Purpose: This paper explores how individual and collective burnout has become an organizational concern for school leaders, why burnout matters and what might be done to address the problems individual and organizational burnout generates. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents an analysis of the current literature regarding individual…

Purpose: There is currently a shortage of applications for the role of principal. There are a range of factors contributing to this, one of which may be the considerable levels of stress and burnout reported by principals and deputy principals. Distributed leadership may offer some solutions to this challenge. This study aimed to explore the lived…

Purpose: Work-related stress is a significant occupational health issue. Stress cannot be viewed separately from the perceptual or interpretive act by the individual. Self-efficacy is a personal characteristic that explains a high proportion of variation in the performance of school principals. Design/methodology/approach: The current study…

Purpose: This study centers the reflections of principals across the USA as they navigated the overwhelming stress of closing and reopening schools during a global pandemic. Specifically, the authors explored how school principals addressed self-care and their own well-being during the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This research study is…

Purpose: Recent teacher evaluation reforms around the globe substantially increased the number of teacher observations, consequently raising observers' (typically school administrators') observational loads. The purpose of this study is to examine associations between observational loads and school administrator turnover, reported time use and…

Purpose: This paper explores how leaders of new public high schools -- one charter and two innovation schools -- navigated the journey from school-in-theory to school-in-practice during the school's first three years. School leaders at charter and innovation schools have increased freedom over curriculum, budget, scheduling and personnel when…

Purpose: As a result of continuous reforms, increased emphasis has been placed on participative leadership as a means to improving school and teacher outcomes. However, along with the benefits of participative leadership comes the potential for strain and burnout, which stem from work intensification. Applying the implicit leadership theory and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test the model first presented by Federici and Skaalvik (2012) involving the relationships among four attributes of principals' work--self-efficacy, burnout, job satisfaction, and intention to leave (persistence). The model is then extended to test the role of isolation as a precursor.…

Purpose: This research sought to identify groups of school employees who were more similar in their responses to burnout and engagement measures, for the purpose of exploring what was similar in their school experiences. The profiles created in the present research enable a clearer appreciation of what is common to groups of school employees who…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the argument that leadership preparation programmes in the new millennium should be required to train school leaders emotionally as well as cognitively. A number of scholars have stressed that leaders are increasingly working within roles that are politically sensitive, conflicted and complex,…

Examines relationships between support variables (work significance, collegiality, and chairperson's support) and indicators of research university faculty burnout (emotional exhaustion and feeling of personal accomplishment) and between burnout indicators and potential consequences. Support indicators are the most influential determinants of…

An Australian principal who participated in an exploratory study to ascertain the extent and sources of stress among school principals realized that many of his colleagues felt isolated and unsupported. The study relates the high incidence of anxiety and depression among principals to conceiving educational administration as a technical activity.…

Findings of this Canadian-based study indicate that school principals are experiencing less than average levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization burnout, and an average level of personal accomplishment burnout. Work conditions most likely to contribute to burnout were work stress, work overload, deteriorating status, and…

Summarizes a qualitative study of principal burnout, focusing on causes of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment in the principalship. Nine principals explain how the job has changed, what job elements precipitated burnout, and why they are leaving. Discusses implications, including the need for improved support…

Summarizes a study to identify major personal, professional, and organizational characteristics contributing to administrator burnout; to determine salient correlational relationships; and to assess how social support affects job satisfaction, burnout, and performance. The Administrator Work Inventory was given to 1,000 Washington State principals…