School Principal
What the work is
Plans, organises, directs, controls and coordinates the educational and administrative aspects of schools, including physical and human resources.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Establishes and maintains organisational structures that support the achievement of a school's vision and values
- Ensures the delivery of comprehensive education programs to all students
- Ensures a respectful, safe and productive learning environment for students and teachers
- Implements systems and procedures to monitor and report on a school's performance
- Develops and maintains positive relationships with all members of the school community
- Implements initiatives, practices and priorities of relevant education authorities
- Contributes to the development, implementation and review of school policies, programs and operations
- Manages the selection, professional development and assessment of staff members
- Ensures efficient and effective operations, including the management of finance, people, facilities, risk, compliance and major projects
- May teach students
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a fictional public primary school in a mixed suburb, with about four hundred students. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A quiet child you worried about stands up at assembly and reads aloud for the first time
- A new teacher's lesson is so good you pull up a chair at the back and watch the whole thing
- Families, teachers and students all turn up for a school event and the whole yard feels like a community
Hard days
- A day starts with three teachers away and no relief staff available
- A parent comes in furious about something that happened before you knew about it
- Every decision is watched by dozens of families, and no choice pleases all of them
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 141132, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.