The 2016 Principal Health and Wellbeing survey run by the Australian Catholic University has been released with some alarming results.
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According to the 2016 survey data levels of offensive behaviour towards principals and deputy principals is growing in many parts of the country, but it is not uniform.
Surveyors said the trend in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania is extremely worrying.
The data revealed statistically principals received significantly more threats than deputies or assistants from 2011-14 but there were no differences in 2015-16.
Threats of violence against principals, deputy and assistant principals have increased from 4.9 to 5.6 times the general population prevalence.
According to the surveyor’s this rate is extremely high with 38 percent of participants threatened in 2011.
This percentage rose to 44 percent in 2016 meaning that close to one in two principals were on the receiving end of a threat.
The data showed that secondary principals received the most threats only just ahead of their deputy or assistant counterparts.
According to the data there were significant differences between school sectors with approximately one in two Government school and one in three Catholic school principals being threatened each year.
Surveyors were not surprised by this difference as Catholic schools can remove violent students from their system where the Government system cannot.
According to the author’s of the report this means that most violent students will eventually end up in the Government system by late secondary school.
Data showed that it is not only students threatening or attacking principals, deputy and assistant principals across the country. The survey showed that parents have also threatened and physically assaulted principals and/or deputy assistant principals in Australia too.
There were 1080 New South Wales principal’s that took part in the survey making up 21.2 percent of the 5,082 principal’s surveyed nationally.