Headteachers across England are becoming younger, with the number of female heads also increasing, data from the Training and Development Agency for Schools suggested today.

The body responsible for training teachers said since 2004 it had seen a 38 per cent rise in the number of teachers under 45 reaching the top, with a 35 per cent surge in the number of women becoming secondary school heads in the past decade.

Women made up 70 per cent of the teaching workforce and filled 67 per cent of head and deputy head posts, the TDA said, while existing figures showed that despite comprising 60 per cent of the British workforce, women occupied only one in eight (12.5 per cent) senior management positions in the top 100 British companies.

It said just under a third (30 per cent) of career-changers interested in becoming teachers already had previous management experience.

Graham Holley, TDA chief executive, said: “There aren’t enough women in boardrooms across the country. But once again, the teaching profession is ahead of the trend.

“More and more teachers are entering the profession with a wide range of career experience.”