How much do heads of departments in schools earn (private and state)?

[AskingQuestionsAgain]

DH is a HOD in a school, but he doesn't have qualified teacher status so can't be paid a proper amount (long story!)

He has no idea what the proper amount is - we've googled, but the long chart with all the different teaching job roles is just so confusing neither of us can understand where 'head of department' fits in.

He might apply for a new job at a private school (Director of Subject) but has no idea what a reasonable salary would be for this role.

Can anyone help?

It's very difficult to get him to apply for other jobs, but he's woefully underpaid, if I could give him an idea of potential salaries it might help motivate him!

There’s no set amount, it varies. They would generally be on UPS, as you need a fair bit of experience to be HoD, and then get a TLR on top - but the size of the TLR depends on the size of the dept. Maths, English and Science get a bigger TLR than Art or Music. Increasingly in some schools HoDs of English and Maths are on SLT and therefore paid on the leadership scale. If that’s not the case, I would work out the pay scale point he’d likely end up on and then add a TLR of about £5-6k for a small dept and £10-12k for a big one. That’ll give you a rough idea.

Thanks for the reply Tygertiger, how would I work out the pay scale point he'd likely end up on? I've no idea where to start with that!

His current salary for HOD is around £36,000 which is the max he can be paid as an unqualified teacher with various bonuses etc.

We just want a rough idea of what he could expect in a private school - we have no idea if it'd be £50k or £70k or some other number altogether! Just an idea of salary band numbers would be amazing if you or anyone else can help with that.

ps he's HOD of an arts subject

I'm on UPS3/£48k (so top of what I can earn as 'just a teacher' outside London. I used to be a HoD of English until a few years ago. It was about £8k on top of that. Before that I'd been HoD Drama which was £2.4k extra. So £48k is a recent salary, the £8 and £2.4 are recent ish (past decade) amount but not vastly different from what HoDs are currently in.

Friend in London is ups & gets around 50k plus a TLR that is 11k

I think 36k for someone without qts is amazing! Quite often private schools pay less than state (but you get a discount off fees) so I'm not sure he's that underpaid...

www.nasuwt.org.uk/advice/pay-pensions/pay-scales/pay-scales-fringe-outer-london-and-inner-london.html

Pay scales here if it helps

I don't understand why he hasn't qualified through the school he's at, does he have a degree? You can do all the training on the job but I highly doubt he'll get another HoD job without qts.

Ie he won't meet the essential criteria so can't be invited to interview.

Private schools may not have the pension scheme either

Nowhere near 70k. That’s around deputy head level at secondary - less at primary.

50k probably more like it.

Pay which is from 30 - 46 ish. Then a TLR of between 3 - 11. But somewhere around 5-7 most likely though arts subjects can be paid less - depends how big the department is.

Head of a large, core faculty: £50-60k in state.

UPS + TLR to be HOD in a smaller, arts faculty: £35-45k.

Why not qualified though? How long has he been working for? I can’t imagine many schools even interviewing him, let alone offering a HOD role.

(sorry. Not helpful!h
)

£50k for a HoD but I would expect that salary to require QTS.

Are you thinking he will go from £36k to a much higher salary in a different school without being a qualified teacher, @AskingQuestionsAgain

Nowhere near 70k. That’s around deputy head level at secondary - less at primary.

Isn't it location specific, friends DH is a deputy heads at secondary, just under 100k.

Thanks so much for the numbers, that's exactly what I was hoping to see.

For most of his career he was a professional actor so has many years of relevant industry experience along with some previous teaching experience (extracurricular settings).

He was offered the job if he did the QTS assessment. He had trouble getting on the QTS assessment course because his three-year drama school qualification was only awarded degree status the year after he left (which is frustrating as the course was identical). After a lot of email correspondence, I managed to persuade the QTS assessment uni to at least review an application from him - but by then he'd got cold feet on the whole thing and didn't apply.

Somehow his school keep employing him with no QTS, and because he's scared of the extra workload of QTS assessment he refuses to apply and so is working with no possibility of any pay rises.

I'd thought that private schools could employ teachers without QTS, especially in subjects like drama where being an actor for many years is a big draw, but perhaps I'm wrong about that and private schools also need QTS?

Well yes there are uplifts for London & Outer London…Also depends on size of school. But as a general guide for non London (because the rest of the country doesn’t have separate payscales).

I'm on just under £68k... HoD core subject, independent senior. Not in London but an expensive part of the country. I am aware that is higher than most. It varies hugely though, but school, subject, department size and location. I'm on around £14/15k for the HoD part, £52/53k for the teaching part (I have QTS). £36k for HoD is horrendous, unless he has only just gone into teaching. I was on £28k starting salary as an NQT almost 15 years ago. My husband started teaching a few years ago and was put on more than £40k as an NQT (independent school) but had had a career before.

private schools also need QTS?

The private schools round here don’t. They also don’t command salaries of £50k for unqualified HoD though!

So interesting to hear that your husband was put on £40k as NQT in an independent school.

Before going straight into his HOD role around four years ago, my DH had a long career as a professional actor with a lot of teaching of youth theatre, private school extra-curricular drama, private drama lessons, LAMDA, teaching adults etc. He's also a theatre-maker and writer. His CV is impressive.

He was encouraged to apply for the HOD role by the previous HOD who'd had my DH in to run workshops as a visiting practitioner.

He doesn't have QTS but from an industry experience perspective, he's overqualified.

So he doesn’t have a degree or QTS? His (teaching) career options will be hugely limited then. Rightly or wrongly, most schools expect QTS, and even more expect a degree.

His CV in drama and with acting may be impressive, but he needs to be QTS if he wants to progress in schools.
Qualified TEACHER status is a must to show commitment to the teaching industry and not just another cross-over into a teaching career.
That QTS string needs to be added to his bow, and I wouldn't invite anyone for an interview for HOD that didn't have it.

I'm a HoD of a core subject in a outer london state school and earn £68k

@penjil I was just giving context as people were curious about how he got HOD without QTS.

Sadly I know all too well that he can't progress in a state school without QTS!

It was news to me that this is a requirement for indies though. I'd mistakenly thought they had their own rules.

It seems your DH is really unmotivated by all of this and the changes/ extra work. I'd definitely spend some time thinking what your goals are individually and together and what obstacle you face - can he/ will be manage the extra load. Is it possible he doesn't want QTS because it's a lot of work on top of a job, or a psychological hurdle, extra work to then be a teacher, another nail
In the coffin of the acting career, despite it practically not being too different to what he does currently.

@booksandbrooks yes I think you're on the right track there, at the moment he won't talk to me about it and says he has a mental block about it because it will be additional work. But I suspect there's other stuff under the surface eg that by being an official, qualified teacher that means he's no longer a creative practitioner.

It's SO frustrating watching him sell himself short by not taking the steps to get QTS!