Today sees the launch of our middle leader report, About Time. As the title suggests, time (or lack of it) came through as a major issue for middle leaders. Respondents stated that they are being asked to do more in their role but are being given less dedicated time to do it.

One in three middle leaders reported that the amount of dedicated leadership release time they receive has decreased over the last three years. While more than 80% said their leadership responsibilities had increased over the same period. And the majority of respondents (67%) said they were allocated between zero and three hours per week of dedicated leadership time to carry out the role but spent an average of 16 hours per week on leadership-related tasks.

Other key findings included:

• Only 49% aspire to headship or system leadership
• Around a third are considering leaving the profession entirely
• Less than a third of respondents said they received any formal induction training
• 51% said additional pay was not a motivating factor in stepping up to middle leadership

The report has also put forward a number of recommendations for the government, schools, Ofsted and middle leaders to resolve some of the issues that have been identified. Recommendations include establishing induction processes for teachers new to middle leadership, a call to the government to address the funding crisis so that schools can pay for CPD and encouraging middle leaders to seek out opportunities for mentoring and support.

You can read the report in full here.