British primary-school head teachers are becoming increasingly concerned about staffing, a survey shows.

The proportion of head teachers polled by the National Foundation for Educational Research who said it was one of their three biggest concerns jumped to 41 per cent in 2000, from 29 per cent in 1999.

The size of their budgets continued to be the top priority but fewer heads were worried about money in 2000 - 53 per cent said it was at the top of their lists, down from a high of 75 per cent in 1996.

Those changes were recorded before the current controversy over teacher shortages, which has led to industrial action by the two largest unions. Members have refused to cover for unfilled posts or absences of longer than three days.