Outdated recruitment strategies and a reluctance to use private sector managers are major factors in the current leadership crisis across UK schools - and contribute to a system that fails one million children every day.

Bob Wicks, executive chairman of recruitment firm Select Education, has urged teaching bosses to overhaul the present recruitment system and open up the market to more candidates.

He says specialist private sector managers should be drafted into schools to help relieve the pressure on teachers and allow them to dedicate more time to children in the classroom.

“What is so galling about this catastrophic failing in the education sector is that the crisis, in secondary school leadership especially, could be dealt with now if a more radical approach to recruitment could be considered, such as the separation of management from teaching,” Wicks told Recruiter.

“In many cases, experienced managers drawn from the commercial world would better manage critical areas in schools. The academic development could then be left to those who know best: the teachers.”

A National Audit Office report released last month revealed that schools failed more than a million children every day, and Wicks said the current extent of the staffing crisis was feeding into these problems.

Appointing commercial managers would help alleviate some of the skills shortages across the industry, and Wicks believes it would also drive up standards in schools.

“The recruitment of head teachers, or rather school managers, from a much wider pool of talent is long overdue,” he said.

“We shouldn't allow traditional and petty lines of demarcation prevent the obvious solution to a serious problem.

“The current worn-out approach to school leadership cannot be defended and should not be tolerated one day longer.”

A separate study by specialist sector analyst Education Data Surveys found that recruitment difficulties are getting worse despite the introduction of higher salaries for head teachers.