The gender pay gap for secondary school leaders has widened by more than a third in a year, prompting a fresh warning about inequalities in the system.
Analysis released today by school leaders’ union the NAHT, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the National Governance Association (NGA) and WomenEd used the latest school workforce statistics to update the findings from the joint Closing the Gender Pay Gap in Education report released last year.
The new data reveals that while the gender pay gap for primary headteachers has narrowed slightly (dropping from £2,834 in 2020-21 to £2,221 in 2021-22), the gap for secondary school leaders has increased by over 37 per cent in the past year - rising to £3,698.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the 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.”
He added that the pay gap “may be even worse for women of colour or those with disabilities” and “unfortunately” national data is still not available “to track this”.
“This is an area that the government needs to do a lot more to fix,” Mr Whiteman said.
The gender pay gap in school leadership
The new analysis also shows a similar trend for deputy and assistant heads, for whom the gender pay gap is up to £1,502 across all state-funded secondary schools.
And in the year 2021-2022, the gender difference in average salaries for headteachers aged 60 and over remained, with men earning on average £18,296 more than women of the same age: an increase of 5 per cent from the previous year.
The divergence point remains at age 35 to 39 for headteachers, with the difference between average salaries between men and women more than doubling from £3,721 at 35 to 39 to £7,685 at age 40 to 44.
Last year’s report made several recommendations for actions the government should take to tackle the gaps.
These included improving the 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.
Vivienne Porritt, global strategic leader of WomenEd, said that the increase in the pay gap this year “hits women leaders in education very hard and signals to them that teaching is not an equitable profession”.
And Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said it was “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,” he added.
Meanwhile, Emma Knights, chief executive of the NGA, said: “Governing boards determine the organisation’s pay policy and have a specific role in setting the pay of the most senior leader.”
She added that 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”.
Ms Knights said that governing boards are in a ”prime position to effect change by ensuring a healthy organisational culture” that promotes “equalities, diversity and inclusion”.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want teaching to be an inclusive profession, with equal opportunity for all”.
The spokesperson said the department had “inclusive recruitment campaigns” and was “investing in programmes that support all teachers to develop and progress in their careers”.
“We are also working with schools to explore barriers that can prevent women from progressing in the workplace. As well as publishing updated gender pay gap figures, employers (including multi academy trusts) are also encouraged to publish a robust action plan alongside their figures, setting out the clear actions that they will put in place to reduce their gender pay gap.”
