School principals hounded out by violent parents and students

Violence, burnout and ‘brutal’ workloads will push school principals to quit in record numbers this year, a study shows.

Angry parents and students are assaulting school principals, a sweeping new survey shows. Photo iStock

Violence, burnout and “brutal’’ workloads will push school principals to quit in record numbers this year, a study shows.

Four out of 10 principals were exposed to violence in schools last year, with some punched or pushed by angry parents, or injured breaking up schoolyard fights.

Escalating violence and stress in schools is exposed in the latest Australian Principal Occupational Health and Wellbeing Survey of 2590 principals and deputy principals, which is carried out each year by Australian Catholic University researchers.

Workloads worsened during the pandemic, with principals and their deputies working 55-hour weeks, on average, as they devoted more time to dealing with pandemic planning and students’ mental health problems.

The research shows 39 per cent of school leaders were exposed to workplace violence in schools last year – 10 times higher than the general population. Some 7 per cent of principals were threatened with assault by parents and 37 per cent by students.

“At this rate, half of all school leaders will endure physical violence by 2025,’’ ACU investigator and former principal Paul Kidson said on Monday. “Principals have to deal with students who are fighting one another – if three or four students are belting one another up and they have to get in the middle to break up the fight, they’re exposed to violence.

“I’ve even had to break up parent scuffles in the carpark.’’

Dr Kidson said the survey found principals had “brutal’’ workloads and worked an average of 23 hours a week during school holidays. A record one in 12 principals intends to retire early this year, as school leaders report the highest level of mental burnout since the survey began in 2011.

“The system is broken and on its knees,’’ one NSW public high school principal said.

“(There is) an unsustainable workload, poor working conditions (and) a significant increase in students and their families presenting with complex problems that schools do not have the resources to manage effectively.’’

Australian Secondary Principals Association president Andrew Pierpoint said he had been “roughed up’’ by a former student 10 years ago.

“The young fellow came into the school – I don’t know why he was aggrieved or if there was substance abuse – but I asked him to leave the school grounds, calm down and then come back,’’ Mr Pier­point said. “He lunged forward and punched me in the head – that really rattled me for a while.

“There are plenty of women who’ve been attacked by students or parents,” he added.

Mr Pierpoint said increasing violence, as well as the pandemic, had made life “close to intolerable’’ for some principals. A third of principals reported being cyberbullied, and 45 per cent were victims of gossip and slander.

“It’s not just physical bullying; I know of a principal who had his face superimposed on a known pedophile’s body and circulated among the community,’’ Mr Pierpoint said. “He and his family had to pack up and leave town.’’

Mr Pierpoint said principals were also having to deal daily with students distraught over bushfires, floods, domestic violence and Covid-19 outbreaks.

Australian Primary School Principals Association president Malcolm Elliott said he had been “threatened so many times I’ve lost count’’.

“I’ve witnessed a principal who was punched in the face by a high school student,’’ he said.

“The student’s parents and relatives drove into the carpark, then a carload of people got out and egged on the student as he punched the principal.

“Principals are being man­handled and hit, injured and having objects thrown at them.

“We’re not talking about children throwing a rubber – just recently, one principal was hit on the head with a sizeable rock.”