London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

English secondary school headteachers among best paid in the world

English secondary school headteachers among best paid in the world

School leaders’ pay soars, but teachers’ salaries are falling further behind
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.

A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on state secondary school heads’ salaries in 36 countries shows that top earners in England are paid more than £102,000 a year, with only heads in Luxembourg and Mexico receiving more. Heads in England also have one of the highest pay premiums, taking home on average 136% more than secondary school teachers. The average differential across OECD countries is 49%.

Principals in English secondaries top the salary satisfaction table, with 80% indicating they are happy with their remuneration.

The Education Indicators in Focus findings, based on 2019 data, is likely to ignite the debate around excessive pay for academy heads and the chief executives of multi-academy trusts, some of whom earn far more than the levels indicated in the OECD report.

It comes as teachers in England face a pay freeze this year, which the government claims is necessary to avoid “deepening the disparity” between public and private sector wage rises.

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 £290,001 and £300,000 in 2019-20. The trust runs Thomas Telford School and sponsors Thomas Telford Multi-Academy Trust, which has five schools in the West Midlands.

Brampton Manor Trust, which has two schools in east London, paid its executive principal, Dayo Olukoshi, between £250,001 and £260,000 in 2019-20, up from £220,000- £230,000 the year before.

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. A second senior staff member of the trust, not named in the Harris Federation accounts, received between £300,001 and £310,000.

National pay scales for England, published at the end of last year, indicate that headteachers on the top pay range can earn between £81,942 and £117,197 (outside London). As academies are not part of nationally set pay structures, trusts are left free to set remuneration as they see fit. The latest academy accounts show that an attempt by the government to rein in excessive pay, by writing to trusts with senior executives on more than £150,000 a year, has had little impact.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said a number of academy heads and chief executives were paid “wholly unjustifiable sums”.

“Pay for school leaders in England has been deregulated for many years and now some academy heads and CEOs are paid wholly unjustifiable sums from taxpayer funding,” he said. “The NEU wants a review of the system which restores objectivity and pays leaders according to the demands of the job.”

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of NASUWT, said: “School leadership is a challenging job, but the excessive salaries that the leaders of some academy trusts are receiving appear difficult to justify, particularly at a time when teachers are facing a freeze in their pay.

“We have repeatedly called for greater transparency on the finances of academy schools and multi-academy trusts. Millions of pounds of public money are being spent without detailed and open scrutiny.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said at the end of last year teachers’ pay increases would be paused this year, following a 3.1% rise in 2020. However, public sector workers who earn below £24,000 will receive a pay rise of at least £250 in 2021. The government has committed to setting the teacher starting salary at £30,000 by 2022.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×