Led by Dr Emily Marchant, this study examined the working situation, well-being and work-related stress of senior school leaders in Wales and Northern Ireland during a period of educational crisis leadership in the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was obtained through a survey completed by 172 school leaders in Wales and 151 school leaders in Northern Ireland.
Key Findings
Workload and work-related stress: Findings suggest that senior school leaders reported high workloads, 79% of leaders in Wales were working at least 50 hours per week, 55% said their workload increased since before COVID-19.
Well-being: Senior leaders reported low well-being and depressive symptoms. In Wales, 55% of senior leaders were categorised as having low well-being, and 28% indicated depressive symptoms. The overall well-being score of senior leaders was low (average score 45/100).
Self-endangering behaviours: Senior leaders in this study were engaging in self-endangering behaviours. 72% often gave up leisure activities in favour of work, 58% sacrificed sufficient sleep and 96% waived working breaks, these were significantly higher in female senior leaders. 74% of senior leaders said this pace of work cannot be sustained in the long term.
Exhaustion: 81% of senior leaders in Wales had high/very high levels of exhaustion. Leaders also experienced physical complaints (psychosomatic complaints) including muscle pain (34%) and headaches (32%). 63% of senior leaders could not recover their energy after a working day.
Perceived stress: High work-related stress was reported, this was significantly higher in female senior leaders. 44% of female leaders reported to feel nervous or stressed at work, compared to 13% of males.
For more key findings, you can read the full paper here.
For the Conversation article, follow this link here.
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