School directors are the most dissatisfied with wages in the OECD

Oportuguese school directors are the most dissatisfied with their salary among teachers from 44 countries and the situation has worsened in recent years, according to a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Almost half of the directors surveyed by the OECD (48.8%) are satisfied or very satisfied with their salary, according to the International Survey on Education and Learning (TALIS), today released and in which Portugal appears at the end of a table comparing the directors of 44 countries.

In Portugal, only 12.7% of directors look with satisfaction at their salary, according to the study, which shows a worsening situation in the country in recent years, since in 2018 there were 27.2% directors satisfied with their salary.

The Portuguese evolution contrasts with the trend observed in the OECD, which since 2018 has seen directors satisfied with remuneration grow by six percentage points, according to the study with the participation of 280,000 teachers.

But the salary does not seem to affect the way directors view the profession: Despite being the most discontent with the remuneration, the Portuguese are among the most satisfied with their work.

In the investigation, 99% reported to be overall satisfied with their activity, with five percentage points above the OECD average.

“ The school directors shape the daily experiences of teachers, students and families through their leadership, read in the study “The Value of School Directors in TALIS 2024”, which allows them to perceive the opinion of teachers about the leadership of 17,000 directors.

The study shows the importance of directors in the management and good functioning of schools, which ends up having an impact on students' learning and the satisfaction of teachers who work there.

However, around the world, directors complain of being burdened by administrative tasks and many even admit to leaving the profession soon.

Once again, there are more Portuguese people complaining about “a lot of stress” or having a lot of work compared to the OECD average: they are 84% Portuguese versus 61% in the OECD.

The report also shows that directors are getting older and that there will be increasing difficulties in attracting new candidates to leadership positions.

Aware of the problem, the Minister of Education, Fernando Alexandre, announced the intention to create a new Statute of the Director, which should be completed by the end of the year, promising pay increases, more management autonomy and a new form of election of directors, giving greater weight to teachers in the choice of school leaders.

The report argues that the role of the director should go beyond bureaucratic management, taking into account that the best-performing educational systems are those in which directors have the time and conditions to monitor education, support teachers, lead educational projects and promote innovation.

However, the study warns of the lack of specific training to lead schools, that is, there are many directors who have reached the position without solid training in areas such as pedagogical leadership, team management or school administration.

Many respondents also said that they lacked training in other areas, such as promoting the well-being of teachers and creating collaborative cultures in schools.

In addition, the directors pointed out the lack of space to teach (25%), the deficiencies of school buildings and infrastructure (24%) and the scarcity of digital resources and tools for teaching (16%) as the main obstacles to quality education, which end up limiting “many” or “very” the ability of schools to teach well.

In Portugal, half of the teachers pointed out failures in Internet access as one of the main obstacles in schools. The lack of digital resources for education (38%) and poor school infrastructure (37%) were also frequently mentioned.

On the other hand, the participation of students in decision-making increased in most countries between 2018 and 2024, highlighting Portugal that appears in 6th place on the list of OECD countries, with 95% of directors saying that the school offers opportunities for students to participate in decision-making processes.