primary school head teacher
Primary school head teachers manage the day-to-day activities of a primary school or elementary school. They manage staff, make decisions concerning admissions and are responsible for meeting curriculum standards, which are age-appropriate for primary school students and facilitate social and academic development education. They also ensure the school meets the national education requirements set by law.
primary school head teacher primary school head teachers manage the day-to-day activities of a primary school or elementary school. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.47 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include curriculum standards, education law, project management, primary school procedures, instructional strategies.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £72,192 a year for Head teachers and principals (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £59,307 to £83,623 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2321). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Managers” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only primary school head teacher, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 1. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Customer and Personal Service
- Education and Training
- Administration and Management
- English Language
- Psychology
- Public Safety and Security
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Sales and Marketing
What you'd actually do
- Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities and policies and students' behavioral or learning problems.
- Monitor students' progress and provide students and teachers with assistance in resolving any problems.
- Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate primary and supplemental staff and recommend personnel actions for programs and services.
- Teach classes or courses or provide direct care to children.
- Set educational standards and goals and help establish policies, procedures, and programs to carry them out.
- Determine the scope of educational program offerings and prepare drafts of program schedules and descriptions to estimate staffing and facility requirements.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does primary school head teacher do?
Primary school head teachers manage the day-to-day activities of a primary school or elementary school. They manage staff, make decisions concerning admissions and are responsible for meeting curriculum standards, which are age-appropriate for primary school students and facilitate social and academic development education. They also ensure the school meets the national education requirements set by law.
What skills does primary school head teacher need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include curriculum standards, education law, project management, primary school procedures, instructional strategies, pedagogy. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace primary school head teacher?
Our AI-durability model gives primary school head teacher a score of 0.47 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.