Some Tasmanian school principals are working 60 hour weeks, but it is not just due to heavy workloads, Tasmanian Principals Association president Malcolm Elliott says.
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Mr Elliott’s comments come after the Australian Education Union Tasmania branch issued a statement on Tuesday claiming the state’s principals were stressed and overworked and needed more support.
Mr Elliott acknowledged that there were legitimate workload concerns among Tasmanian principals, but stressed that this was not the only cause of the overwork.
He said expectations of what a principal’s role was were important in finding a solution to the problem.
“Redressing the workload issues requires the people doing the work to actually look at what they’re doing,” Mr Elliott said.
“We need to be clear about what expectations are of principals.”
Mr Elliott said principals’ core work consisted of communicating with students’ families.
But he said some principals were getting bogged down with administrative tasks, such as workplace audits and school redevelopments.
Mr Elliott said working for more than 55 hours per week “does affect people”.
“It affects your psychological wellbeing, as well as your physical wellbeing,” he said.
Mr Elliott said the state’s Education Department had been “very supportive” of principals’ needs in recent years.
A government spokesperson said the government wanted to see principals being able to focus more on “school leadership”.
The spokesperson said that was part of the reason the government was employing 250 additional teachers in Tasmanian schools over the next six years.