When referring to women in education, we often think of teachers, head teachers, and support staff. These women play a significant role in nurturing students’ growth and creating an inclusive learning atmosphere.
While their roles as educators are recognised as important, the profound impact of women leaders in education is often overlooked. According to research by DODS Diversity & Inclusion, 63% of staff in secondary schools are female. However, only 38% of headteachers are women. Furthermore, on average, female headteachers across state-funded schools earn £5,700 less than their male counterparts.
Despite these figures, there are encouraging signs that an increasing number of women are occupying influential positions in the UK’s education sector. Keystone Knowledge, one of the UK’s leading education consulting firms, believes in promoting gender equality not just in leadership roles but across all levels of education.
In this article, we explore how women leading education in the UK are driving positive change and impact through their valuable contributions.
1. Influencing Student Outcomes
A 2024 study by UNESCO points out that women-led schools register better learning outcomes. The study mentions the significant role of women as headteachers and school leaders who aim to bring in an improved, more structured approach towards student learning outcomes. Using effective skills in instruction and collaboration, these female leaders not only implement policies that improve student performance but also strategise initiatives that look after their well-being and welfare.
This approach successfully creates inclusive learning environments that promise positive learning outcomes for students and are invested in their well-being.
2. Steering Higher Education
Women leaders have also greatly contributed to and created meaningful change in the UK’s higher education sector. Women leading higher education institutions as vice-chancellors have driven progressive policies, enhanced research initiatives and encouraged diversity.
Noteworthy women in higher education leadership include Dame Nancy Rothwell (University of Manchester) and Professor Louise Richardson (former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford).
3. Advocating Policies and Reforms
Multiple women leaders in education have stepped into transformational roles, changing the way the UK learns. Women leaders have introduced and influenced path-breaking educational reforms and initiatives supporting multiple societal causes.
Whether introducing STEM education for girls or prioritising mental health support, women leaders have taken an empathetic and inclusive approach towards transforming national education policies.
4. Role Models and Mentors
Women in education leadership roles include head teachers, female deans, department chairs, university presidents, policymakers, and education advocates. Women in such strategic roles help teachers, administrators, and allied staff look up to them for career inspiration and as role models, as well as a source of reassurance.
Women who have the opportunity to work closely with women leaders in education find that it helps open doors to the sector and community. Female leaders are more likely to give other women the support, encouragement, time and knowledge to help them develop and grow.
Women in education leadership roles can offer the motivation and support that aspiring teachers and leaders need to excel in their careers.
Overcoming Barriers to Progression
Although women hold strategic positions in various leadership roles in the UK’s education sector, it’s often after overcoming various hurdles, including gender disparities and barriers.
Securing their rightful seat at the table can be fraught with challenges. The reality of the UK’s education system is similar to that of other industries. Women face both vertical and horizontal barriers to progressing in leadership roles – the “glass ceiling” and “glass walls”.
Gender-bias issues women in education may face include:
1. Proving Worthiness
Women tend to have to work harder than men to prove themselves as capable head teachers and influential policymakers. Conventionally, men tend to be promoted based on perceived potential as opposed to women, who need to prove they’re primed and ready for the job.
2. Career Breaks
Women take career breaks and flexible working arrangements for maternity care and childcare more than men, which are still seen as detriments to their career progression and pay scales.
3. Path to Promotion
Promotion criteria are narrowed down for women seeking leadership roles. In higher education, women still struggle to move beyond teaching-only contracts to invest in more quantifiable research papers and grants, which are key indicators of progress.
4. Internal Struggles
Another barrier to progress that women tend to experience more than men is internal struggles with issues such as impostor syndrome. This is often the result of historical influences and social biases that hinder women’s confidence to openly and actively pursue senior leadership positions.
Conversely, women are less likely to be perceived as capable leaders or as possessing the innate abilities to lead from the front.
To Sum Up
The significant contribution of women leaders in education can’t be understated. Women in education leadership roles have an invaluable voice in the room where decisions are made. We now see multiple doors of opportunity open for women across demographics so that they can confidently claim more leadership spaces. This is why we need more education consulting firms like Keystone Knowledge that consistently encourage and support women in taking up positions of influence and breaking the proverbial glass ceiling
