New analysis released today by school leaders’ union NAHT, the
Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the National
Governance Association (NGA) and WomenEd, to mark Equal Pay Day*,
reveals disappointingly little progress in tackling the gender
pay gap** in education.
The analysis uses the latest School Workforce statistics to
update the findings from the joint “Closing the Gender Pay Gap
in Education” report released last year.
The analysis reveals that the issue remains particularly acute
for the most senior roles in the system.
- While the gap for primary headteachers has narrowed slightly
(dropping from £2,834 in 2020/21 to £2,221), the gap for
secondary school leaders has leapt by over 37% in the last year –
rising to a huge £3,698.
- This trend is also reflected for ‘other leadership roles’
(e.g., deputy and assistant heads), where the gap is up to £1,502
across all state-funded secondary schools.
- In 2021/22, the difference in average salaries for head
teachers aged 60 and over remains large, with men earning on
average £18,296 more than women of the same age. This is a 5%
increase in the difference from £17,334 last year.
- The divergence point remains at age 35-39 for headteachers,
with the difference between average salaries between men and
women more than doubling from £3,721 at 35-39 to £7,685 at age
40-44.
The joint report made several key recommendations for government
to tackle the gaps identified, including:
- improving national analysis of pay gap trends,
- providing greater support to mitigate systemic barriers to
flexible working, and
- acting on calls from the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB)
and the sector for a comprehensive review of the pay framework
for both classroom teachers and leaders, including consideration
of the role that performance-related pay has on the gender pay
gap.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union
NAHT, said: “School leaders’ pay has been significantly
eroded over the last decade and for female school leaders there
is a ‘double hit’ caused by continued inequalities in the system.
And we know that the pay gap may be even worse for women of
colour or those with disabilities – unfortunately we still don’t
have national data needed to track this. This is an area that the
government needs to do a lot more to fix.”
Vivienne Porritt, Global Strategic Leader of WomenEd,
said: “The increase in the gender pay gap this year hits
women leaders in education very hard and signals to them that
teaching is not an equitable profession. We call on the
government and the whole schools sector to take this issue
seriously and draw on the ways forward suggested in our report
last year. Our young people can’t afford to lose more teachers.”
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of
School and College Leaders, said: “It is clear that much
more work needs to be done to tackle the gender pay gap. Last
year’s report revealed significant disparities and the fact that
many of these have increased is a concern. We all have a role to
play in tackling inequality within the education system, and must
work together to foster an environment where everyone has the
same opportunities to progress.”
Emma Knights, chief executive of the National Governance
Association, said: “Governing boards determine the
organisation’s pay policy and have a specific role in setting the
pay of the most senior leader. Employers need to ensure that all
staff are treated fairly, equitably, and lawfully and NGA is
committed to ensuring all boards have the information to do this
well without a gender penalty. Boards are in prime position to
effect change by ensuring a healthy organisational culture which
is open to giving active, on-consideration to equalities,
diversity, and inclusion.”
* Equal Pay Day is a national campaign led by the Fawcett Society
in the UK. It marks the day in the year where women effectively,
on average, stop earning relative to men because of the gender
pay gap.
** The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay
of men and women within a particular group or population.
