The shocking results of the annual Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey highlight the urgent need for action to address the health and wellbeing of school leaders, writes Emily Campbell.
Australian schools are continuing to experience a major crisis in principal recruitment and retention, driven by stress, burnout, workload and work intensification.
Invisible element of work
A new Monash University study seeks to explore the invisible demands and emotional labour experienced by Australian principals, to better understand how these additional pressures are impacting the nature of their work.
Professor Jane Wilkinson from Monash University’s Faculty of Education, who is leading the research project, says the emotional intensity of principals’ work has often been an invisible element of their work and was not easily quantified or measured.
“It’s a tough time to be a principal – it’s a rewarding job but does have its challenges,” Professor Wilkinson says.
“One of the things that hasn’t been explored in research is the emotional demands and intensities of the work, particularly in the more challenging social times we face nowadays,” she says.
Professor Wilkinson says managing one’s emotions and navigating those of others is a crucial aspect of principals’ work, although little is known about it.
“Research needs to address not only the impact of excessive workload in terms of long hours, crucial though that is, but also the increased emotional intensity of this work,” Professor Wilkinson says.
“It’s the emotionally draining nature of the work, the hard hours where principals are dealing with more and more demanding, emotionally intense situations as they support troubled staff, students and parents.
“The invisible element of a principal’s work plays a significant role in increasing the stressors that impact their health and wellbeing,” she says.
Sharing stories
Funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant, the research project will occur between 2023 and 2025.
The first phase of the project began in 2023 and involves a survey that is open to public school principals throughout the country.
The research team says respondents will be asked to share at least one story about a critical incident they have experienced on the job.
Principals will detail their professional response to the incident, their personal response and what they learned from it.
A publicly available website curated by the research team will share a diverse selection of extracts from the principals’ stories gathered via survey, while protecting privacy by deidentifying principal respondents and schools.
It is hoped the published stories will build public awareness about the complexity and importance of principals’ work and begin an urgent public and media conversation about what needs to change and how.
Supporting school leaders
Professor Wilkinson says the goal is to build a picture of what life is like emotionally for principals working in Australian schools today.
“They need to be supported to do the best possible job they can because their role is crucial for making a difference in the lives of children and young people,” she says.
“Public schools in Australia overwhelmingly enrol the majority of students from disadvantaged and equity backgrounds, so this gives the emotional demands of public school principals a particular distinctive edge,” Professor Wilkinson says.
A range of principals’ associations and the Australian Education Union (AEU) are supporters of the project, which aims to generate new knowledge about principal workforce development and create a framework for policymakers that identifies the knowledge and practices necessary to develop leaders’ emotional skills and build bridges across diverse communities.
The research team hope their work will lead to reduced principal turnover, improved teacher retention, enhanced student outcomes and greater social cohesion.
“We want to support public school principals in every way we can, to make a difference in the conditions of their work,” Professor Wilkinson says.
Wellbeing on radar
Although public school principals are being surveyed for this study, the learnings about principals’ emotional labour and recommendations for supporting them to better deal with this aspect of their work will be directly relevant to the non-government education sector.
It comes as Federal Education Minister Jason Clare recently announced the government would commit to national action to support school principals.
At the time of writing, the details as to what exactly that national action looks like are vague, with no concrete outcomes or proposals arising from the most recent education ministers meeting on 26 April 2024.
However, minutes of the meeting indicate the ministers received a presentation from the Presidents of the Australian Secondary Principals Association and the Australian Primary Principals Association on the topic of school leaders’ wellbeing.
The ministers expressed their continued support for principals and school leaders and acknowledged the work already underway across jurisdictions to promote their wellbeing.
The wellbeing of principals and school leader will be discussed further at the next meeting of education ministers, who have asked officials to work with stakeholders and provide advice on further action to support school leaders.
Union membership matters
IEUA Federal Secretary Brad Hayes says branches of the IEU continue to highlight the significant workload pressures being imposed on school leaders.
“Regardless of their sector, location or state jurisdiction, principals nationwide are dealing with increasing workloads and further intensifying their work duties,” Hayes says.
“Our union is advocating a twofold response targeting the key drivers behind escalating work demands, developing new wellbeing measures in collective agreements that cover school principals.
“The working conditions for principals vary by their respective collective agreements; however, safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing and health of our school leaders is a priority in every negotiation.
“Members have for years raised concerns that many wellbeing measures available to leaders are left to policy rather than being explicit in their agreement.
“It’s essential that these protections are reviewed and updated through the collective bargaining process.
“We need to know where they are working or not working and how they might be improved. They are too important to be left to unregulated or vague policies,” he says.
Some segments of membership have successfully won the inclusion of wellbeing provisions like sabbatical leave and renewal leave in their agreements, which is significant.
“These successes can only be achieved through member strength and collective action,” Hayes says.
“Our union looks forward to the findings from the Monash University research project about the impact of emotional labour on school principals, and how we can use this to the benefit of our IEU member principals,” he says.
QNT principal member priorities
Queensland Catholic Diocesan school principals are in negotiations for a new collective agreement. The log of claims includes
- a new category of leave for maintaining wellbeing
- increased professional renewal leave provisions
- establishment of a plenary symposium of principals in each diocese to discuss workload and work intensification issues and report on strategies to combat them
- a right to disconnect clause
- further staffing and support in recognition of the increasing and expanded role of the principal.
NSW Catholic systemic principals
In March, Principals in NSW Catholic systemic schools voted in favour of new enterprise agreements bringing a range of benefits, not least an 8% pay increase. For full details, see:ieu.asn.au/principals-major-wins