“THE job is certainly getting much harder,” school principal Dan McMahon says, reflecting on research that shows increasing levels of violence in schools, and with half of all school leaders at risk of serious mental health concerns including burnout and stress.
After a career in teaching, and still sprightly at 65, Mr McMahon, president of the Queensland Catholic Secondary Principals’ Association, sees the growing challenges of being a school leader, including threats of violence, with more than a quarter of the state’s school principals at risk of being physically attacked, and a third at risk of bullying.
It is parents who are often the perpetrators.
“There are more angry people in society,”Mr McMahon said.
“This may have been exacerbated by experiences of COVID-19. It is not uncommon for parents to ‘vent’ at school personnel.
“Sadly, it is often staff at school reception who bear the initial brunt of that before it gets to the principal.
Escalating threats and violence, punishing workloads and chronic staff shortages have hit school principals hard with an alarming 47.8 per cent triggering “red flag” alerts in 2022, according to the latest annual Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey conducted by Australian Catholic University.
“I would be among many of my colleagues who experience significant sleepless sessions at night wrestling with and re-living issues from the days before or the days to come,” Mr McMahon said.
“The litigious nature of the society in which we live would never be far from the minds of most principals.”
Mr McMahon said school leaders have to deal with significantly more compliance issues.
“Systems are very conscious of their legal responsibilities and principals are then responsible for ensuring that compliance, in so many fields, is expertly done,” he said.
“Principals are very aware of the personal, professional and financial costs for us if we get aspects of compliance wrong.”
Figures compiled by the ACU’s Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (IPPE) for the latest annual survey of 2500 Australian principals reveal “red flag” alerts jumped by 18.7 percentage points last year – a 64.26 per cent increase.
Red flag alert emails are triggered when school leaders are at risk of self-harm, occupational health problems or serious impact on their quality of life. The emails alert principals to contact employee support services.
Offensive behaviours towards principals have also escalated in the past year with 44 per cent of principals subjected to physical violence – the highest figure recorded since the survey started in 2011.
“Schools are dealing with many more issues of young people and families who suffer deficits long before they reach the school gate,” Mr McMahon said. He started teaching Year 6 at St Mary’s Dalby in 1978, and since 1992 has lead school communities across Queensland, including Shalom Catholic College, Bundaberg since 2009.
“Some young people come to school angry and some parents come to school angry. We work hard with a wide range of difficulties experienced in families – as we should.
“Regrettably, for principals, this often takes us away from our core job of leading Teaching and Learning.”
In all his years in Queensland Catholic schools, Mr McMahon said he had not personally experienced physical violence, but was “very aware” of colleagues who had endured attacks.
“Sadly, we are now provided training in how to effectively and appropriately restrain young people should such situations arise,” he said.
Mr McMahon has experienced cyber bullying and describes it as “awful”.
“When folks hide behind anonymity and a keyboard and disparage people or a school, that is a whole other world of hurt,” he said.
“Many of us have been actively defamed on social media. But so have the young people in our schools as well.
“Sadly, it is a very real and very obvious negative to a world so intertwined on social media.”
The latest ACU report follows the release of early survey findings that show heavy workloads, lack of time and teacher shortages were driving school principals towards resignation and early retirement, with the number of principals wanting to quit or retire early tripling.
“It is so much harder now to staff our schools,” Mr McMahon said.
“Governments are now scrambling to respond to this crisis but this shortage has been a very evident problem in the making for years.
“More principals are filling gaps in classrooms and doing playground duties and anything else necessary to keep things going.”
In dealing with burnout and stress, Mr McMahon said he is “grateful for strong ‘circles of support’ from trusted colleagues and family.
He described leading a school community as a huge responsibility and an increasing challenge, yet a wonderful opportunity.
“For worse or better, in a Catholic school, principals are the front face of the Catholic Church as well,” Mr McMahon said.
“Families are connecting with Gospel message through their interaction with their child’s school rather than the parish.
