When a principal is forced to spend disproportionate time managing conflict, teachers lose access to instructional support. Image: nimito/shutterstock.com

Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) President Ms Angela Falkenberg reveals the hidden cost of offensive behaviour in schools.

Walk into any primary school on a weekday morning and you will see leaders in action: a principal greeting students at the gate, reassuring an anxious parent, stepping into a classroom to support a teacher, juggling a dozen decisions before morning tea. What you may not see is the growing amount of time being siphoned away from this core work; time lost not to teaching and learning, but to managing offensive behaviours directed at school staff.

Image: Angela Falkenberg

This is the story at the heart of Unveiling the Ripple Effect: How Offensive Behaviours Impact School Leaders’ Productivity, a new research report commissioned by the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) and conducted in partnership with Australian Catholic University (ACU). While many in the profession will nod in recognition at its findings, the data gives weight to what principals have been saying quietly, and sometimes loudly, for years: this issue is no longer anecdotal. It is systemic, costly, and unsustainable.

The work no one trained us for

Offensive behaviours take many forms. They range from verbal abuse and harassment to threats, intimidation and sustained vexatious complaints. Often, they come from a small number of individuals, but their impact is outsized. The report confirms what school leaders know instinctively: dealing with these behaviours is not a brief interruption; it is prolonged, emotionally demanding work that pulls leaders away from their primary purpose.

Every hour spent documenting incidents, responding to emails, seeking legal advice, managing complaints processes, or supporting staff wellbeing after a confrontation is an hour not spent on instructional leadership, student support, teacher development or community building. Productivity, in this context, is not about efficiency metrics, it is about lost opportunity.

The ripple effect

The report’s title is apt. Offensive behaviour does not stop with the individual leader targeted. Its effects ripple outward across the school community.

When a principal is forced to spend disproportionate time managing conflict, teachers lose access to instructional support. When leaders are emotionally depleted, their capacity to lead with optimism and creativity is diminished. When staff witness leaders being undermined or attacked, it erodes trust and morale. And when school leadership is consumed by crisis management, students ultimately feel the impact through disrupted learning and strained relationships.

This is not about leaders being “too sensitive” or unable to cope. Principals are resilient, resourceful and deeply committed to their communities. But resilience should not mean they have to tolerate harmful or offensive behaviour as part of their role.

A financial cost we can no longer ignore

One of the most confronting findings is that managing offensive behaviours now costs the education system an estimated $206 million every year. When leadership time is diverted from core work, there is a real economic impact, not only in lost productivity, but in turnover, burnout and attrition from leadership roles.

At a time when attracting and retaining school leaders is already challenging, this matters. If we want capable teachers to aspire to principalship, we must be honest about the conditions they are stepping into, and then work collectively to improve them.

Why this matters now

Schools sit at the heart of communities. They reflect broader social tensions, pressures and divisions. As public discourse becomes more polarised and tolerance for difference frays, schools increasingly become sites where anger, fear and frustration are played out.

But schools cannot, and should not, absorb this alone.

The findings of this report land at a critical moment. Governments are rightly focused on workforce sustainability, wellbeing and productivity. This research makes a compelling case that protecting school staff from offensive behaviours is not a “nice to have”; it is central to maintaining a strong, effective education system.

What needs to change

The report points to the need for clearer protections, stronger system-level responses and shared accountability. Individual principals should not be left to manage serious incidents in isolation or to navigate complex complaints processes without adequate support.

APPA has long advocated for:

Clear, enforceable standards of conduct for interactions with schools
Consistent system responses to offensive and threatening behaviour
Access to timely legal, psychological and professional support for leaders
Public recognition that respect for school leaders underpins safe, effective schools

This research gives that advocacy a powerful evidence base.

A call to the profession – and beyond

If we genuinely want better outcomes for children and young people, we must be clear about where educators’ time and expertise add the greatest value. Teacher and school leader time is finite and highly skilled. It belongs in classrooms, in professional conversations about teaching and learning, and in building strong, connected school communities, not in the ongoing co-regulation or management of inappropriate adult behaviour.

This report provides strong evidence of what many school leaders have long experienced: when time and energy are repeatedly diverted to managing offensive or disrespectful conduct, there is a direct impact on leadership capacity and school productivity. This is not about avoiding accountability or silencing community voices. It is about ensuring engagement with schools is respectful, proportionate and aligned with the shared goal of supporting student learning.

The findings are particularly timely considering the Australian Government’s commitments to addressing bullying, strengthening respectful relationships and eliminating racism. Schools play a critical role in modelling these values for children and young people. That work is undermined when the adults who lead and teach in schools are not afforded the same standards of respect.

Leading forward; for students

When communities are safe, supportive and inclusive places to live, work and learn, schools are stronger. Staff wellbeing improves. Leaders can lead with clarity and purpose. Teachers can focus fully on teaching. Most importantly, students benefit from adults who are present, energised and able to give their time to what matters most.

This research brings us back to first principles. Protecting school staff from offensive behaviours is not about privileging staff, it is about protecting the conditions that allow schools to function well. When leadership time is preserved for learning, wellbeing and connection, productivity increases in the ways that truly count.

Schools exist to serve children and young people. Supporting those who lead them is not a peripheral concern, it is fundamental to the outcomes we seek for every student.

When we protect the time and dignity of school leaders and all staff, we protect learning itself.

The full report, Unveiling the Ripple Effect: How Offensive Behaviours Impact School Leaders’ Productivity, is available at www.appa.asn.au.

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