School leaders battle work stress and violence

Issues School leaders battle work stress and violence

By Minh Lam

Nearly a third of school leaders – a record number – face stress and burnout from their jobs as they battle high levels of threats and physical violence from parents and students, an annual school leader well-being survey has found.

The Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019 has revealed school leaders are also increasingly concerned for the mental health of their staff and students, more so over the past 12 months than any other year.

But the researchers behind the report, from the Australian Catholic University (ACU) and Deakin University, believe the disruptions to school and home lives due to COVID-19, could have a beneficial effect in raising the awareness and appreciation in the community towards the challenges facing school leaders.

It recommends that employers should reduce job demands and/or increase resources for staff, while the community needs to promote social capital to stop offensive and violent behaviour towards educators.

The report surveyed almost 2,400 school leaders from across the country in all education sectors, and has been running since 2011, with more than half of the nation’s school leaders participating during that time.

The project was led by Professor Herb Marsh and his team from the ACU’s Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, and Deakin University school of education Professor Philip Riley.

The 2019 survey revealed school leaders were reporting an average working week of 55.2 hours during the school term, with about 97 per cent reporting more than 40 hours a week and 72.4 per cent working more than 50 hours a week.

“School leaders continue to report sheer quantity of work, lack of time to focus on teaching and learning, and student mental health, as their main sources of stress,” the report stated.

One WA respondent to the survey stated: “I love my job, I love what I do however, this same job creates a high level of stress, brings with it a level of abuse I have previously not experienced and makes me anxious.”

The 2019 survey found that, compared to the general population, a higher percentage of school leaders reported being subjected to threats of violence – 51 per cent, compared to 7.8 per cent.

Over 42 per cent of school leaders reported actual physical violence, compared to the general population’s figure of 3.9 per cent.

WA had some of the country’s highest figures in this area, as seen in Table 1 (on page opposite).

A WA secondary school leader reported: “My job has become more stressful over the last 12 months. A big increase in levels of violence and drug use among students, with a small group developing a gang mentality. Increasing amounts of time for me and my leadership team are spent dealing with extreme violent and abusive/aggressive behaviour from students, to the detriment of long-term planning and curriculum focus.”

Almost 38 per cent of school leaders reported bullying, compared to 8.3 per cent of the general population, while the comparative figures for gossip and slander were 50.9 per cent versus 38.9 per cent.

“Last year school leaders told us they were struggling from many serious workrelated issues including stress caused by parents, burn-out from the sheer quantity of work, employer demands and student and staff mental health issues,” Professor Marsh said. “The combined impact of record levels of heavy workloads and offensive behaviour by parents and students is a risk to school leaders’ long-term health and even their life expectancy.”

Professor Riley said school leaders were overwhelming in their feedback that a line in the sand had to be drawn to end violence in schools.

He said the sudden changes to education delivery prompted by COVID-19 restrictions required an unprecedented response by school leaders to roll-out remote learning opportunities for their students.

“We know from anecdotal evidence that many parents, although impacted themselves, are deeply appreciative of this work by principals and educators,” Professor Riley said.

“We hope this points to a future in which there is greater awareness and acknowledgement of the many stresses and challenges that principals face on a regular basis as they lead their students and staff.”

Other findings of the 2019 study were that more than 70 per cent of school leaders were over 50 years old, with a quarter over 60 and nearing retirement.

“It should be no surprise that fewer educators are willing to step up and take on the increasingly-complex role of school principal,” Professor Riley said.

“The low replacement rate for retiring school principals tells a truly dire story about our education system which should concern us all and needs further investigation.”

One of the report's key recommendations is that “the Australian education system would benefit from stable policies that transfer with changes in government.”

Sexual Harassment

Threats of Violence

Physical Violence NSW

2%

49%

37%

VIC

2%

46%

41%

QLD

1%

52%

45%

SA

2%

54%

40%

WA

1%

55%

50%

TAS

6%

57%

41%

ACT

0%

57%

49%

NT

2%

62%

60%

General Population

2.9%

7.8%

3.9%

Bullying

28% 19% 22% 33% 19% 33% 24% 22% 8.3%

Unpleasant Teasing

6% 5% 4% 4% 3% 10% 5% 7% 8.3%

Conflicts and Quarrels

34% 37% 37% 48% 33% 47% 38% 31% 51.2%

Gossip and Slander

36% 32% 37% 32% 37% 41% 38% 18% 38.9%

Source: Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey 2019

Systemic changes implemented by the government to improve the work situations of school leaders should be supplemented by greater personal resources to help deal with a such a naturally complex occupation.

“Countless studies show the transformative nature of education and school leadership. If we, as a nation, are

The SSTUWA response

SSTUWA President Pat Byrne said the serious problem of violence in schools was ongoing due to funding cuts that left schools insufficiently resourced to address the issue. “There needs to be an increase in the provision of targeted specialist programs for disengaged students, as well as staff to deliver them; greater availability of appropriate professional learning for teachers and better access to counselling services for those students who need them,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “There is a strong lack of mentorship across the system. Personal friendship groups and some networks work very well but there is no sense of system leadership in this area, something which is felt by both principals and teachers.

“Successive budget cuts over many years have meant that these kinds of initiatives are not prioritised, despite being acknowledged as critically important to the health and well-being of staff.” serious about the key role of education in the growth and development of Australia, we simply cannot ignore school leaders’ cries for help,” Professor Riley said.

Ms Byrne said the Let’s Take a Stand Together 10-point plan by the state government was a good start but addressed the most extreme examples of assaults in schools.

“What is needed now is an early intervention and prevention strategy,” she said.

“Significantly more resources are needed to enable schools to extend their capacity to do this.”

COVID-19 Hope in a time of COVID

A new children’s book, Hope, Where Are You? has been launched to give children and families hope amidst the COVID-19 crisis and school closures. The free downloadable book was written by globally recognised teachers and follows the story of six children around the world experiencing school closures during the pandemic. Volunteer educators worldwide have joined the cause, helping to translate the text into over 30 different languages. The book was written by two awardwinning teachers, Armand Doucet (pictured below, right) from Canada and Elisa Guerra (pictured below, far right) from Mexico. It aims to nurture social and emotional development by changing the narrative around COVID-19 from one of fear, to one of hope. Each story about the children tells a similar narrative of their frustrations, challenges and their ability to find optimism and spread it to others. “The book aims to portray the voices of children and their particular stories during the pandemic,” Ms Guerra said. “It showcases how we face different problems amidst the pandemic and how human connection brings us closer to finding hope. A teacher, a parent, a grandparent, a sibling, a friend, a neighbour, and even yourself: there is always someone that can help you get through difficult times.” The book also includes a parent/educator guide on how the resource can be used to support children’s social and emotional skills as well as provide context for discussion. Along with this, a range of play experiences, based on the characters in the book, provide additional learning activities for children. “We are hoping that teachers can use this book to help have those difficult discussions, start a conversation of hope, talk about global citizenship in relation to their own personal stories, hope for their community and so much more,” Mr Doucet said. “The book is designed to mean different things for different groups in different contexts and that’s exactly what we want, for it to be used the way that works best for everyone.” Elisa’s daughter, Ana RoGu, who volunteered to illustrate the book said: “I envision the book being used as a prompt to start conversations between teachers, parents, key adults and children, while still on lockdown or once schools reopen.” “The illustrations are designed as a stimulus for our feelings and provide a starter for us to talk about how we feel and why we feel a certain way. My dream is for my illustrations and the associated text to open the door for children to talk about important topics that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.”

Hope, Where Are You? also aims to generate a hope movement (#hopewhereareyou) through a public relations and social media campaign that showcases hope through social and global solidarity.

The book can be downloaded via Apple Books, Google Play, as a PDF from the Hope Where Are You webpage or as a print-on-demand book from Amazon.

For those that would like to make a difference to those less fortunate, the authors encourage a donation to the UNICEF COVID-19 Response, which supports the world's most vulnerable children. Visit bit.ly/36lK0jx to donate.

For more information about the book and resources visit Education International at ei-ie.org and hopewhereareyou.com