School principals frustrated, stressed out, national survey reveals

Principals are reporting high levels of stress linked to chronic staff shortages, parent pushback and rising violence in local public schools and elsewhere in Canada.

Drawing on a recent survey of 456 school leaders, 76 of whom work in Manitoba, a new report reveals common challenges that are negatively impacting workforce morale and learning.

The majority of participants in the inaugural Annual Canadian School Survey said they lack the resources required to do their jobs properly.

“Schools have taken on so much more responsibility for welfare — not only just students, but for families and communities,” said Chris Hicks, reflecting on what’s changed over his 25-year career as a principal on the Prairies.

Hicks chairs the Manitoba Council of School Leaders, one of the parties consulted in establishing the national survey that circulated between October and January.

He called its findings “a candid and authentic reflection” of administrators’ experiences in 2026. The council, which operates under the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, has about 1,100 members.

People for Education, a national non-profit, and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Centre for Leading Research in Education released a 30-page report detailing the results of their collaborative project on Wednesday.

Co-director Kelly Gallagher-Mackay, an associate professor at Wilfrid Laurier, said principals are too overwhelmed to focus on proactive initiatives to bolster academics and well-being.

“The constant stream of crisis management is, obviously, really tough on students and on the educators we trust to help our kids flourish and learn,” Gallagher-Mackay said, adding that, “You can’t drink out of a firehose.”

While nine in 10 respondents said they believe they’re making a positive difference in children’s lives, more than half of them indicated their stress levels are unmanageable.

One elementary school principal left a comment saying they were surrounded by “metaphorical fires.” “We need to focus on preventing the fires in the first place,” they said.

Just under half of all participants said they experience daily or weekly shortages of teachers. The same percentage disclosed violent incidents are a weekly occurrence in their school.

More than a third of them reported receiving or being subject to intimidating messages — if not outright threats — from parents on a monthly basis via phone, email or social media.

The report, funded by the RBC Foundation, Mitacs and Laurier’s educational research hub, identified dissatisfaction with available programming and principal decisions as common sources of conflict. The latter encompasses disciplinary action, class changes, referrals and report cards.

A longtime principal in St-Pierre-Jolys, Hicks said the book ban movement, COVID-19 mandates and other emotionally charged topics have generated parent concerns.

He said it’s frustrating when caregivers gripe on social media before bringing an issue to the principal’s office, but behavioural challenges, unmet mental-health needs and violence are far more pressing issues.

It would be “a game-changer” if schools had better access to therapists, social workers and other clinicians, Hicks said, adding he hopes the new research will create a sense of urgency.

People for Education’s Paris Semansky said she hopes identifying challenges that transcend borders encourages more collaboration and knowledge-sharing about potential solutions.

What’s noteworthy for Semansky, co-executive director of the non-profit, is all the feedback pilot participants shared about expanding school meal programs.

There’s buy-in and funding for the national school food program and yet it’s still proving challenging for virtually all principals to implement, she said.

The report said these challenges “are emblematic of the overall level of pressure schools are facing.”

“We are asking our schools to do everything, but are we resourcing them to be able to address both our immediate needs for children and youth and our future needs as a society? I think there’s a real disconnect,” Gallagher-Mackay said.

As far as the researcher’s concerned, educator voices need to be taken into account in developing solutions — one of which may be in Manitoba.

She noted one local principal described an initiative to create permanent teacher floater positions in their division in a bid to alleviate pressures related to short-term absences.

The report did not include calls to action, but People for Education is preparing concrete policy recommendations as part of a national action plan slated to be released next year.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca