The fourth report to come from a four-year research project unveiling the unseen emotional labour experienced by Australian school leaders, researchers found key systemic conditions within public education are pushing principals to the brink – physically, mentally and professionally.
The study reveals a clear pattern of neglect, overwork, and emotional strain is now bearing down on principals, with researchers drawing on 298 critical incident testimonies, stakeholder interviews, case studies and a policy audit to argue the case.
A blistering theme of abandonment and betrayal emerges from principals’ accounts, with over a third critical of their employer’s response or support at the time of a critical incident in their school community.
'I still feel sick about my job'
In one emotional testimonial, an experienced and dedicated principal of a rural primary school describes why she was forced to walk away from the job years earlier than she planned.
Grappling with intense feelings of anger and the sense of being ‘used and abused’ by the department, the former principal recalls the profound impact a critical incident – a lack of systemic support – has taken on her.
“Phone calls and no follow-up [from the department] just don’t cut it. We can’t remain in perpetual states of fear. I still shake when I recall that and other incidents.
“I knew I couldn’t keep going from helping people through constant trauma. I became hypervigilant about staff and students’ safety, my hair was falling out on my desk, my immune system collapsed and I can’t remember the last day I enjoyed work,” she reflects.
The school leader argues the system ‘treats us like numbers’ and that the people supporting principals are “either public servants [with] no idea or staff who openly say they don’t want to be back in a school”.
“After [a long period] of dedicated service … I leave feeling a failure and like I am kicked to the kerb like garbage used and abused. My health is now improving and I sleep better at nights. I still feel sick about my job,” the former leader said.
'They should be supporting the school stance'
The study found the need to support traumatised students has a substantial impact on principals as they struggle to balance duty of care to an individual with duty of care to other students and staff.
On this front, one principal at a rural primary school suggested the departmental response to a critical incident that occurred on campus was off the mark and actually compromised students’ safety.
“A trauma effected [sic] student attacked two other students during a play break witnessed by numerous children. The perpetrator absconded from school, other students were injured and there were a number traumatised.
“My first response was to ensure safety of students, those injured and traumatised. Secondary response was to find the student who had absconded,” the principal explained.
Department pressure to primarily support the student with a trauma background make things extra difficult, she indicated.
“Trauma child is unpredictable and violent, parents are unhappy he is still at school despite a number of violent incidents where staff and students have been hurt …
“Additional meetings with department, social workers and parents adds a great deal of stress and workload. I am very firm in my response with the department and have placed children’s safety at the forefront.”
The principal said the department should align with the school and not vocal parents in these complex situations.
“I wish the department actually considered what life is like in a school, how they would feel as a parent if their child was in danger. I feel as though they are very heavily in the favour of loud parents, and force schools to do things to save parents making a fuss when in fact they should be supporting the school stance.”
Researchers are now calling for a raft of changes, including;
- Prioritise principal wellbeing in the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.
- Reduce principal workload by reallocating administrative and compliance duties.
- Establish an independent research observatory to monitor educator health, safety and career sustainability.
- Provide tailored frontline support services including behavioural specialists, mental health professionals, and trauma-informed resources.
- Standardise access to counselling and wellbeing programs across all jurisdictions.
- Foster respectful school-community relationships through legislative change and better public campaigns.
“Principals are hardy. They can endure much criticism and negativity.
“However … the perceived feeling that their employer does not have 'one’s back' and in fact, is willing to throw one 'under the bus' can often be the final blow for principals wrestling with the daily complexities of the role,” the research team warns.
This theme is a ‘salutary warning that something is seriously awry’ when so many of the principal testimonies expressed this sentiment, they add.
“However, it also offers a beacon of hope, for positive ways forward.”
An invisible emotional toll
Lead researcher Professor Jane Wilkinson from Monash University says principals' emotional labour is now essential to the wellbeing of staff, students and school communities.
“Australian public school principals are navigating increasingly volatile environments with limited government support. Their emotional labour is largely invisible and often unacknowledged,” Wilkinson says.
“Our research calls for urgent reform at every level of governance to protect principals’ physical and psychosocial safety, restore their trust in education systems, and ensure the sustainability of our public schools.”
Andrew Cock, Victorian Branch President of the Australian Principals Federation, says these latest findings lay bare what principals across the country have been flagging for years.
Cock says the role has become unsustainable and, in far too many cases, unsafe.
“This research exposes a profession carrying immense emotional labour at great personal cost, with principals reporting chronic stress, exhaustion, trauma and even symptoms consistent with PTSD, as they respond to critical incidents that would overwhelm most workplaces,” he says.
He contends it is ‘past time’ for governments to recognise the scale of this crisis and respond with the full investment, protections and support for all public school leaders.
“Principals are deeply committed to their school communities, but commitment alone cannot compensate for decades of underfunding and the expectation that they serve simultaneously as educators, counsellors, crisis managers and first responders.
“These reports make it clear: violence in schools is not inevitable, nor should the emotional and physical toll borne by principals be considered acceptable…”
In a previous report, school leaders said they were 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 said.
Another 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.”
