Gender pay gap widening among ‘systemic barriers’ to flexible working
A new report has found that the gender pay gap in schools is not only still present but for several roles, including many leadership positions, has actually widened over the past decade. The analysis, published as Closing the gender pay gap in education: a leadership imperative, comes from the school leadership unions ASCL and NAHT, along with the National Governance Association (NGA) and the organisation WomenEd.
Looking at data from the latest school workforce statistics, they found that at classroom teacher level male teachers earned 2.4 per cent more on average than women, but that the gap increases with age and seniority. The average pay gap between women and men increases from £2,760 at 35 to 39 to £4,024 at age 40 to 45, while male headteachers earn 11.3 per cent more than women in the same roles. The report found that at headteacher level, across all types of state-funded schools, women tend to have steadier increases in salary by age, whereas men tend to see much larger increases, particularly towards the end of their career. The difference by age 60 and over reaches £17,334 (the average 60-year-old female headteacher earns an average salary of £78,491 in 2020-21 compared with £95,825 for men.) A similar pattern is seen at ‘other leadership’ levels, although the salary difference is not quite as pronounced. Such differences are also widening in many cases, with the difference between male and female headteachers’ average pay across all state-funded nursery and primary schools increasing from £1,878 in 2010/11 to £2,834 in 2020/21.
Among the factors which the report identifies as driving the gender pay gap, are that women are underrepresented in senior leadership positions. In primary schools men are more present at senior level – 13 per cent of teaching staff are male, compared to 26 per cent of headteachers. A similar picture emerges at secondary level – 34 per cent of classroom teachers are male increasing to 60 per cent for headteachers. It also finds that women are more likely to manage caring responsibilities, impacting their career, while men have ‘disproportionate access’ to bonus earnings.
The report recommends that the government should tackle this widening division through improving the national level analysis of gender pay gap trends, as well as acting on a recommendation from the School Teachers Review Body (STRB) that there be a ‘comprehensive review’ of the pay framework for teachers and leaders. Government should also seek to do more to mitigate the ‘systemic barriers’ to flexible working. Governing boards are encouraged to review their school or trust’s recruitment policy and its outcomes to ensure they support equality, diversity and inclusion, and conduct regular reviews of their organisation’s pay policy ‘in light of any gender pay gap information’.
Commenting on the findings Vivienne Porritt, co-founder and global strategic leader of WomenEd, said: ‘In WomenEd we hear of many examples where women are paid less than men for the same role and with the same or greater experience. This report shows that such inequality is more significant than women realise. We want women to realise that they have a right to talk about pay and to challenge any pay inequality.’
Emma Knights, chief executive of NGA, commented: ‘Governing boards determine the organisation’s pay policy and have a very specific role in setting the pay of the most senior leader.’ She added ‘The NGA is committed to ensuring boards have all the information they need to do this well without a gender penalty. Governing boards are in prime position to effect change by ensuring a healthy organisational culture which is open to giving equalities, diversity, and inclusion active and on-going consideration.’
Full report: https://tinyurl.com/2p8hufn8