Gap between rich and poor too much

[schoome]

For example in the education sector - headteachers are paid 50k and teaching assistants 12k. Headteachers do paperwork and admin all day and teaching assistants do the real work.

arethereanyleftatall completely agree

Sorry but what world do you inhabit? Certainly not the real one. You don’t just become a HT. you are a teacher, and work your way up the ladder. They have responsibility of the whole school, that’s pupils, teachers, TAs, office staff, cleaners etc, plus now the responsibility of the budget. They are answerable to the board of governors who, if they are good, will be challenging them to improve. Line management is not easy, nor are budgets. They have to deal with angry parents, they are the front face for the school and have to promote it.

Can I suggest if you really want to know why they are worth that money you ask to shadow your HT for a week. Bet it will be a real eye opener

In my job after years of doing the real work you reach a point where you want to do the job that it's office based. You get paid for the responsibility you have and experience. A teaching assistant is an important job but you don't have to keep a school running.

Salary differences can be a bit bonkers but often the high salary comes with a huge responsibility. I earn 3 or so times what a brand new start in our organisation earns with 10 years experience. Our CEO earns 10 times what I do. However, if I or the brand new start, or anyone else in our organisation screws up and kills a hundred people (not all that difficult with what we do) he’s going to jail unless there is a watertight case that I deliberately haven’t followed correct procedure set out by the company. Imagine having to trust that your procedures and training was that good than none of nearly 100,000 people could make a mistake that would land you in prison. I wouldn’t do it for 100X my salary.

I agree , in the public sector you can hide easier than in the private sector - it is ruthless.
However I agree if you think you can do a better job you should do it.

I was all for agreeing with you when I read the title. In our society the gap between the very rich and very poor is horrifically extreme.

But I don’t agree with your example. Firstly, HTs aren’t what I’d describe as the very rich. The salary is decent, don’t get me wrong. But the salary is a reflection of the hours that they put in and the experience, training and skills they bring to the role. It’s a very stressful and very demanding job, there is no clocking off when you’re a head. The Head of my kids school are the first in at 7 and the last out after a full school day and meetings afterwards. I’d regularly see our head leaving after 9pm. The responsibility they bear is immense and the demands put on them incredible, with not much support and decreasing resources.

All of the TAs I know work incredibly hard, and they’re at the ‘chalkface’, so the role is demanding, stressful and relentless. But they aren’t as qualified as the head, and they definitely can clock off. I think TA pay is shockingly low for what they do each day, actually, but their role isn’t comparable to the HT.

You are incredibly naive if you think that’s all the responsibility a head teacher has.

The two jobs are chalk & cheese, hence the pay variance

My mum is a headteacher. She is in work at 7am every morning to try to get her work done before the parents arrive to start whining at her because their child wasn't chosen to be prefect or wasn't given a big enough part in the school play or has lost their jumper for the fifth time. Then she spends hours on the phone to social services putting in referrals after listening to disclosures from children who've been abused or neglected. Then she has a meeting with governors who tell her she has to sack all of the TAs and midday supervisors because there's no money in the budget to pay them. Then when she gets home at 6pm she takes phone calls and texts until 11pm from teachers who are too stressed or ill to come in the following day, or are telling her that a parent has posted on Facebook saying that the school is shit and that they can't wait to turn up in the morning and tell the HT to fuck off.

But yeah, they're pretty much chilling.

High responsibility jobs come with larger salaries. Such is life. I'm mid management in my job and have no desire to progress because I'm perfectly happy on an average salary for reduced responsibility.

I was going to post like DrWhy

My boss must be on roughly 1M a year. He's at the head of a business unit that makes 10bn€ turnover every year and is growing in double figures.

In a meeting recently he was challenging another manager because, as he succintly put it, if we aren't watertight HE is the one going to prison.

And that is before I mention the ridiculous hours he works, his responsabilities to the 1000s of employees in his business unit, and the pressure put on him from the Group and Shareholders to make more money....

So yeah, he earns eyewatering amounts of money, but there are very few people who could do what he does. Whereas I could be replaced easily.

Headteachers do paperwork and admin all day and teaching assistants do the real work

Ha ha ha ha You’re either as thick as pig shit, or a goody fucker troll

Ooo, are you taking bets on which it is. I'll have a tenner on "thick as pig shit" please.

Also gonna pop this here

@PrismGuile that’s fab!

I thought the HTand Governors managed the budget not just the HT responsibility.

You are being unreasonable about head teachers not deserving their salaries. Most senior public sector professionals like head teachers, nhs ceos etc are vastly underpaid for the responsibility they have. Most other professionals like teachers etc are too and deserve pay rises but there has to be some financial reward for those at the top otherwise why would you ever consider taking on high pressure, high responsibility jobs where you could find yourself derided in the press.

Where you are not being unreasonable is reference to the wealth and income gap. It is very real and a big problem for our society. Bitching about headteachers being overpaid isn’t going to be the way to fix that. You’re taking out your frustration on the wrong set of people.

You have to put up with kids with behaviour issues? Is that not your job? The phrase 'put up with' suggests you are in the wrong job. Do something else fgs.

I don't think you have the faintest clue about the responsibilities and work of head teachers. If you're so keen to do the 'real work' why aren't you a teacher rather than a helper?

No sign of the OP returning I see.

ilovesooty
No doubt op is busy googling HT jobs. God speed op.

School staffing is a poor example to pick, OP (though there have been some problems with academisation and 'superheads' getting far more money than this while wrecking schools...)
It's a lot more of an issue in private companies, and it is the single factor doing the most damage to society and the economy.