Fifteen years since the release of the report designed to spur action to resolve Australia’s principal health and wellbeing crisis, the latest data shows the needle has barely moved.
Released today, the Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey, compiled by ACU’s Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (IPPE), shows stress, burnout and workload pressures are reaching “critical” levels, with exposure to violence, stress and workload worse than when the study began in 2011.
Nearly half (47.8%) of principals reported experiencing physical violence and more than half (53.7%) faced threats of violence in 2025. While these figures were slightly down from the previous year’s data, levels of anxiety and depression are on the rise.
When examining the mental health of school leaders, the ACU researchers used the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) is a widely used, seven-question screening tool that measures anxiety severity and helps identify conditions including panic disorder, social anxiety and PTSD.
They found that 10.3% of Principals recorded severe anxiety scores, up from 9.3% the year before, while 8.2% received a severe score for depression, up from 7.1% in 2024, suggesting the pressures on Australia’s school leaders have worsened over the past year.
Indeed, workload was cited as a major pain point, with Principals reporting that they work almost 54 hours a week – well above the OECD teacher average of roughly 41 hours.
Its pressures like these that are causing many leaders to quit the profession altogether. More than half (54.4%) of school leaders said they are seriously considering leaving their current job.
The survey’s authors point out that that this has been “a consistently high figure” since this was first assessed in 2023 and has not become a downward trend, rising from 53.2% in 2024.
‘Depressingly predictable’
Dr Chris Duncan, CEO of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), said the ACU’s national survey has become “depressingly predictable.”
“While the survey notes some areas of improvement, the persistent themes of occupational stress related to poor behaviour towards principals remain,” Dr Duncan told The Educator.
“There are pockets in the survey reporting reduced burnout and attrition, but they are by means significant in changing the broad findings in the survey.”
However, Dr Duncan said there are recent signs governments are responding.
“[Governments are] giving principals enhanced powers to remove aggressive or belligerent individuals from school grounds, though principals have always had some level of authority to do this.”
For its part, AHISA has embarked on a program of Reflective Supervision (RS) with current and former principals undertaking training to become Professional or Reflective Supervisors.
“This six-month course at the University of Sydney accredits former and current Heads with the skills, knowledge and disposition to offer professional supervision to colleagues,” he said. “RS differs significantly from coaching, mentoring or counselling.”
Dr Duncan said education has been slow to adopt professional supervision which is a requirement in many front-line professions including psychologists, social workers, clergy and first responders.
“Reflective Supervision is an innovation in supporting principals to deal with the intensifying demands of school leadership, and AHISA is committed to providing Professional Supervision to all its members who deem it essential for their professional and personal wellbeing.”
Some surprising findings
The Survey’s lead investigator and school wellbeing expert Professor Theresa Dicke said an interesting finding in the 2025 data is the combination of some very welcome easing in some areas, alongside deepening risks in others.
“We saw an overall decline in Red Flag emails to 39.1%, down from 45.0% in 2024, which suggests some early benefits from the increasing policy and system focus on principal wellbeing,” Professor Dicke told The Educator.
“However, there is a concerning increase in self-harm reports among school leaders.”
Professor Dicke said this should serve as a serious warning that the role remains psychologically unsafe for too many people.
“What’s also striking is the fact that 2025 is the first year since 2020 where reported threats of violence and physical violence decreased compared to the year before,” she said. “Even so, the levels remain completely unacceptable.”
Professor Dicke said more than half (53.7%) reported threats of violence and 47.8% reported physical violence in 2025.
“The long-term trend over 15 years is still sharply upward. So, there are a few small signs of stabilisation, but nothing that could confidently be described as ‘resolved’.”
Dr Paul Kidson, Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership at the Australian Catholic University, said it was good to see a reduction in the percentage of participants receiving “red flag” emails, which are generated when school leaders are at risk of self-harm, occupational health problems or serious impact on their quality of life.
Dr Kidson said while this is encouraging, it is still too high, with nearly 40% of respondents getting a red flag.
“Because we’ve done comparisons across the 15 years of the survey, we’re able to see long term trends,” Dr Kidson told The Educator. “Unfortunately, most of them tend to be heading in the wrong direction.”
Yet what remains consistent, said Dr Kidson, is the high levels of commitment to what principals see as vital work.
“It’s quite a paradox,” he said. “Sadly, for the past few years we’ve also collected data on depression and anxiety and there is an increase in those reporting moderately severe or severe depression and anxiety. We are concerned that this will erode some of that high level of commitment.”
What will it take to finally move the needle?
Professor Dicke said the greatest opportunity for meaningful change in 2026 is reinforcing the shift that principal wellbeing is a system responsibility and issue not an individual one.
“The top stressors remain Sheer Quantity of Work and Lack of Time to Focus on Teaching and Learning, and they’ve held those positions since 2011,” she said.
“That tells us the solution is not another short-term initiative or asking principals to be more resilient; it’s redesigning what principals are asked to do, resourcing it properly, and removing work that does not contribute to student learning and safe school operations.”
Professor Dicke said if there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is that there has been “real movement” in some jurisdictions and increased urgency among policy makers, system leaders, and professional associations.
“We are beginning to see a slowing of some adverse trends, but the key word is ‘beginning’; the improvements are minimal and the baseline remains too high,” she said.
“The priority for 2026 should be workload reduction that is structural [especially compliance and administrative burden], stronger psychosocial safety obligations in practice, protecting mental health, and a clear, consistent approach to preventing and responding to threats and violence in schools.”
Dr Kidson said some states are taking action to support principals, noting that both the NSW and Victorian governments have moved to implement community safety orders, and that the Queensland government launched a ‘no excuse for abuse’ campaign.
“The frustration many principals express is that effective strategies and processes are already in place, but some parents and caregivers don’t think they apply to them,” Dr Kidson said. “It’s hard when some just won’t play by the rules that already exist.”
Dr Kidson said schools and communities must continue advocating for positive, constructive, and respectful communication with school leaders and teachers.
“We need to remind the community that schools are workplaces for nearly half a million Australians,” he said. “They deserve to have a safe work environment as should be the case in any workplace.”
The status-quo carries dire consequences
When asked what she sees as the most serious ramification for the Principal profession and for Australian schools more broadly if the situation continues to worsen at the current rate, Professor Dicke pointed to the “destabilisation of school leadership across the country”.
“This would be through burnout, early exit, and difficulty attracting future principals,” she said. “In 2025, more than half (54.4%) of school leaders reported they seriously consider leaving their current job. That is not a marginal issue; it signals a system under strain and it threatens continuity, improvement work, and stability in schools.”
Beyond workforce supply, there is also a serious educational risk, warned Professor Dicke.
“Principals’ core work is teaching and learning, but the report shows their time and emotional energy are increasingly consumed by escalating demands—particularly rising mental health complexity among students and staff, offensive behaviours, and sustained workload,” she said.
“If we continue on this trajectory, schools will spend more of their leadership capacity managing crisis and conflict, and less on building the conditions for high-quality teaching, staff development, and student learning. And as our report shows there is a large price attached to that.”
Dr Kidson is also concerned the leadership pipeline crisis could worsen, saying too many good leaders will consider leaving their role earlier than expected if the stauts-quo remains.
“The pipeline of aspiring leaders is still not sufficient for the current levels of demand, and there are some who see what toll principals pay for their role and these aspiring leaders are questioning whether taking on the job is worth it,” he said. “We also know that a high functioning principal is essential in high achieving schools.”
Dr Kidson said “it is in everybody’s interest” to have their school’s principal well and enjoying their work.
“The impact of principal turnover, or them not performing at their best, can be significant to a school.”