Principal Health and Wellbeing

Advice

This page explains the Department's Principal Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the initiatives to promote a safe and supportive environment for school leaders to be their best.

Overview

• The Principal Health and Wellbeing Strategy aims to protect and promote the mental and physical health and wellbeing of Victorian school principals.
• There are dedicated services available to principal-class employees in Victorian Government schools, with contact details available via the Principal Health and Wellbeing intranet page (staff login required).
• The Principals’ Page on the intranet (staff login required) also provides links to key resources to assist principals including the contact details for the Principal Advisory Service, a dedicated hotline for Victorian government school principals to support them to find the information they need quickly

Details

Healthy principals are central to ensuring a positive environment for teaching and successful outcomes for students.

Services

There are dedicated services provided under the Principal Health and Wellbeing Strategy that commenced in 2018:

• School Policy Templates portal (staff login required) – to minimise administrative workload
• Principal Mentoring – to reduce isolation and build social capital
• Regional Capability Building – to improve the support received from regional leaders and staff
• Proactive Wellbeing Support (staff login required) – to provide opportunities to debrief with experienced psychologists and new principal check-ins
• Principal Health Checks (staff login required) – free and confidential proactive health consultations
• Complex Matter Support Team (staff login required) – to minimise workload and stress associated with managing and responding to complex cases
• Early Intervention Program (staff login required) – to provide proactive access to professional support to prevent health and wellbeing risks from escalating.

For more information on the services, refer to the Principal Health and Wellbeing Strategy intranet page.

Background

The Principal Health and Wellbeing Strategy defines an integrated framework of supports that can work together to promote and sustain principals' health and wellbeing. The strategy maps existing supports across the system, fills gaps, and encourages everyone who works with principals to consider health and wellbeing in everything they do. This approach ensures an effective team around the principal to support their health and wellbeing.

The strategy was developed following a comprehensive needs analysis of the health and wellbeing challenges faced by principals and a review of leading practice research. The findings of this review were published in the Principal Health and Wellbeing Discussion Paper.

Related policies

• Mental Health and Wellbeing — Employees

Relevant legislation

• Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic)

Guidance

All guidance related to this topic can be found in the Resources tab.

Resources

Background material

• Principal Health and Wellbeing Discussion Paper (PDF)
• Principal Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018 to 2021 (PDF) – defines an integrated framework of supports that can work together to promote and sustain principals' health and wellbeing.

Programs and services that support principal mental health and wellbeing (staff login required)

• School Policy Templates portal– to minimise administrative workload
• Principal mentor program– to reduce isolation and build social capital
• Regional capability building – to improve the support received from regional leaders and staff
• Proactive wellbeing supervision – to provide opportunities to debrief with experienced psychologists and new principal check-ins
• Principal health checks– free and confidential proactive health consultations
• Complex matter support team– to minimise workload and stress associated with managing and responding to complex cases
• Early intervention program – to provide proactive access to professional support to prevent health and wellbeing risks from escalating

Other resources to assist principals

The School Administration Support Hub (SASH) (staff login required) is a centralised support service for small schools with up to 200 students enrolled. SASH provides support with financial and payroll administration processes to reduce administrative workload for small school principals.

Principal health and wellbeing intranet page (staff login required) – contains information on principal health and wellbeing, including key supports and contact details.