Primary school principals suffering burnout from workload, conference told

Research by the IPPN over the past two years finds the incidence of burnout, stress, and depressive symptoms among primary school leaders was almost double that of the healthy working population.

Many primary school principals are struggling to keep up with the increasingly complex demands of the job, and many report suffering from burnout, stress, and depressive symptoms.

That is among the key findings of research published by the Irish Principal Participation Network (IPPN) on the second day of its annual conference in Killarney.

Research undertaken by the IPPN over the past two years finds that the incidence of burnout, stress, and depressive symptoms among primary school leaders was almost double that of the healthy working population.

More than 1,000 school leaders were surveyed by the IPPN about aspects of their jobs, including recruitment, teaching, and learning.

Principals were asked to rate the current sustainability of their role — zero being totally unsustainable, and 10 being fully sustainable.

More than a quarter (26.3%) rated the sustainability of their role at zero, 1, or 2.

Overall, principals rated the sustainability of their roles at just under 4 on the scale, with principals of DEIS schools — in areas of educational disadvantage — ranking their roles at 3.76.

Principals who also teach classes alongside management duties ranked the sustainability of their role at 3.53. More than half (54%) of primary school principals are teaching principals.

Responsibilities

Almost every principal surveyed (97%) strongly agreed or agreed that the key issue undermining their role is the number of tasks and responsibilities they must undertake that have little or nothing to do with the core purpose of being a school leader. 

Almost four out of ten (39%) of the schools that took part in the survey had seen a change of leadership over the last five years.

In 60% of those cases, the principal had not reached the age of retirement, but rather was stepping away from the role early, or moving to a different role.

The average number of applications received for those vacant principal positions was just 5.5 — and in 7% of cases, the role had to be re-advertised.

Almost one of every two school leaders (45%) who took part in the survey indicated that it was unlikely or highly unlikely that they would be in their current role in five years' time.

Additional workload

According to the IPPN,  the education system views school principals as a key to enabling sustained school and system-wide change. 

"Consequently, the role has been ‘leveraged’, leading to tasks and responsibilities being consistently added to the workload of school leaders, year on year."

IPPN president Brian Doherty said: "Primary school leadership is taking a significant toll on the health and wellbeing of our school leaders, and the situation is getting worse over time." 

"We understand that meaningful reform and change take time but the urgency of the need for action is clear. There can be no further prevarication on the issue of sustainable leadership."

"In the interests of the professional efficacy and personal health & wellbeing of school leaders around this country and, in the best interests of the children in our schools, the time to act is now." 

Minister for Education Norma Foley is due to address the IPPN annual conference in Killarney on Friday.