In 2019, the Learning Policy Institute and the National Association of Secondary School Principals released a report stating that 42 percent of principals surveyed considered leaving their position.
One of the main reasons cited was workload. Unfortunately, too often workload is stated as the reason for stress or the catalyst for principals to leave their jobs, but what demands are on the principal and where specifically do they need help? When we say help, it may be about assisting principals to identify ways to help themselves with their own workload or ways school communities can develop collective efficacy to alleviate some of the workload that comes with leading others. In fact, in the same report, coaching was stated as one of the resources more leaders wished they had access to.
In our work, we use pre-engagement surveys to help determine our focus, formative assessment during our hybrid work, and post-engagement surveys to determine how the professional learning we provide will help participants deepen their impact on student learning.
In surveying over 100 principals that we are currently engaged with, we found 10 common workload themes they say are issues for which they need support in order to continue leading their schools.
10 Common Themes
As we unpack the word “workload,” we have grouped the 10 common themes into two categories—personal workload and leadership workload—but these are blurred at times. Before we go further, let’s state that this is not an exhaustive list. Additionally, we should note that these are common themes, which means when we are working on collaborative inquiry cycles with leaders, we help them dig deeper down to the student outcomes they most want to focus on.
Personal Workload
The first group of themes pertains to the personal workload of a principal. In some of the themes below, they may have control. In others, they may require coaching from their district leaders or leadership coaches who work with their districts. Most frequently in our coaching sessions, principals want and need to talk about these themes with us before diving into those that involve their leadership of others.
Balancing Responsibilities
Principals often struggle with balancing the demanding roles of instructional leadership, operational management, and personal wellness. That includes discussions about reviewing their calendars to see where they spend their time. Or it involves coaching on leadership self-efficacy because leaders may only devote time to management tasks in which they feel comfortable and avoid instructional leadership because they lack confidence. As the leader, there is an emphasis and responsibility for modeling healthy work-life balance for staff and encouraging similar behaviors.
Time and Resource Management
Many principals find it challenging to manage the current demands of their role and want strategies from their leadership colleagues or coaches like us. Colleagues could mean people within their district or region or in their virtual groups on social media platforms like Bluesky. They are focusing on using existing tools, resources, and strategies without reinventing the wheel.
Peer Collaboration and Professional Growth
Principals value opportunities to collaborate and learn with colleagues facing similar challenges and to learn from the practices their colleagues find beneficial. There is a strong desire to focus on self-reflection and professional development, but finding time to do it is a struggle.
Urgency and Overwhelm
Many principals are navigating a space that has become more complicated in light of the priority of student mental health. Within the last week, we had several principals tell us they had to cover the main office because their administrative assistants were out sick and had no replacements and they had to cover classrooms for teachers because getting substitutes was an impossibility. That urgency and feeling of being overwhelmed prevents them from doing either management tasks or using instructional leadership strategies.
Leadership of Others Workload
As we continue our coaching sessions, principals quickly shift from their personal leadership workload to their collective leadership workload in supporting staff members in their buildings. The six themes below focus on the leadership connection between the principal and their staff in supporting the academic success of their students.
Instructional Leadership and School Improvement
Many principals are focused on setting actionable, measurable goals tied to their school improvement plans and struggle with monitoring and adjusting these goals effectively. There is a desire to filter through competing priorities to focus on high-leverage strategies that drive significant school improvement.
Staff Collaboration and Capacity Building
Building trust, shared accountability, staff buy-in, and ultimately attaining collective efficacy is a recurring priority. There is interest in fostering leadership capacity among staff to distribute responsibility and increase team effectiveness.
Student Engagement and Attendance
A key desire by principals is to address persistent absenteeism through strategies like family engagement, positive behavioral interventions, and fostering a sense of belonging. Principals aim to make students feel valued and connected to their school to improve attendance and morale.
Staff and Student Well-Being
Principals believe in prioritizing the mental health and well-being of staff and students, recognizing its impact on morale and engagement. They are diligently working to address changing work ethics, attitudes, and expectations among younger educators, which is a growing concern.
Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity
Principals aim to create equitable, inclusive learning environments that meet the needs of diverse student populations, including students with special education needs and multilingual learners. They are making efforts to incorporate culturally relevant teaching and celebrate diversity in school culture.
Building Relationships
Principals see strengthening family and community engagement in education as critical to achieving their broader school goals. Building relationships by giving voice to students is a foundational strategy for engagement and attendance improvement.
What we often find when exploring these issues is that principals do not want to discuss them at first because they do not want to seem as though they are complaining. There are times during coaching sessions and workshops where we have to address when leaders use words of self-judgment because they feel like they are failing at their jobs.
Focusing on these 10 themes helps leaders see they are not alone, and we can use protocols of learning, like this one on dilemmas from the National School Reform Faculty, to help them engage in discussions with each other and find solutions.
Leaders can’t control the situations that happen to them on a daily basis, but they can control how they react to them, which will go a long way when considering their own mental health and well-being.
