A new survey has revealed a looming shortage of of headteachers

Schools face a major shortage of headteachers in the next five years, a survey found.

Only four per cent of teachers are considering applying for promotion to replace thousands of heads who are set to retire by 2011, the General Teaching Council for England (GTC) research said.

The survey found 34 per cent of heads are expecting to leave the profession in the next five years, with some blaming poor pupil behaviour and the stress of the job.

Women in particular are not taking on headships as they prioritise caring for their families over their careers, the survey found.

The GTC warned that many schools were already having problems recruiting headteachers and the shortage was set to get worse.

GTC chief executive Carol Adams told The Guardian: "Current efforts to address the issue must be intensified.

"This includes developing leadership skills and talents from early on in teachers' careers and emphasising the collegial aspects of leadership, rather than the superman' image of the male head who takes everything on his shoulders."

The survey also found that teachers remained deeply hostile to two key aspects of Government policy - school league tables and privately sponsored city academies.

Only three per cent of teachers named the academy initiative as a policy that is helping schools to improve education, while just over one in ten - 12 per cent - cited league tables.

Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said he was struck by how few staff wanted to become heads.

"The Government should be thinking about how it can make leadership of our schools more attractive," he said.

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "We recognise that leading a school is a rewarding, challenging role and that is why we are paying heads in inner London up to a six-figure salary from this September.

"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.

"Through the National College for School Leadership, we will continue to develop strong school leaders with the necessary skills to help us achieve our objective of raising school standards.

"We make absolutely no apology for taking action to ensure that local children can receive the best education possible. Academies are replacing schools which have often failed their pupils for generations.

"Standards in academies are improving faster than the national average and there are three applications for every place."

The GTC received survey responses from 3,665 teachers.