Australia’s school principals have collective responsibility for nearly 3 million students and staff. But who takes responsibility for them?
Since 2011 we have been surveying every year between 2,300 and 2,500 participants and it is now the longest running survey of its type in the world.
Previous surveys have shown school principals face unsustainably high workloads, high levels of stress and unacceptable rates of violence and abuse from parents and students.
Our 2023 survey unfortunately finds the work levels, stress and abuse continue. But on top of this, school leaders are experiencing significant levels of mental illness and around half are considering leaving the profession.
In the 2023 survey we looked at responses by career stages to get better insights into Australia’s principals.
School leaders vary widely in leadership experienceHowever, across all levels of experience, there are similar levels of high workload (an average of 56 hours per week).
No matter what stage of their career, all told us how the the sheer quantity of work and a lack of time to focus on teaching and learning were the top two sources of stress.
Other top concerns were the mental health of students and of staff.
Principals reported concerns about staff and student mental health as well as worries about their workloads and stress.
Disturbingly, principals also reported the highest levels of violence, bullying and threats of violence since the survey began in 2011:
As one school leader told us:
Whilst I am more than aware that you can’t please all of the people, all of the time, I have been ground down by the almost constant negativity, nastiness and violence within our community.
We also examined the rates of mental illness among school leaders.
Almost 19% of those surveyed reported moderate-to-severe levels of anxiety. About 18% said they had moderate-to-severe depression. Early-career school leaders were most likely to report higher levels of anxiety and depression.
Unsurprisingly, given the workload, abuse and mental health issues, the survey found significant numbers of school leaders are rethinking their career options.
More than half (56%) of school leaders surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that “I often seriously consider leaving my current job”.
Despite all these challenges, principals recorded a moderate increase in their resilience scores. On a 1–5 scale, the average score was over 3.82.
However, we found those with lower resilience scores were more likely to say they intended to quit. This further highlights the importance of supporting school leaders’ health and wellbeing.
If these school leaders really do quit, they will take years of experience with them and cripple the ability of Australian schools to realise their aspirations.
All federal and state education ministers are expected to meet around April and must make support for principals’ wellbeing and safety a top priority.
