Management · Holland code SEC

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary

Plan, direct, or coordinate the academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools.

Also called: Elementary Principal, MS Principal (Middle School Principal), School Administrator (School Admin), Superintendent, Athletic Director, Curriculum and Instruction Superintendent, Curriculum Director, K-12 Principal (Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade Principal).

O*NET 11-9032.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $105,870; Middle half earn $86,040 to $134,630. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 5 of 5; Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: -2% · Decline; 333,300 jobs in 2024, projected 328,100. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Elementary, middle, and high school principals".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Counsel and provide guidance to students regarding personal, academic, vocational, or behavioral issues.
Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities, policies, and student behavior or learning problems.
Observe teaching methods and examine learning materials to evaluate and standardize curricula and teaching techniques and to determine areas for improvement.
Determine the scope of educational program offerings, and prepare drafts of course schedules and descriptions to estimate staffing and facility requirements.
Enforce discipline and attendance rules.
Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate primary and supplemental staff.
Collaborate with teachers to develop and maintain curriculum standards, develop mission statements, and set performance goals and objectives.
Set educational standards and goals, and help establish policies and procedures to carry them out.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening4.9 / 5
Learning Strategies4.9 / 5
Reading Comprehension4.8 / 5
Speaking4.8 / 5
Writing4.6 / 5
Critical Thinking4.6 / 5

Knowledge areas

Education and Training4.6 / 5
Administration and Management4.2 / 5
English Language4.0 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.5 / 5
Psychology3.3 / 5
Administrative3.3 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic5
Investigative34
Artistic31
Social79
Enterprising72
Conventional61

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

nursery school head teacher · DE Kindergartenleiter/Kindergartenleiterin · FR directeur d'école maternelle/directrice d'école maternelle
headteacher · DE Leiter einer Schule oder Universität/Leiterin einer Schule oder Universität · FR chef d'établissement scolaire
deputy head teacher · DE stellvertretender Schulleiter/stellvertretende Schulleiterin · FR chef d'établissement scolaire adjoint
further education principal · DE Leiter einer Erwachsenenbildungseinrichtung/Leiterin einer Erwachsenenbildungseinrichtung · FR directeur d'établissement d'enseignement post-secondaire/directrice d'établissement d'enseignement post-secondaire
head of higher education institutions · DE Leiter einer höheren Lehranstalt/Leiterin einer höheren Lehranstalt · FR directeur d'établissement d'enseignement supérieur/directrice d'établissement d'enseignement supérieur
primary school head teacher · DE Grundschulleiter/Grundschulleiterin · FR directeur d'école primaire/directrice d'école primaire

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Education advisers and school inspectors (2323)39,000 employed
Head teachers and principals (2321)46,000 employed
Early education and childcare services managers (2324)27,400 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Managers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Managers, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€96,629
Italy	€96,052
Germany	€90,192
Austria	€82,936
Netherlands	€69,857
Sweden	€60,369
France	€58,740
Ireland	€55,854
Spain	€54,121
Portugal	€39,189
Poland	€19,596

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.05. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (11-9032).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test