My alcohol consumption tripled: principals’ role as first responders takes a toll

Researchers behind a four-year investigation have warned the intensifying and unrelenting emotional labour shouldered by our school leaders must be recognised in policy and in official role descriptors.

Their new report unveils the true psychological and physical impact endured by those in the top job when critical incidents occur.

Drawing on the raw and unfiltered testimonies of more than 250 principals who have led their school communities through such incidents – be they in-school conflicts, harrowing medical events or natural disasters – the research found their largely unseen emotional work as first responders has escalated and become central to the job.

Co-author Professor Lucas Walsh from Monash University says the aim was to amplify the voices of public school principals who collectively suggest they have been ‘hung out to dry’ through years of systemic neglect.

Snippets of participant testimonials are littered throughout the paper for this very reason, Walsh adds.

“There are a couple of things that really struck us, one was the emotional toll of their work, the range of feelings from anxiety, to hair falling out, to deep stress, to thinking about leaving the profession and resorting to things like alcohol in order to get them through these critical instances.”

As one female principal at a regional special school shared: “My alcohol consumption in the week [of the incident] tripled, at least. I still didn’t sleep much. But everything still got done, so that others could do their jobs.”

Another secondary school leader confessed she had to undergo psychological counselling after dealing with an aggrieved parent and their emails.  

“I did not sleep … I sometimes doubted my competence in my position and after over 20 years of being a principal had contemplated leaving my job,” she said.

Professor Lucas Walsh says the intense emotional demands of principalship are overlooked in policy and on the ground in schools.

The negative impacts on principal wellbeing included insomnia, nightmares, stress, exhaustion, feeling like an emotional wreck, physical illness, trauma, PTSD and quitting the profession.

School leaders also reported performing police, ambulance and funeral duties, alongside their role in managing multiple stakeholders during critical incidents.

“[After a death on the school site] I had to stand with the body waiting for emergency services to arrive. I wasn’t allowed to cover it in case it was a crime scene. The emergency services were busy and intense communication was required to get them to the school.

“While all this was going on, I was keeping curious parents and students away from the area,” one primary school principal recalls.

But Walsh says the resilience shown by principals at the toughest of times emerged as a strong theme.

“A huge amount of responsibility falls upon them. And in amidst the terrible stories of what they’ve been through are stories of hope and courage and resilience.

“And we really, really want to emphasise that as well, that principals in public schools have to accept all students and all challenges that come their way – and we need to recognise that; we need to nourish it, we need to support it,” he says.

For principals in regional and remote areas, and for those serving low SES communities, the emotional demands of the job are particularly extreme, the researcher flags.  

“[These leaders] face isolation, they face resource scarcity, and sometimes they are dealing with community-wide trauma.

“And if you think about the floods in the north of Australia quite recently, these [kinds of events] really deeply affect and shake up communities – and principals there are often the first responders.

“They’re also there afterwards in the long-term clean-up operation that occurs after these disasters have taken place.”

One principal said their critical incident experience was ‘like juggling 10 chainsaws’.

“… you are caring for students and staff, managing media, responding to the community, responding to the Minister’s office, reaching out to the actual family of the child, shutting down ridiculous gossip, working with police and attending to a multitude of other tasks.

“You go home at night, [you] don’t sleep and [then] repeat [it all again] the next day. After a few weeks it dies down and life returns to normal for everyone else.

“As my [deputy principal] said to me two weeks following [the incident] – I don’t know how you’re still standing. Adrenalin was my only answer.”  

Vast inequities in funding and resourcing are “deeply embedded” in the very structure of Australian schooling, Walsh says, bringing a heightened emotional labour for those in disadvantaged contexts.

“Indigenous principals and those leading Indigenous schools carry what we call ‘colonial load’. They’re navigating cultural tensions.

“What all of [these principals] have in common is a systemic neglect…” he adds. 

Despite struggling internally, principals said they must maintain an exterior façade that exudes calm professionalism in times of crisis and emotional intensity.

This ‘masking’ can backfire, the research notes, triggering a growing sense of alienation from oneself and one’s work.

“Masking takes place when you have to put on a face while managing your own emotions and the emotions of others,” Walsh explains.

“That’s what emotional labour is. The pinch point comes when in the process of masking you come to experience its effects and when it starts to manifest in unhealthy behaviours and experiences.

“So, 24-7 anxiety, sleeplessness, actually experiencing the bodily effects of the conflict within the school, such as putting yourself in between [violent individuals].

“As we’ll see in future reports, this takes a toll.”

As one male principal from a rural F-12 school recalled in the study: “Working with emotional staff at the time, and working with leaders who were shattered, while I was trying to deal with my own emotions, was soul destroying.

“Good people cried, took time off, left the profession, left the school. People said that I ‘coped well’, but they didn’t know the emotional and physical toll the issue left for me. There was no one I could turn to.”

Walsh says school leaders’ emotional labour is unrecognised in state and national policy and role descriptions of principalship. He wants to see this change.

The study calls for a review and update to AITSL’s Professional Standard for Principals to “better reflect the diverse leadership challenges” school leaders face.

Meanwhile, state governments should recognise principals as first responders and ensure all receive education and training in managing critical incidents in their context, such as natural disasters, the researchers contend.

“Another thing to note is, what comes out of our data is that this emotional labour takes place every day in one form or another – we have just identified critical instances.

“But it’s really important to know that this kind of labour is deeply a part of being a principal, Walsh says.

The report is one of a series that examines key themes arising from a four-year research project called Invisible Labour: Principals’ Emotional Labour in Volatile Times.