"When we talk about principals' assignments and conditions, it is often with a focus on organisational factors. But there is also an emotional work that principals do every day and that we believe deserves recognition."
So says Lill Langelotz, associate professor of educational work and responsible for the newly started project "Principals' emotional labour in volatile times". She is joined by her Gothenburg colleague Åsa Hirsh, associate professor of education, and Anette Forssten Seiser, associate professor of educational work at Karlstad University. Together, they have many years of experience in educating and researching educational leaders.
“Putting on my principal's jacket"
The term emotional labour was coined by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in the early 1980s to describe how certain occupational groups need to regulate their emotions at work in order to meet the employer's demands. For example, a flight attendant is expected to smile even at unpleasant passengers. Correspondingly, a principal is expected to remain calm even under extreme pressure.
"There is a Swedish expression: 'I'm putting on my principal's jacket', which refers to leaving your emotions behind in order to be professional. But we believe that emotional work is an important part of being professional," says Anette Forssten Seiser.
She notes that Swedish principals' duties have significantly changed in recent decades. From having had a clear academic focus, the role of the principal has since the late seventies come to be increasingly about implementing democratically made decisions. This, in turn, has meant that the emotional workload has increased, not least for principals who work in vulnerable areas. When threats and violence occur inside and outside the school walls, strong emotions are aroused in students, guardians and staff. This makes the “principal's jacket” extra heavy to carry.
Principals an overlooked group
Having to deal with other people's emotions and at the same time push your own aside is a natural feature of several professions. Åsa Hirsh points out that awareness of what extreme events at work provoke in an individual has increased in several sectors. Crisis support in the form of meta-guidance and debriefing is offered, for example, to social workers and police officers who have been through something exceptional.
"But there is very little of this in the world of schools. It is taken for granted that as a principal you should be able to reassure worried employees or guardians, even if you are very frightened yourself. And that acting risks leading to burnout if you have to perform it all the time, without being able to deal with your own feelings," she says.
A project with an aim to change
Rates of ill health are high among Sweden's primary school principals and eight out of ten change jobs within five years. Making the emotional labour that the role requires visible may be a key to reversing the trend, according to the research group. Within the framework of the project, they plan to hold workshops with school organisers, government representatives, trade unions and other key players in the school world. The aim is to jointly look at how much of the principals' work can be characterised as emotional labour and how this can be handled in a better way. Lill Langelotz explains:
"Potentially, there is a lot that school organisers and others can do to support the principals. A first step is to put this type of expertise on the table, so that it is not just taken for granted. Through this, we hope to lay the foundation for positive change, not only at the policy level, but also in practice."
