A new study from Ireland is putting numbers behind a reality that school leaders in the United States have experienced for years: the demands of running a school are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.

And this is not simply an Irish problem.

Research from the United States, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and international education systems points to the same troubling pattern: long hours, administrative overload, staffing challenges, growing student needs, and mounting pressure on the people responsible for leading our schools.

For American educators, administrators, and policymakers, the message is clear, we need to pay attention before the problem becomes even more difficult to reverse.

Research from the RAND Corporation found that 85% of U.S. principals reported frequent job-related stress, compared with 35% of working adults outside education. Nearly half of principals — 48% — reported burnout, while 28% reported symptoms of depression. 

The RAND research also identified staffing vacancies, supporting the mental health and well-being of teachers and staff, and addressing students' academic and social-emotional needs among major sources of stress for principals.

These findings should not be dismissed as simply a matter of individual stress management. When 85% of school leaders report frequent job-related stress, we have a working-conditions problem.

A new study from Dublin City University provides another warning. Research from the Dublin City University Centre for Collaborative Research Across Teacher Education found that 86% of Irish principals reported moderate to high levels of work-related burnout. More than half — 56% — reported working more than 50 hours per week, while 9% reported working more than 65 hours. 

The study also found that:

• 28% described their mental health as poor or very poor.
• Nearly 70% were unable to take their full annual leave.
• 95% identified general workload and unrealistic expectations from the Department of Education as major contributors to burnout.
• 78% cited challenges in leading special education needs provision.
• More than 80% rated state mental-health support services for educators as poor or very poor.

Approximately one in 10 principals said they were extremely unlikely to remain in their role over the coming year.

The Irish Examiner's full report on the study highlights a problem American school leaders will recognize: principals are increasingly expected to wear many hats.

Today's principals are expected to lead instruction while also managing staffing shortages, special education, student mental-health and behavioral needs, discipline, school safety, parent concerns, budgets, facilities, compliance, emergencies, and an expanding list of administrative requirements.

The list keeps growing. The amount of time available does not. When principals spend more of their day responding to immediate problems, they have less time for the central work of educational leadership: supporting teachers, improving instruction, building school culture, and focusing on students. This is not just an American or Irish problem.

In New Zealand, the 2024 National Survey of Primary Principals found that 93% of principals worked more than 50 hours per week, while 71% worked 56 or more hours. Forty percent disagreed or strongly disagreed that their work-related stress was manageable. 

Australia has tracked principal health and well-being for 15 years. Its latest survey found that 54.4% of school leaders had seriously considered leaving their roles, highlighting continuing concerns about workload, stress and working conditions.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provides another international perspective. The OECD is an international organization that collects and compares data on education, employment, health and economic conditions across member countries.

Through its Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), the OECD collects information from teachers and school leaders about working conditions, workload, leadership and well-being.

In TALIS 2018, 69% of principals across OECD education systems reported that having too much administrative work was a source of stress "quite a bit" or "a lot." The evidence is consistent: school leaders are being asked to carry more responsibility while facing significant pressures on their time, staffing and well-being.

Educators are often told they need to become more resilient. Resilience matters. But we should not turn a systemic problem into an individual responsibility.

You cannot solve an unsustainable workload simply by telling someone to manage stress better. You cannot create work-life balance while expecting school leaders to routinely work 50, 60 or 70 hours a week. And you cannot keep adding mandates without asking what existing work can be eliminated, simplified, delegated or reassigned.