Why does a classroom teacher be seeking promotion? Why does a deputy head have to aspire to be a headteacher? These are important questions but they are ones that are rarely asked.

It is just assumed that this is the way things are - that individuals should naturally want to progress and be promoted throughout their career. We should ask instead: Why did you get into teaching? Now, for some people it will be the opportunity to manage and lead in an educational setting.

Some will believe that to be the best way that they can have an impact. But for most of us, it is the opportunity to teach, to inspire and to guide young people through their education in the classroom that is the big incentive and attraction of the profession. And therein lies the 'problem' with promotion.

The higher you go up the management ladder, the further away from the classroom you become. A great teacher does not make a great leader Typically, the teachers who are touted for promotion and encouraged to apply for positions are the best teachers.

However, although all teachers are managers and leaders (of their own classrooms), a great teacher does not necessarily make a great manager or leader of other teachers. Managing a diverse department takes a certain set of skills.

Being an outstanding practitioner in a particular subject is not enough.

Similarly, the step up from middle leadership to senior leadership can appear to be a relatively small one at times.

In reality, there can be a huge gulf - again calling for a different set of skills. Some get there (and manage) in time and through experience, but it is not a given that this will happen. Is seeking promotion the right thing? Again, it’s an important question but it’s one that all prospective candidates should ask themselves before seeking promotion.

It requires soul searching and complete honesty: Do I really want this job? Am I just applying because it is more money? Have I really got the skills required? Am I doing this because I think I should? Of course, for some people the progression from classroom teacher to middle leadership and onto senior leadership is completely natural and absolutely the right thing to do.

For many more, it won’t be.

It is better to be a brilliant classroom teacher rather than an average head of department.

It is better to be a solid assistant headteacher than an ineffective deputy headteacher. Seeking promotion is good, but it can cloud judgement sometimes.

Teachers who find themselves in roles that they never really wanted or aren’t really equipped for are doing no favours to anybody, least of all themselves. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that continued initiatives to keep the best teachers in the classroom have been largely unsuccessful.

Promotion, in whatever form, continues to take the best practitioners away from what they have proven to be excellent at, placing them in roles that they are totally unproven at. This is why seeking promotion is not always the right thing to do in teaching.