3. The Role of Principals in Enabling Equity and Well-being in our Schools

Wellbeing and engagement among Australia’s secondary school age learners has declined recently. This is especially true for the most disadvantaged students who attend predominantly public schools. Meanwhile, the long running Principals’ Health & Wellbeing survey shows rates of occupational violence and other ongoing stressors are unacceptably high, with the issue of teacher retention a significant factor. Given that school leaders play the most critical enabling role in our schools , their health, wellbeing, and efficacy are essential prerequisites for happy, healthy, and successful schools. After more than a decade of monitoring, effective interventions are required.

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Summit Responses

Several common threads emerge from the responses of summit attendees regarding "Principals and Wellbeing" :

Inadequate resourcing and support for principals to run schools effectively
Increased intensity and complexity of the principal's role
Lack of effective induction, mentorship, and coaching
Concerns about occupational violence and aggressive behaviour from parents and community members
Pressure on principals to manage a wide range of responsibilities beyond their core role
Lack of autonomy and authority for principals to make decisions
Inadequate leadership structures and pipelines for developing future principals
Negative impact on principals' psycho-social and occupational wellbeing

Summit attendees proposed 'Best Next Steps':

Narrow the number of operational responsibilities of the principal and provide adequate resourcing and support
Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the societal impact of students not finishing school and principals leaving the profession
Provide effective induction, mentorship, and coaching for principals
Support principals' psycho-social and occupational wellbeing through targeted programs and resources
Grant principals the autonomy to issue community orders against aggressive and violent parents and community members
Launch a public campaign to address abuse of school staff and promote community respect for educators
Provide additional staffing resources, such as WHS officers and HR coordinators, to support principals
Offer job flexibility and job-sharing options for principals
Encourage meaningful consultation, sabbaticals, and the right to disconnect for principals
Create a culture shift in the expectations of principals and their accessibility outside of work hours
Model appropriate behaviors from upline roles and provide systemic support for principals
Establish a safe and psychologically supportive work environment for principals and school staff
Simplify administrative systems for seeking help regarding incidents
Continue to fund independent research into principal health and well-being, with financial contributions from the federal government
Examine leadership structures in schools to ensure they are adequate and effective in supporting principals
Enable principals to provide feedback on agency systems and their usefulness to schools
Recognize the need to slow the rate of change in schools, modelling industry best practices
Capture the positive aspects of the principal role, not just the challenges
Provide training and qualifications to prepare principals for the increased complexity of school leadership
Ensure schools are safe workplaces in accordance with Workplace Health & Safety legislation
Establish peer mentoring and support programs for principals
Address remuneration and EBA provisions to support principals' well-being and workload
Develop a framework for identifying and developing future school leaders
Co-design principal standards with input from the profession, rather than imposed by external bodies
Provide on-site well-being services for principals, similar to those available in Parliament House
Offer part-time and co-principal roles to support principals in need of assistance or returning to work after a break

ASPA's Best Next Steps

1. Provide ongoing funding for the annual Principals' Health and Wellbeing Survey

2. Fund research into the impacts on student outcomes of declining school leader retention and the return on investment for preventative evidence-based strategies to retain and sustain school leaders.

3. Introduce nationally uniform legislation based on the Victorian Governments’ Education and Training Reform Amendment (Protection of School Communities) Act 2021 that protects members of school communities from harmful, threatening or abusive behaviour.

4. Develop and invest in school based administrative, support and allied health staff; and improve the business systems that support school operations.

5. Require bureaucratic business units, such as those responsible for Finance, HR, and Infrastructure, to seek stakeholder feedback from their client school leaders about the efficacy of their service delivery

5. Maintain and expand current efforts to address teacher shortages, retention and mobility, including:

Review our progress toward the goal of ‘one profession’ in our efforts to harmonise and improve teacher registration across Australia
Expedite priority three of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan

6. Include a 6th priority in the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan - 'Retain & Sustain our Principals', and incorporate Principals' occupational health, safety and wellbeing into the next National School Reform Agreement.

7. Develop frameworks for principal remuneration benchmarked against equivalent roles in industry and the public sector that recognises the significant value, complexity and responsibility of the role.