The first national ‘report card’ on school reform released by the Federal Government came with an announcement that the government will fund a national pilot for reflective supervision for principals in collaboration with Headspace.
Principals and principals’ associations have welcomed the concept, but remain curious about the details. If a national roll out of reflective supervision is to be effective in supporting Australian school principals, it will need to be well understood, properly resourced and thoughtfully implemented. A successful pilot will protect confidentiality, use trained supervisors, and be proactively embedded into leadership development, and be evaluated for its effects on principal retention, decision-making, professional confidence and school stability.
Australian school leaders have been telling us for years that the role is becoming harder to sustain. The 2025 Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Survey report revealed that 54.4% of school leaders agreed or strongly agreed that they often seriously consider leaving their current job. Severe anxiety affected 10.3% of respondents and severe depression 8.2%, both far above general population rates. The same report found that 39.1% of participants triggered at least one ‘red flag’ risk indicator.
Alongside this is a rise in violent, threatening and offensive behaviour. The same survey points to ongoing concern about threats of violence, physical violence, bullying, gossip and slander, with parents and caregivers contributing significantly to threats, bullying and cyberbullying, while students account for most reported physical violence. A separate 2025 report on offensive behaviours in schools reaches a found that 93.5% of school leaders had experienced at least one offensive behaviour in the previous 12 months, and recommended institutionalising professional supervision and reflective practice for school leaders.
Recent research on principals’ invisible labour adds another layer. A recent Monash University research project argues that principals’ work involves intensified emotional labour that is central to the role, but often unseen and unacknowledged. Across 298 critical incident testimonies from 256 public school principals, the researchers identified escalating psychosocial risks, emotional exhaustion, and the way this labour is shaped by systemic pressures, community volatility and inequity.
Taken together, these findings point to the emotionally exacting, relationally complex work of school principals, often done under intense scrutiny.
As a school principal and adjunct senior fellow, I am currently undertaking the Reflective Supervision in Education course at the University of Sydney as part of a project by AHISA to increase access to reflective supervision for independent school principals. Through that work, and through the scholarship of Michael Anderson, Geoff Broughton and Mary Ann Hunter, I am discovering that supervision provides a structured, confidential space in which leaders can reflect on practice, think critically about challenges, and examine the impacts of their decisions on those around them. It is regular, intentional, and ideally facilitated by a trained supervisor external to the leader’s workplace. It is distinct from managerial oversight, performance evaluation and coaching. It is not therapy, although it can feel therapeutic.
Reflective supervision can be a place to offload, pause or recover. However, its purpose is not simply relief but rather clearer thinking, better judgement and more sustainable leadership. The insight and ignition possible through reflective supervision is intended to allow leaders to literally see the impacts of leadership, on themselves and others, more broadly, widening perspective, mitigating isolation, and supporting leaders to make decisions amid complexity.
The principal role can become so engulfed by urgency, visibility and accountability that it erodes the person in it. Reflective supervision gives leaders protected time to think about practice while they are in it, not only after they are overwhelmed by it. It can widen perspective, reduce isolation, and help principals respond with greater care and clarity in situations that are often messy, emotionally charged and high stakes.
Reflective supervision is not a silver bullet or a quick fix. It cannot replace more wide-reaching reform or compensate for unsustainable workload, public hostility or ongoing offensive, threatening and violent behaviours. It may, however, help principals feel that they are not left to carry complexity alone, and that they are capable of staying in the work that is so important to our young people, our communities and our future.
Deborah Netolicky is the Principal of Walford Anglican School for Girls, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the University of Adelaide, member of national and international education committees, and host of The Edu Salon podcast. Deborah holds a PhD in education and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She previously served on the Board of Karrinyup Primary School for five years, as Deputy Chair and Chair.