The principal who participated in The Educator’s ‘A Day in the Life series’ interview below agreed to speak with The Educator on the condition of anonymity.
My working hours and daily duties
Most days I am school at 7:00am and leave at 7:00pm. It is not the volume so much as the complexity and the velocity of change (from Curriculum, HSC minimum standards, to staffing formulas, behaviour management, health and safety, industrial awards, disabilities, professional development, community expectations, tree audits, social media, VET skills and compliance, student wellbeing and all that comes with that, etc) and how you manage that change, so that your team feel supported in their roles.
I spend most Sundays working, so that when I’m back at school I have time to meet, influence, support and empower all my people. Educational leadership is far more complex than most leadership positions; context – and the flux of society – lands in schools. School leadership is highly complex, and no two contexts are the same. I am the face of education in my community, the only high school with in 60km. This burden is unrelenting, but also brings much joy. It is a public life, whichever way you look at it.
The most challenging part of my job
The sheer complexity, and the constant pressure from society, that we must prove ourselves repeatedly, prove our ability to lead communities of people, for the greater good. The eroding of trust in our integrity as wise and extraordinary people who have high levels of integrity (otherwise we would/couldn’t do this job). On Christmas day, we think of tree audits, as we do not want our students or teachers to be in any danger, we think of students who are being left behind, because we don’t have the teachers, we think about the incredible hard-working teachers who put their jobs ahead of their own families. We do also think about the great joy in students having agency and success in their learning journey.
What I love about my job
I love that “Hi, Miss!” teenage enthusiasm, that young people bring. The collective joy of being part of an outstanding purposeful organisation, which sees young people, despite all the barriers, successfully complete year 12. Where a school, mostly public schools rewrite a student’s destiny through the opportunities provided, while providing a holistic educational experience and inclusion for all students, no matter what their background is.
Why I sometimes want to quit
I would walk, if there was a continuation of the undervaluing of schools and those in them, the intensification of parents may be adding to this. I would walk if a government perceived school leadership as just admin. And that my job continues to be about accountability and compliance, rather than a focus on school educational leadership, and being carriage of influencing the lives and futures of young people. I never shy away from what I am responsible for, but I find compliance and button pushing accountability as incredibly unproductive and lacks genuine trust in highly skilled and ethically driven school leaders.
The principal who participated in the ‘day in the life’ interview below agreed to speak with The Educator on the condition of anonymity.