When I recall the teaching methods employed during my formative years, it still sends a shudder of pain through my body.

One day, the head of Our Lady of St Bede at Stockton heard some talking in class and decided to teach the miscreant a lesson. He had a rough idea where the noise came from so he promptly caned six boys - confident the chatterbox would be among the wounded.

It was one of many such whacks I received and illustrates how much the job of a headteacher has changed over the years.

The head's role used to be to instil discipline and teach children to read and write before shepherding them to the door of the waiting heavy industries, such as the mines, shipyards, steel or chemical plants.

Now, many such employers have disappeared and school leavers can expect to change their occupation several times during their working life.

They will also be expected to leave with qualifications and to top up those qualifications over the years.

So how can we judge if a head teacher is up to scratch?

Comparing the exam success of different schools is unfair and simply expecting a school to improve pass rates annually is also flawed - all organisations have bad years from time to time.

I believe one of the best judgements as to whether a head is on top of their job is how their prediction of exam results compares with reality.

I am aware of a school where the head teacher's prediction was 40 per cent higher than what actually transpired and that is deeply concerning.

If a company chairman made such an error with profit forecasts the shareholders would quickly be on his case and we should expect similar standards within the public sector.

I firmly believe that the managerial skills of those in charge of our schools, their ability to lead and motivate, are as important as their teaching skills.

That doesn't mean teachers cannot aspire to be heads. They can but they must show leadership qualities to get the job, not simply work for many years at a particular school.

Similarly, we shouldn't close our minds to the possibility of a proven manager, who has never taught, becoming a headteacher.

In Middlesbrough we have a city academy which has come in for some criticism because it excluded 27 pupils last year - far more than anywhere else in the town and possibly among the highest in the country.

I understand why this high rate concerns and annoys some people.

Removing disruptive pupils ensures their poor exam results don't bring down the school average and also ensures they don't disrupt other pupils and affect their grades.

In addition, the academy keeps the money it has been paid by the Government at the beginning of the year to teach the now excluded pupil.

So it is another school that has to pick up the pieces and the local education authority that has to pick up the bill.

But a high exclusion rate may be necessary in the short term. The academy has a new head and he may be establishing a line that must not be crossed.

If we expect our head teachers to be managers then we have to give them a chance to manage.