Photo by Jehyun Sung on Unsplash
From time to time, I am still asked if I miss being in a senior leadership role (twice last week). I get why I'm asked because after seven years as an English teacher that was my life from 1990 to 2023 before returning to life solely as a classroom teacher.
Former school principals who have that particular career trajectory is nothing new. Partly it's because it's such a lonely road where only other principals understand the stresses and strains. Which can be completely overwhelming.
I'll always remember a lunch I shared with other principals in Taranaki where everyone apart from me talked about their heart conditions and the procedures they'd had. It was super scary and a good warning although I did do another seven years as a campus principal/ district principal.
All of those staff issues (serious and trivial - they are unrelenting), the demands from disgruntled parents, the discipline issues, the endless meetings, the petty jealousies, the back stabbing, all of that offsets the positive aspects over time.
I think it's an impossible job to do really well and remain sane without selling your soul - at least it was for me. Why would I want to go back to that?
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