Is Principalship becoming too difficult?

I read alarming articles indicating that Principalship has become so demanding that it is no longer a desirable career.

What are the pressures that may result in this situation?

With a majority of Western Australian government schools opting to become Independent Government Schools Principals then become responsible for a one line budget and must account for all costs including employing their own staff.  Maybe the added administrative demands are too much in a context of not being trained for such.

Then there are the pressures of modern devices and software like the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the mobile phone.  There is no doubt that the whole population is hooked adults,  teens and even younger children.  These aids can be turned to good effect in an effective school as most contemporary Principals well know.

Another area of concern is the need to recognise the LGBTI concerns amongst student populations and I have written about this elsewhere.  This a particular problem for Principals of non-government independent schools where a religious core of teaching precludes the support of say same sex marriage.  Australia now has a law recognising same sex marriage.

A further area of concern in Australia is the pressure for the federal government to see students performing well in the compulsory NAPLAN tests.  Poor results see comments from the Minister for Education that that teachers have much work to do.  Principals are under pressure here as their results appear on the federal government sponsored Myschool website.  Teachers are accused of teaching to the test.  They are only human and one cannot be too harsh in judging such activity.  It would require a bold Principal to stand upon and strive for a 'no gaps' learning policy as I have recounted several times in previous posts.  You are probably sick of reading about it in this blog.

Despite all the above I still claim it is a wonderful job to be a Principal and with the appropriate training the contemporary pressures can be managed.  'Distributive leadership' is a way to go whereby the talents and knowledge of every staff member can from time to time be deployed in leadership roles related to more effective learning of the students.  Leadership does not reside solely in the traditional administrative hierarchy of a school.


May the Force be with you!


GD