A school leaders’ union has warned that the pay levels of school business leaders (SBLs) may lead to a mass exodus from the profession.
The warning comes as a poll found that 50 per cent of SBLs are considering leaving their role in the next three years.
According to the survey by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), 70 per cent of SBLs feel that their pay is below that of senior leadership colleagues.
The union said that the fact so many professionals were considering quitting “represents a real risk for the sector”.
It has called for business leader pay to be aligned with leadership pay in the school teachers’ pay and conditions documents.
The poll drew responses from more than 700 members of staff in a range of business leadership roles in schools and colleges in England and Wales.
Some 88 per cent of respondents were members of a senior leadership team.
Emma Harrison, business leadership specialist at ASCL, said that business leaders “play vital roles in the running of schools and colleges, often holding major responsibilities and having a significant workload that is particularly complex in nature”.
‘Business leaders feel undervalued’
However, Ms Harrison said that there is a “real sense that business leaders feel undervalued compared to other members of leadership teams”.
“Business leaders have specialist knowledge that is not easily replaced and the fact that so many are considering leaving their role represents a real risk for the sector,” she added.
The warning from ASCL comes after Tes revealed that half of Institute of School Business Leadership members who responded to a survey reported that their school was set to run out of money by 2025-26.
And one in five said their school would run out of money this year.
Ms Harrison said the fact that business leader pay is often below that of senior colleagues is “symptomatic of the fact that there is no national pay framework for business leaders”.
“The long-term solution is clearly for business leader pay to be aligned with leadership pay in the school teachers’ pay and conditions documents, and for schools and colleges to be funded sufficiently to ensure staff pay awards are always affordable.”
The survey of 1,837 ASCL members working in business leadership roles was carried out between 29 November and 15 December. There were 728 respondents, giving a response rate of just under 40 per cent.
A Department for Education spokesperson said that last year’s SBL survey found that 63 per cent of respondents intend to continue working for at least the next three years.
And the spokesperson added that “school and trust leaders, governors and trustees are responsible for staffing and pay decisions locally, with pay increases for maintained staff determined by the National Joint Council”.
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