Publications and findings

Publications and findings

Reports

Invisible Labour: Principals’ Emotional Labour in Volatile Times. Report Four: “Hung out to Dry”

This fourth report in the series investigates how systemic conditions within Australian public education intensify the emotional labour of school principals.

Report 4

Invisible Labour: Principals’ Emotional Labour in Volatile Times. Report Three: The Escalation of Violence in Schools and Its Repercussions for Principals’ Emotional Labour

Drawing on 298 critical incident testimonies from 256 public-school principals, corroborated by stakeholder interviews, case studies and a policy audit, the research reveals how principals are increasingly expected to manage physical threats, ...

Report 3

Invisible Labour: Principals’ Emotional Labour in Volatile Times. Report Two: The Emotional Labour of the School Principal

Drawing on 298 critical incident testimonies from 256 principals, as well as stakeholder interviews, case studies and a policy audit, the study reveals how principals’ emotional labour has intensified and become central to their role.

Report 2

Invisible Labour: Principals' Emotional Labour in Volatile Times. Report One: Technical Overview of the Project

This report provides a technical overview of the ARC Discovery Grant (DP230100594) research project: Invisible Labour: Principals' Emotional Labour in Volatile Times.

Report 1

Journal Articles

  1. Keddie, A., Delany, T., Wilkinson, J., Chandler, P., Grice, C., Walsh, L., & Longmuir, F. (2026). The gendered dimensions of principals’ emotional labour: suppression, self-doubt and self-blame. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 1–11.
  2. Delany, T., Keddie, A., Wilkinson, J., Chandler, P., Longmuir, F., Walsh, L., & Grice, C. (2026). Of course they care! Understanding the caring work of principals in Australian government schools. School Leadership & Management, 1–21.

Book chapters

  1. Wilkinson, J., Grice, C., Longmuir, F., Keddie, A., Walsh, L., Chandler, P., & Delany, T.  (2026). Theorising Emotions and Affect Though a Practice Architectures Lens: The Emotional Labour of Australian Public-School Principals. In J. Wilkinson, K. MacDonald, F. Longmuir, M. Cooke, M. Adams, F. Diamond & K. Reimer (Eds.). Relationality, Emotions and Affect in Education and Research: Through a Theory of Practice Architectures lens. Springer.
  2. Grice, C., Wilkinson, J., Walsh, L., Longmuir, F., Keddie, A., Chandler, P., & Delany, T. (forthcoming). Principals’ emotional labour in responding to critical incidents: Examining burnout from ‘lone ranger’ principals through a practice architectures lens. In A. MacKay & F. Longmuir, Workload, Burnout, and Wellbeing in Education: Theoretical Insights for Transforming Work Conditions. Routledge.
  3. Chandler, P., Wilkinson, J., Grice, C., Longmuir, F., Walsh, L., Delany, T., Keddie, A. (forthcoming). “I had to put my emotions on hold”: School principals’ emotional labour in responding to critical incidents. In S. Ganon-Shilon & Schechter, C., The International Handbook for Governance, Leadership, Administration, and Management in Education of leadership (IH Glame), Springer.

Media publications

  1. Walsh, L., Grice, C., Wilkinson, J, Delany, T. (2026). ‘I had a recurring dream I was shot in the head’: school principals say violence is normal in their jobs, The Conversation
    Feb 02, 2026
  2. Wilkinson, J., Longmuir, F., & Walsh, L. (2023). A matter of principals: ‘No improvement’ in the challenges facing school leaders.
    July 06, 2023

Bibliography

Our background work for those who are interested to learn more.

  1. Wilkinson, J., Walsh, L., Keddie, A., & Longmuir, F. (2021). The emotional labour of educational leading: A practice lens. In Wilkinson, J. Educational leadership through a practice lens: Practice matters. Springer.
  2. Howie, L., Keddie, A., Walsh, L, & Wilkinson, J. (2021). Wild and tame zones in times of disharmony: Muslim boys and belonging in a primary school in Melbourne, Australia. Journal of Youth Studies, 24(7), 871-885.
  3. Walsh, L., Keddie, A., Wilkinson, J., & Howie, L. (2020). An ecological case study of the benefits and challenges of socially-just leadership engaging in ‘challenging conversations’ about social disharmony. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 52(4), 403-416.
  4. Keddie, A., Wilkinson, J., Howie, L., & Walsh, L. (2018). ‘We don’t bring religion into school’: Issues of religious inclusion and social cohesion. Australian Educational Researcher,46(1),1-15.
  5. Wilkinson, J., Walsh, L., Keddie, A., & Longmuir, F. (2020). Leading for social cohesion in Victorian public schools: Final report.
  6. Wilkinson, J., Walsh, L., Keddie, A., Sum, N., & Longmuir, F. (2020). Leading for social cohesion: The key role of schools. Centre for Strategic Education [CSE] Seminar Series 203, April.
  7. Wilkinson, J., Walsh, L., Keddie, A., Howie, L., Sum, N., & Longmuir, F. (2018). Leading for social cohesion: How principals respond to 'challenging conversations' about social and political volatilities and disharmonies.