Jon Coles

Chief Exec United Learning, Hon Pres Challenge Partners, Ex-DG UK Department for Education. Knight, no shining armour.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Er - have you read the story? This is pay growth after inflation.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell In STPCD and other school pay scales, size of school is the major determinant of leader pay. Primary HTs average much lower pay due to size of school-likewise primary Exec HTs/RDs. So simple question: where is your like-for-like data which evidences the claim you're making?

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell There are standard measures of job weight (e.g. Hay/KornFerry) routinely applied to senior roles across public, charitable and private sectors. You're wrong if you think that most senior roles in the school sector are paid higher than comparable roles in other sectors.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell So - as I've pointed out, average pay growth since 2010 is 95%+. So £150k+ then is around £300k+ now. There aren't 24 people paid that now. Likewise, the hundreds identified about the then scale max were on the equivalent of £200k+ now. Again - more than now.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Do feel free to read the link I've sent you in the other thread.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell So what do MATs pay primary Heads and primary RDs on average and how does that compare to the amounts that LA schools pay for similar roles?
As I've already pointed out to you, and you have accepted, we don't have the data for a fair comparison.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Not seen your report, but DfE analysis of its own data appears not to show that. In our case, we spend more on education/at classroom level than the maintained and whole sector norms. And we pay teachers more.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell @EmmaKn24 You don't think any top people decided to make their career in education?
And you think the PM's wage is relevant to the labour market how?

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@EmmaKn24 @warwickmansell The point is that people with great ability have great choice. A few people who could earn 10x as much doing something else will choose public service. But if you're also going to criticise them for earning too much, you'll struggle to find many more.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell It isn't and never has been a race to the top. Govt has been v weak in tackling a tiny number of outliers. Jobs are radically different between trusts - some trusts are doing v difficult turnaround, some not; some local, some regional, some national etc.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Not my understanding of the data based on conversations with DfE and certainly not true for us.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell @EmmaKn24 How much would you need to be paid to leave a school where you do a great job, are loved and happy and paid £150k in order to be responsible for 6 schools across a wide area including being accountable for turning around a failing one?

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell As in other thread - we've moved from a situation where the people being paid heavily to turn around schools/ run very big schools were largely in the maintained system to one where they're largely in trusts.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Well, I'm sure you remember this story from 2010: https://t.co/vGFV5EyJyK. Nationally, were said to be 'hundreds' of Heads in this position. Wage inflation since 2010 is roughly 95%.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell It's a labour market, just like it's always been. If I want the best people, I need to pay for them. Whatever the system and whatever level the role, you can't get someone to do a bigger, riskier job than one they do very well now without paying.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Not quite. The question in any organisation is: what is the most effective use of resources in order to deliver our intended outcomes best? If trusts are well run, they can deliver more money to classroom budgets. Part of being well run is attracting the best leaders.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell I think 'supervision' is wrong. If e.g. you read Reading BC's report on its role in Caversham, you'll see it denies all responsibility for the underlying failures in governance and safeguarding. In trusts, RDs etc. are fundamentally part of the leadership model of the schools.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Not true - you maybe forget that I was there. If you don't believe me, you can find the official Schools Causing Concern guidance from 2007 online, e.g. here: https://t.co/XeNSrnzFqH

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Well... the first one opened just under 24 years ago and 20 years ago today there were only 27, so not really.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell As I imply, I don't think it's a completely fair comparison. Some of what LAs do affects all schools not just maintained ones. But it's true that trust decisions on senior pay don't affect the taxpayer - it's a choice about how best to spend a fixed budget.

[Jon Coles @JonColes01]

@warwickmansell Not sure if funding statements are published? The only money we get is based on the local formula for each LA. Same as for LA school. When schools convert, income is unchanged (and we typically get zero conversion grant even for failing schools these days).