Ministers say there is no recruitment problem but improvements are possible. Ministers commissioned consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers to look at the issues around the job of head teacher last year. Their report, due out on Thursday, is expected to say that so-called "hero heads" cannot do everything and that responsibilities should be shared more widely. There will be a need for increased expertise in areas such as finance, human resources, collaboration and project management.

Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said head teachers were given an "unending task" because of government initiatives but recruiting from outside the profession was not the answer. "Moves to divorce the leadership of schools from teaching and learning and replacing heads with chief executives will make things worse," he said. "If we are to avoid a severe crisis in recruiting new heads, the government must recognise its responsibility for creating the head teacher recruitment crisis."

A source at the Department for Education and Skills said: "Head teacher vacancy rates are low and stable, remaining below 1% of the workforce. We have also slashed bureaucracy in schools and given heads record salaries.

"However, this report highlights a number of areas where improvements can be made and positives can be built on. "This is about looking at what is needed in the future as schools evolve to become the centre of the community, opening evenings and weekends and through the holidays, offering adult education, childcare and other services to the surrounding area."

The suggestions from the report would be discussed with unions and other school representatives, officials said.

According to a new study for the NUT, teachers are put off from applying for headships by "excessive demands", bureaucracy, external interference and over-regulation. Money was also an issue, especially in primary schools, with responsibilities not being matched by salaries.

The report said: "The government should look to itself and ask whether its reforming zeal and policy of pressure from the centre is in the best interests of our schools. "The crisis, if there be one, seems to us to be government-made."

There was little support for moves towards federating groups of schools under one "super head". A majority of those questioned for the NUT report believed the line of responsibility would be confused.

Leaders of head teachers' unions were divided in their reaction to the idea of non-teachers leading schools. Mick Brookes of the National Association of Head Teachers told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "We have no objection whatsoever to people who are outside the education arena working with school teams, indeed being school leaders in charge of schools.

"But we think the direction should still come from somebody who has that deep base and understanding about how schools work how children learn and those skills of teaching that you can only get by doing the job."

The Association of School and College Leaders had proposed the idea to PricewaterhouseCoopers. "We were not saying that people can be brought in from industry to run schools," said its general secretary, John Dunford.

"But 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."

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