Invisible Labour: Principals’ Emotional Labour in Volatile Times: Report Two: The Emotional Labour of the School Principal

The findings of this report are based on an Australian Research Council [ARC] Discovery Grant (DP230100594) research project: Invisible Labour: Principals' Emotional Labour in Volatile Times. The study is a collaboration between Monash University, Deakin University and the University of Sydney. The report is the second in a series examining the emotional labour of Australian public-school principals amid increasing social, political and environmental volatilities. Drawing on 298 critical incident testimonies from 256 principals, as well as stakeholder interviews, case studies and a policy audit, the study reveals how principals’ emotional labour—often invisible and unacknowledged—has intensified and become central to their role. The research highlights the toll this labour takes on principals’ health, wellbeing and professional sustainability and calls for systemic reform to acknowledge and better support the emotional demands of their role.