Invisible Labour: Landmark National Study Shines a Light on the Emotional Work of Principals
A major new national research project led by Monash University, in partnership with Deakin University and the University of Sydney, has released its first report examining an often unseen but critical aspect of school leadership – principals’ emotional labour.
The report, Invisible Labour: Principals' Emotional Labour in Volatile Times Report is the first in a four-part series arising from the study exploring how the emotional demands of the principalship have intensified, particularly in the context of growing social, economic and community volatility.
Drawing on 298 critical incident testimonies from 256 public school principals across Australia, alongside stakeholder interviews, case studies and a comprehensive policy audit, the study led by Professor Jane Wilkinson, confirms what APF members have long articulated. Principals are carrying a significant and growing emotional burden that is largely unrecognised, unmeasured and unsupported.
The research highlights that emotional labour is not incidental to the role, it has become central to effective school leadership, particularly in navigating complex student needs, heightened community expectations, workplace conflict, violence, trauma and crisis response.
Key findings
The first report identifies several critical themes:
Escalating psychosocial risks: Principals are increasingly exposed to stress, burnout, emotional exhaustion and, in some cases, violence with serious implications for health, safety and career sustainability.
Systemic pressures intensify emotional labour: Underfunding, workforce shortages, administrative burden and increasingly polarised communities all amplify the emotional demands placed on school leaders.
Unequal impact: The emotional labour of principals is not evenly distributed. Women principals and those leading schools in disadvantaged, rural and remote communities experience a disproportionate burden.
- Policy silence: Despite its centrality to the role, emotional labour is largely absent from principal role descriptions, leadership standards and policy frameworks, leaving principals individually responsible for managing systemic risks.
Why this matters
The study provides a strong evidence base linking emotional labour to declining principal wellbeing, rising turnover and challenges in attracting future leaders. It also reinforces that this is not an individual resilience issue, but a system-level challenge requiring structural recognition and reform.
Importantly, the project adopts an activist stance, amplifying principal voice and positioning public education as a public good. Later reports will focus on the individual impact of emotional labour, the escalation of violence and social volatility in schools, and the role of education systems themselves.
The APF has been proud to engage with and support this research. Its findings strongly align with what members tell us every day, that the work of principals has become more emotionally intense, more complex and more exposed, while formal recognition and systemic support lag behind.
This research strengthens the APF’s advocacy for:
- genuine recognition of emotional labour as a psychosocial risk
- system accountability for principal health, safety and wellbeing
policy and industrial frameworks that reflect the real work of school leadership
We encourage members to engage with the report and look out for future publications as the project progresses. A copy of Report One and Report Two can be accessed here.