What should DH be on?

[Elvesandthepoomaker]

DH has 11 years teaching experience in a STEM subject in outstanding schools, and 4 years' at middle management. He now works in a 'top' private school in the South-East - accommodation is provided but 10% of wages are deducted for this. He is currently a Head of Department and we both suspect he is underpaid for his role but there is no transparency in the system. Could anyone suggest how much he should be on, roughly?

£60-70k?

£40-50k

Sorry, a bit of context:

I'm in my eighth year of teaching. I work at a London day school (private) and am a Head of House as well as a classroom teacher. I have one extra, smallish, academic responsibility.

I earn £60k - base rate as a teacher is around £48k, the rest is points for my additional responsibilities.

Is your DH's school day or boarding?

My partner was teaching 13 years - top of TRL 2 (asst head so higher than HoD) and was approx 40k. That's in LA - don't know what private schools pay.

My dh very very similar at acadamy. On £47k

I do daily supply and one of my direct schools (ie not through an agency) is an indie. If I worked there every day (longer holidays that state sector) 8.45-3.45 (long lunch break with free lunch) I would make 34k (NQT without any planning/marking/tutor group/reports/parents evenings etc responsibility) - would definitely not do your DH's job for 47k.

Thanks everybody! He's at a boarding school, top 5 in the country, with an Oxbridge degree. Gets a small allowance for being a tutor and weekly duties.
Following from this... Has anyone successfully pressed for a pay rise? I know you have to give current salary on application forms and I don't want us to be trapped as being labelled as 'mugs' for the rest of his career.

He needs to have a look at the school's salary scale and compare it to the national teachers' pay scale. Private schools' sacked are usually pegged to the national one in some way: if he can show that he'd be on £x in the state sector for his level of responsibility, it should be pretty clear what that equates to on his school's own scale.

I'm HOD in a state school. 19 years experience. I earn about £44k

40 - 50

He won't get anything extra for an Oxbridge degree or Stem subject.

Independent schools are unique to themselves. There is no way you can predict what happens in one to what happens in others.

However, it is not unusual for independent schools to pay the same as state or slightly higher in the early years of teaching, and then to do not quite so well as state teachers for positions of responsibility, as there is no concept of TLRs. Basically, they will pay what the market dictates.

And it's not all down to pay.

Head of faculty here in a large comprehensive. Oxbridge degree. Ebacc subject. Teaching for 10 years. £47k. So minus 10% I would expect him to be getting about £42k

Just to say you don't have to disclose current salary on applications. They can ask but you can choose not to provide the information, or to provide a 'total compensation value' figure (eg salary plus cost of equivalent housing in the area plus any other benefits/training/etc). I'm not a teacher but I've never told what I earn in an application or interview unless it benefits me. Likewise I don't name a figure first unless I'm going to be able to dictate the job role.

He needs to ask for a raise based on his market worth, and his job role eg - he agreed to do A and B for £X, he now does A and B at a higher standard and additional duties C and D and would like £X plus Y compensation to reflect his job now has broader/deeper responsibilities and he is providing higher level performance, here are some glassdoor reports/similar/job adverts to show that's the market rate for this work.

IME (three different independent schools in the SE) you don't get paid very well in private schools in comparison to the state sector.

TLRs don't exist and often there is no equivalent of UPS.

However if you get accommodation provided then although that's nominally 10% of your salary, in our case it was worth far more as it was such a hugely expensive area. Do you have children who benefit from fee remission?

I estimate that I would earn £5-10k more in the state sector (10 years qualified, third HOD position) however it's worth it for the perks I get.

Thank you! Good to see we're in roughly the right region. Yes - accommodation and fee remission are huge bonuses. Thanks for your openness.

My DH is Deputy in a well known public school- however, not in the South East.

I would certainly say that the point in full-boarding is not the actual salary, but salary + perks.

DH gets 70k but the house we live in for free would cost 2k a month to rent, our DS gets 50% remission which is 6k a year at the moment (Pre-Prep) but would rise to £20k a year if he went right through the school.

We don't pay bills- lord knows how much that would add up to. We can pick up the phone and the maintenance team will come. The lawn gets mowed...

I think in a day school your DH would get paid more in terms of actual salary, but I really doubt it would cover the extent of the extras in boarding.

However, salaries are always negotiable- even in post.