School struggling to find principal amid shortage
‘Great resignation’ at top level affecting education in Nelson region
Nelson College for Girls is hoping for better luck as it starts a third round of advertising for a new principal.
Former principal Cathy Ewing left the position this week, after announcing her retirement about seven months ago.
Chair of the school’s board of trustees, Helen Taylor-Young, said the first two advertising rounds, from mid-2022, yielded ‘‘very few applicants’’.
‘‘I was surprised. You have to shortlist with a good round of people, which we didn’t have.’’
The school had a ‘‘very good’’ acting principal in deputy principal Heather McEwen, who would ‘‘keep the consistency of the school going’’ during the recruitment process, Taylor-Young said.
‘‘We’re hoping this time there will be more applicants after people have been on holiday, and they’re refreshed.’’
New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa said that in the primary sector, there was a shortage of people prepared to put themselves forward for principal jobs.
President of the union, which represents staff in primary schools and early childhood centres, Mark Potter, said that anecdotally, more principals were choosing to leave before retirement.
‘‘There’s been a bit of a great resignation going on.’’
Many younger principals were ‘‘trying to get out early in their careers’’, meaning there were fewer experienced principals to mentor those new to the job, Potter said.
The workload of principals had increased and had become more complex, he said.
Principals had been reporting ‘‘for quite a long time’’ that they didn’t have enough resources for things like staffing, and to sup
port students with high needs.
The compliance required to get resources was only increasing, he said.
‘‘The principal is responsible for getting as much resource as they can for their staff and . . . to support children, and a lot of our systems aren’t geared to get that to you,’’ Potter said. ‘‘They’re geared for you to try and get it out of them.’’
Many principals also had to ‘‘wear often unfair treatment through public channels’’, he said.
‘‘Some of the trial by social media that can occur has a very unpleasant load on a principal.’’
The Government could help principals by resourcing schools better, including funding them equally for staff, Potter said.
Chair of the Principals’ Council at the Post Primary Teachers’ Association, Kate Gainsford, said a ‘‘more practical allocation of staffing’’ was needed, especially of staff involved in the wellbeing of students (pastoral care) – an area schools were now expected to cater for.
Traditionally, Nelson was a place where there wasn’t a shortage of people applying to work as principals, she said.
Anecdotally, people were reviewing their options due to the increasing volume of a principal’s work and its complexity – with continuing teacher shortages also leading to a smaller pool of potential principals, Gainsford said.
‘‘The Ministry of Education is also recruiting from the education sector quite a lot at the moment.
‘‘A number of other career pathways are opening up for senior people in schools that might ordinarily go into principalship, or principals are leaving their positions to take up those other leadership positions.’’
President of the Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand, Vaughan Couillault, said it wasn’t uncommon for school boards to have to advertise for a principal more than once, but having to do it three times was ‘‘a little bit odd’’.
The increasing social responsibility principals were having to carry – particularly since Covid19 – might be starting to turn people off, along with increased levels of antisocial behaviour among some students, Couillault said.
‘‘A number of other career pathways are opening up for senior people in schools.’’ Kate Gainsford, PPTA Principals’ Council