MPs rate head teachers as Britain's best leaders and most respected professionals, a National College for School Leadership survey has revealed.

Eighty per cent of Parliamentarians think that head teachers provide a good example of leadership, with only officers in the armed forces are rated as highly.

Head teachers also came out top when MPs were asked which of a list of professions they respected the most, with 47 per cent of respondents saying that they had a "great deal of respect" for the profession and a further 46 per cent declaring that they had "a fair amount of respect."

A political-balanced sample of 102 MPs were interviewed for the survey, which found that head teachers were more highly rated by Labour than Conservative MPs.

Police officers were also rated as good leadership examples, as were MPs themselves, above ministers of religion, sport coaches, doctors, trade union officials and local politicians.

Updated: 09:21 Wednesday, September 24, 2003