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

<p dir="ltr">This report provides a technical overview of the ARC Discovery Grant (DP230100594) research project: Invisible Labour: Principals' Emotional Labour in Volatile Times. The study is a collaboration between Monash University, Deakin University and the University of Sydney. The report is the first in a series of four and provides a technical foundation for a national study examining the emotional labour of Australian public-school principals. 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—often invisible and unacknowledged—has intensified and become central to their role. The research highlights the toll this labour takes on principals’ health, wellbeing and professional sustainability and calls for systemic reform to acknowledge and better support the emotional demands of the principals’ role.</p>