Canberra school principals are drowning under 'crushing workload', new report reveals

A discussion paper from the Australian Education Union, based on the views of ten school principals, paints a bleak picture of frequent verbal physical abuse from students and parents and a lack of resources to support students' needs.

Several principals told the union their most constant decision-making pressure was a fear of "ending up on the front page of The Canberra Times".

Moves towards school autonomy have created perverse outcomes with too much responsibility and accountability resting with principals rather than the Education Directorate, the paper claims.

Principals say there is a "culture of fear of incurring a budget deficit" and that often resourcing for students with complex needs is received too late in the year to be useful.

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Australian Education Union ACT branch secretary Angela Burroughs said school leaders were "drowning under a crushing workload" and many had taken leave to care for their mental and physical health.

"The number of school leaders who have had to take time out is quite revealing, I think, because of just the demands of their job, and most importantly, they can't do the things that they really want to do," Ms Burroughs said.

"They can't be educational leaders because they are having to do incredible administrative and compliance requirements and often teach because there's not enough teachers."

An Education Directorate spokesman denied a fear of media coverage was conveyed to principals by directorate officials and said ACT public schools were "well-resourced".

"The Education Directorate welcomes advice from the [union] on their members' interests, views and concerns," the spokesman said.

"It is important to note that negotiations are currently underway on a new enterprise agreement and we intend to continue our discussions with the union in that forum on all relevant matters, including school leader workloads.

"We will further engage with the AEU on the matters raised in this discussion paper in 2023."

The paper claims principals do not have the resources to run a school effectively and school budgets are complex and opaque.

It calls for the directorate to provide more support to principals for human resources matters, work health and safety management, occupational violence measures and financial management.

It also calls for the reinstatement of the network student engagement team (NSET) which was disbanded because of staffing pressures.

"The dissolution of NSET further compounds occupational violence issues, because [principals] cannot refer students who present complex needs and challenging behaviours to a team with both allied health and educational expertise," the paper said.

The directorate spokesman said the services previously administered by the team still exist across the education system and that school staff were informed about referral pathways to mental health and community-based supports.

An ACT school leader and union member, who did not wish to be named, said resourcing had not kept up with the complex needs of students.

"We're seen by our colleagues from other states as being quite ahead and quite well-resourced and lucky in the kind of resourcing we get," the school leader said.

"But I just think our communities have become so complicated over the last few years, with such serious mental health and wellbeing issues with students and within the families that our students come from that you really can't underestimate the kind of pressure and workload that adds when you work in a school."

They said teachers were definitely reconsidering entering leadership positions because of how challenging the role has become.

"There needs to be a lot more services that are able to be accessed by families that the school can support but not the school doing the heavy lifting."

The directorate spokesman said ACT public school funding exceeded the national school resourcing standard and the education budget was indexed annually and increased in line with enrolments.

The union is currently in negotiations with the directorate for a new enterprise agreement and has foreshadowed industrial action in Term 1, 2023.

Ms Burroughs said the way the initial pay offer from the ACT government had been formulated meant school leaders would get lower pay rises than teachers lower down the pay scale.

"They get a kick in the teeth with the lowest percentage pay offer of less than 3 per cent per annum when they have done everything to keep our schools open, to keep our students learning, to keep our students safe over the last three years. They are rightly upset," she said.

"They have tried to protect their staff as much as they can over the last three years, but they are really struggling trying to put on a positive face."

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