Overpaid Headteachers, Underpaid Teachers

Headteachers in England are among the highest paid in the world, and the gap between school leader and teacher salaries is one of the widest, new analysis has revealed...

England's highest-paid headteacher of a single school is Colin Hall, at Holland Park School in west London. He received between £280,000 and £290,000 in 2019-20, according to recently published school accounts, compared with between £270,000 and £280,000 the year before.

Academy chain heads are also earning salaries in excess of a quarter of a million pounds. Sir Kevin Satchwell, the executive head of the Telford City Technology College Trust, was paid between £290,000 and £300,000 in 2019-20...

The top earner by far, however, is Sir Dan Moynihan, chief executive of the Harris Federation, which runs 48 primary and secondary academies. He has seen his salary increase to between £455,000 and £460,000 in 2019-20 - a £5,000 increase on the 2018-19 salary band...

(Julie Henry, The Observer, 2021)

Teachers in England face a pay freeze this year. The government claims it is necessary to avoid "deepening the disparity" between public and private sector wage rises. While some headteachers are overpaid look at a comparison of teachers' pay below.

Teachers' Pay

The starting salary of a primary school teacher is given in red and one of 15 years experience is given in blue.

The Incorrigible
John Burr (1832-1893)
Photo Credit: Manchester Art Gallery [CC BY-NC-ND]

Luxembourg    £54,127     £79,025

Germany          £48,708      £59,781

Canada             £31,188      £54,437

Australia           £34,816     £ 49,993

Netherlands      £32,057     £ 49,948

Ireland              £28,464     £47,878

England            £24,373     £40,490

Scotland           £26,697     £40,206

N. Ireland        £23,199      £39,498

Wales              £23,720      £39,406

(The i, 2020) ( Sources: oecd, nasuwt, eis.) 

On the face of it the UK doesn't seem to value its primary school teachers as much as other nations.