.

"We recognise that leading a school is a rewarding but also challenging role.

"To ease the burden on heads, along with record per pupil funding, we have given multi-year budgets to help them plan ahead, given guaranteed headship time and slashed the bureaucratic burden on schools."

e-mail: dan.webber@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

DJ JOHNNIE HELPS PUPILS' HEAD SEARCH

A CD created by youngsters at a tiny Craven school in the hope of attracting a new headteacher has been aired on national radio.

Johnnie Walker, pictured right, who was sitting in for Terry Wogan on Radio 2 last week, played the music produced by Kettlewell Primary School pupils.

Four of the youngsters approached local music producer Richard Dover with their idea a month ago. He gave them a base tune to set their hip-hop theme to and they went off to write the lyrics.

The single, called A New Headteacher Is What We Need, explains what the youngsters want from a new headteacher for their 23-pupil school and what the village of Kettlewell will offer in return.