In search of school principals' well-being: a systematic review

Abstract

The majority of research on this subject shows that school principals are affected by an increase in their work tasks and an imbalance between their personal and professional lives (Poirel et al., 2023). This variety of tasks and roles threatens principals' wellbeing (Collie et al., 2020). This can result in reduced job satisfaction, health problems, and low self-confidence (Beausaert et al., 2016). A situation that leads some to experience burnout, isolate themselves and even abandon their management positions (Gravelle, 2015). Exercising leadership and making informed decisions to foster a healthy educational environment for their school, the well-being of principals is an essential concern of the utmost importance in the field of education (Carter & Andersen, 2019). To our knowledge, few studies have investigated principal well-being and the practices and strategies that promote it. These research gaps underline the need to advance knowledge on this subject, and to propose avenues of reflection and proven practices to enable principals to take care of their own well-being. The aim of this paper is to present the results of a systematic review on school principals’ well-being, with a focus on positive psychology (Fortin & Gagnon, 2016). Five databases relating to education and psychology were searched using keywords such as "Well-being", "Stress", "Burnout" and "Principal". The results of this study, which analyzed a sample of over 60 articles, highlighted that the psychological health of school principals is a little-studied subject in the field of education. Nevertheless, they also indicated various antecedents of this variable, such as leadership styles, personality traits, perceived social support and psychological capital. In addition, several studies have tested programs or interventions aimed at improving the well-being of these principals. These include mindfulness interventions, acceptance and commitment therapy, and cognitive-behavioural coaching.