Stop sniping at school leaders: An Aussie principal hits back at the haters (including his colleagues)

We’ve told the stories of many teachers who slam school leaders as selfish, out of touch and lazy. Now one principal has the right of reply – and doesn’t hold back.

We read articles about horrendous leaders and there’s even Facebook groups dedicated to them.

But does a leader have a right of reply? Can a response be given? Is there room to shine a light on the other end of the education spectrum?

No, because as a leader you don’t get to reply. You must measure your response because, well, because you’re a leader.

Most of us wanted to teach children, and that’s what we trained for, but to make a difference at a bigger scale you must climb the ladder into leadership.

It’s the lonely level, the friendless level because God forbid you have friends on staff because clearly that means you have favourites!

One school leader is sick of teachers who think they are “paid the big bucks” and should therefore sort out every minor problem for them.

You make decisions in your role. But if anyone is affected by your role-based, school-needs-centred decisions, you’re accused of targeting them and being personal.

No one cares what you think because they’ve decided you’re making this personal and they don’t like you. It’s so personal that they’ll attack your personal character, and talk about you to as many people as will listen, and white-ant you as much as they can.

Have you as a leader said anything personal to anyone else? No, that does not matter to them and their narrative.

As a leader, they’ll ask you to do your job because it’s the reason you’re here. Do it within the expectations for all and if that doesn’t suit you, or you don’t like that year level, or you don’t want to work those days, or you’ve got life commitments … they don’t care. Don’t be unreasonable, they say.

As a leader you have to do your job, because – as everyone says – “you get paid the big bucks”.

Staff relations have hit crisis point in some schools.

Of course, those big bucks are used as the reply for any situation. When a leader asks a staff member what they might have done to resolve a situation, they are always told, “I’m telling you”. There’s always the handball due to the supposed big bucks!

As a leader, a staff member can storm into your office, berate you in front of others, or come up to you in the yard with demands.

But as a leader, you can’t do the same. Well, you can but the consequences are swift – it will be anything from a complaint, someone going on stress leave, a post in one of those groups or an article on news.com.au. Most likely all of the above.

School staff are told they need to switch off, don’t take calls or messages outside of work hours, and that it’s unreasonable for a leader to contact them. But wait, they have an issue, a problem, so they just message the leader, they email us. They want a response, and they think they need a response. You’re the leader, it’s your job, they say.

Staff say, “I’m leaving because I don’t like you”, or “I’m leaving because I don’t want you as my leader”. But they would never want to be a leader themselves.

As a leader I’m here on site before anyone else, doing the jobs I need to do before everyone else comes in. And if I have time, I’ll count the big bucks you think I earn!

Is this over the top or a fair description of what it’s like to lead a school? Leave a comment below or share your story with us at [e-mail]

Originally published as Stop sniping at school leaders: An Aussie principal hits back at the haters (including his colleagues)