Worry about staff recruitment was the main concern of secondary school headteachers last year, while their colleagues in primary education were more concerned about budgets, according to the results of an annual survey.

The 2007 survey of trends in education, published by the NFER also revealed that more secondary school heads were worried about pupil behaviour than primary school heads in the 12 months leading up to the report.

Primary school heads were more concerned about the impact of school inspections than their colleagues in secondaries. But heads from both sectors agreed that if their budgets were increased by 5% they would spend the extra money on recruiting more classroom and welfare assistants.

66% of the primary school heads who took part in the survey said they had plans to develop extended services.

Some 21% of secondary schools and 14% of primary schools admitted they did not have a policy in place for supporting and promoting the academic achievements of this group of pupils, it showed.