It is becoming increasingly recognised that women are not represented in the senior management area of secondary schools in the proportion that their numbers warrant. Government, local authorities and professional associations have drawn attention to the fact and have put forward suggestions, and in some areas have set schemes in motion, to increase female participation in the education service at this level.
It is the purpose of this study to try to discover the reasons for women's under-representation in the higher echelons of secondary school management. Many secondary sources have been used to provide the historical and sociological background, in an effort to assess the effect of sex stereotyping, co-education and early socialisation on the aspirations of women in their careers.
The empirical research has been provided by the views, obtained by questionnaire and interview, of 120 teachers of Scale 3 status and above from four urban comprehensive schools. In examining their views on factors affecting promotion and on leadership ideology it has been possible to link theory with practice and to assess the difference between men and women in their attitudes, in their qualificatio
