The threat to the National College for School Leadership comes from the National Association of Head Teachers, itself a big provider of such training. It says proposed reforms of Headlamp (the training programme for newly appointed heads) are prescriptive and warns against courses being made compulsory.

General secretary David Hart said heads needed a far wider choice of training opportunities than those proposed in the college’s framework document. And any attempt to discriminate between or favour particular training providers “could result in legal action being taken against the college”.

But Heather du Quesnay, the college’s chief executive, insisted it was not trying to control the training market, but wanted to fill “real gaps” in what was on offer.

In a similar vein, the Secondary Heads’ Association says it opposes plans to make new heads spell out how they are spending their Headlamp money. But overall it gives a warmer welcome to the framework, and particularly to proposals to improve the quality of training by accrediting providers.

The two biggest classroom unions feel the college should focus on heads’ “people” skills. Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, claimed a “highly significant” proportion of heads were not up to the job of performance-managing staff, and were “secretive, vindictive and incompetent”.

The National Union of Teachers also emphasised the need to encourage women into school management.