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

Bibliography

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

  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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Wilkinson, J., Walsh, L., Keddie, A., & Longmuir, F. (2020). Leading for social cohesion in Victorian public schools: Final report.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.