Head teachers need to be given more time to turn the fortune of a school around.

The teaching profession currently suffers from a lack of confidence, with many people in teaching jobs not wishing to take the step up to a head position due to the perceived career suicide of being in charge of a failing school. The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) wants to encourage good leaders to progress and it believes a proper recognition of the time it can take to turn around a whole school is needed before there can be a change of perspective.

General secretary of the ASCL Brian Lightman writes: "In order to attract the best leaders into challenging schools, there could be an agreement with Ofsted that the school is inspected early on into a new headship and then left alone, in the recognition that it takes time to improve."

The paper calls for changes to the schools inspection system and was written in response to a plea from Ofsted, which asked for views on how it could change its practices in the coming years.

Other points to come out of the ASCL paper include a criticism of the inconsistency in the current system of inspection, with Mr Lightman saying an element of confusion about what Ofsted was actually looking for exists in the education sector.

He explained: "There is lack of clarity about the role of performance data and the extent to which it predetermines inspection outcomes."

Responding to the ASCL points, an Ofsted representative said the national watchdog welcomes the "thoughtful contribution" and will be announcing any new proposals in due course.

Both the Civitas and Policy Exchange think tanks will soon publish reports on the regulator.

When approached by BBC News, the Department for Education did not wish to comment.

As somebody who has had success in a teaching job, would you be willing to take the step up to head teacher in the current inspection climate?

Let us know your thoughts.