Managers · code 1345

Education managers

AI can do the school budget. Leading a school community is still a head's job.

Budgets and reports are the one task AI could take a fair chunk of. The other ten are mostly out of its reach, including championing the school, setting discipline and looking after the buildings.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Education managers plan, direct, coordinate and evaluate the educational and administrative aspects of education services, primary and secondary schools, colleges and faculties and departments in universities and other educational institutions. Tasks include - (a) determining educational programmes based on frameworks established by education authorities and governing bodies; (b) implementing systems and procedures to monitor school performance and student enrolments; (c) directing administrative and clerical activities concerning student admissions and educational services; (d) controlling administrative operations such as budget planning, report preparation, and expenditure on supplies, equipment and services; (e) providing leadership and guidance to teaching, academic and administrative staff as well as to students; (f) evaluating the work of teachers and lecturers by visiting classrooms, observing teaching methods, reviewing instructional objectives and examining learning materials; (g) promoting the educational programme, and representing the service or institution in the wider community; (h) supervising the maintenance of educational facilities; (i) developing and enforcing a disciplinary code to create a safe and conducive environment for students and teachers; (j) organizing and implementing methods of raising additional funds in conjunction with parent and community groups and sponsors; (k) controlling selection, training and supervision of staff. Examples of the occupations classified here: - College director - Dean (university) - Head teacher - School principal

headteacher

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

64 / 100

Mostly holds up against AI

AI can take a few chores off your plate, but most of the day is still yours.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Minimal Exposure

286 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 11 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 36.3 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 36.3 = 63.7.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Minimal Exposure”: A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't.

This job rates 18 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Education managers 64

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

Budgets and reports.
Admissions and data systems.
Performance monitoring.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

Leading staff and students.
Building a school culture.
Working with parents and the community.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

School policies on AI.
Safeguarding in a digital world.
Staff training on AI tools.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Medium

38 could do without you

It could take over some of the work, and help with more. It could help with 70 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Lower

18 how hands-on

Not much of this job needs hands, so the robot can sit this one out.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 5 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

18 How
hands-on

5 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Less than half hands-on

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, averaged across 2 US jobs .

finger skill 10.7 · hand skill 0 · cramped spaces 3.6 · averaged · rule: hands-on under 50

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 57, against an average of 36. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

56
Controlling administrative operations such as budget planning, report preparation, and expenditure on supplies, equipment and services

Medium
48
Promoting the educational programme, and representing the service or institution in the wider community

Low
44
Implementing systems and procedures to monitor school performance and student enrolments

Low
41
Determining educational programmes based on frameworks established by education authorities and governing bodies

Low
40
Directing administrative and clerical activities concerning student admissions and educational services

Low
32
Organizing and implementing methods of raising additional funds in conjunction with parent and community groups and sponsors

Low
31
Providing leadership and guidance to teaching, academic and administrative staff as well as to students

Low
31
Controlling selection, training and supervision of staff.

Low
26
Evaluating the work of teachers and lecturers by visiting classrooms, observing teaching methods, reviewing instructional objectives and examining learning materials

Low
26
Developing and enforcing a disciplinary code to create a safe and conducive environment for students and teachers

Low
26
Supervising the maintenance of educational facilities

Low

11 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you: 70
AI does it for you: 38

Sidekick wins, by 33 points.

How good a match is this?

2 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 1343, 1344

So, should head teachers and education managers be worried?

Short answer: not much. Some of the chores will change, and good riddance.

The admin is moving. Budgets and reports are rated Medium; promotion, performance systems, programmes, admissions, fundraising, leadership, staffing, evaluating teaching, discipline and facilities are Low. AI takes on paperwork; leadership stays human.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

None of the new jobs we've written up start from here yet. Could be you're the first. See the jobs AI is creating →

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 30 jobs in the “Managers” family, averaging 64. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →