Shaping the future of international education

2025 Head of School Salary Research Reveals Persistent Gaps
2025 Head of School Salary Research Reveals Persistent Gaps
 

Why do salary gaps perist for international education leaders?

 

Learn from our research and test your assumptions—how do gender and ethnicity impact the salaries paid to international school leaders? Explore the data and consider how you can introduce equitable remuneration practices in international education.

We regularly gather and analyse head of school salary data from our worldwide membership community of international schools. We look for trends and exclusive insights to inform the development of policy and practice in the educational institutions we serve as members. And we share this information with the wider community to raise awareness about salary inequities.

  

Hear from Jane Larsson, CIS Executive Director, as she summarises the findings from our research.

Head-of-School-salary-report-2025-video-thumbnail

 

Creating fair and equitable hiring practices is a shared responsibility

We are all responsible for raising awareness throughout the international education community about salary and benefits practices and trends, and for making decisions to reduce pay gaps related to gender, demographic, and contract categories.

The data we collected tells a story—one we hope will change.

Key findings for 2025

This year, we gathered survey responses from 473 heads of schools in 103 countries, including heads of schools that are members of CIS, the Academy of International School Heads (AISH), the Association of American International Schools in the Americas (AMISA), British Schools in the Middle East (BSME), the Council of British International Schools (COBIS), and the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS).

 
Overall:
  • There is a significant positive correlation between the average net salary and higher education levels. [4-year trend]
  • There is a positive correlation between the average net salary and the number of years in leadership positions. [4-year trend]
  • There is a significant positive correlation between the average net salary and school enrolment numbers. [4-year trend]
  
Head of School Salary Research infographic

 
Gender:

The gender salary gap persists. [4-year trend] Men are paid, on average, 27,838 USD more than women and this gap increases with more years of experience.

  
Head of School Salary Research | Salary by gender infographic

 
Ethnicity:
  • The ethnicity salary gap persists. [4-year trend] White leaders are paid, on average, 31,678 USD more than Non-White leaders. 
  • White leaders earn more than Non-White leaders with similar education levels. [3-year trend] 
  • White leaders earn more than Non-White leaders with similar leadership experience. [4-year trend]
  • White leaders earn more than Non-White leaders of schools with similar enrolment numbers, and this gap increases at schools with higher enrollment numbers.
  
Head of School Salary Research | Ethnicity gaps infographic

 
Contract Category:
  • The contract category salary gap persists. [4-year trend] On average, internationally hired heads are paid 47,566 USD more than locally hired heads.
  • Internationally hired heads earn more than locally hired heads with similar leadership experience and at all educational levels. [4-year trend]
  
Contract Category graphic

 

Read the full report: Read online | Download (pdf)

2025 Head of School Salary Research Reveals Persistent Gaps