The days of the “hero head”, who manages everything in a school from hiring staff to ordering books, could be numbered, according to a report which suggests that business leaders with no classroom experience could run schools.

Leaders with a classroom background would still be required for teaching and learning, but there was no reason why they should not report to a principal or chief executive, responsible for overall strategy and non-academic operations.

The report, prepared for the Government by the consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers, follows fears of an impending shortage of head teachers and concerns that workloads, bureaucracy and over-regulation were deterring deputies from applying for headships.

Although ministers deny there is a recruitment problem, they acknowledge that the job of leading a school is now so complicated that a new, “modern” approach is needed.One of the biggest barriers to reform identified by the report is the “hero head” perception, among teachers, parents and heads themselves, which presupposes that for big decisions, “only the head will do”. Distributing leading responsibilities among a team was often more effective, it concluded.

The report recommends that schools consider new types of leadership: a federated model brings groups of schools under one “super-head”; a multi- agency model has schools run by a team that includes teachers and staff from other agencies, such as health and social care. Schools could also be clustered into groups, with heads rotated from school to school.

The structure of governing bodies should also be changed, the report says, suggesting the creation of “meta-governors” working across a number of schools in a locality. It also recommended greater flexibility in the rewards offered to heads. As well as increasing the pay differential between heads and other staff, it suggests allowing heads to take time off during term time.

Teaching unions were divided over the findings. John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was not opposed to non-teachers being brought into certain school leadership roles: “The possibility should be opened up that the best of school leaders who are not qualified teachers — the bursars and business managers — should be able to come through to the top job, provided that the person in charge of teaching and learning is a qualified teacher.”

But Steve Sinnott, the gen- eral secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “The primary purpose of schools is to educate pupils, not to be commercial organisations. Head teachers have told the Government they do not believe that those without teaching experience can run our schools.”

Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said that the report’s recommendations would be discussed with the teaching and support staff unions before any action was taken. The National College of School Leadership would be given £10 million to support its strategy to help to identify future head teachers and cut the time that it takes to qualify, he said.

Times recommends

• Students abandon the drink for gyms and juice
• Ofsted: third of Baby P-style reviews inadequate
• Top boys' school picks first woman head