CaSPA Principal Feature – Lucas Felstead
Principal Lucas Felstead from Holy Spirit College Manoora QLD recently presented on Principal Wellbeing at the Australian Catholic Education Conference.
Lucas Felstead has over 27 years of experience as an educator within the Victorian, Northern Territory and Queensland education systems. For the past 16 years, he has served an extensive apprenticeship in education Senior Leadership holding positions as an Assistant Principal Administration, Assistant Principal Religious Education, Deputy Principal and 7 years as a Principal within both the Primary and Secondary contexts. He is currently the Principal of a Special Assistance College that provides alternate educational pathways and boarding for at risk students across 3 campuses. In April 2025, Lucas was awarded the Doctor of Education degree by the Central Queensland University School of Education and the Arts.
Summary of Research: A Salutogenic Response to Principal Wellbeing
Lucas Felstead –
My doctoral thesis investigated the occupational health, safety, and wellbeing of education leaders in Australia, with a specific focus on understanding how high-performing experienced principals within the Catholic Education Diocese of Cairns (CEDC) managed the complexities and demands of their role sustainably. The research supports the most recent recommendations within the 2024 ACU Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey (POHSWS) Report, which emphasizes the need to identify and learn from principals who are thriving despite systemic challenges (Dicke, Kidson, & Marsh, 2024).
National Context and CEDC Alignment
Since 2011, national POHSWS data has shown elevated stress, burnout, and emotional strain among the principal class. The 2024 ACU report reveals that a staggering 45% of principals triggered “red flag” alerts, indicating serious psychosocial risk. Violence against principals has escalated, with 49.6% experiencing physical violence and 54.5% facing threats, mostly from students (School News, 2025). Despite these pressures, the data also indicates many principals maintain high levels of job satisfaction and professional commitment (Marsh, 2024).
Within my local CEDC context, the POHSW data commissioned in 2017 and 2018, mirrored much of the data being reported nationally. My peer principals indicating elevated levels of work-family conflict, burnout, and sleep disturbances amongst other key indicators of low health, safety and wellbeing. Importantly, however, CEDC principals also scored highly in job satisfaction, social community at work, and recognition, suggesting a strong cultural foundation for resilience (Riley et al., 2018).
Compelled to stem the ongoing decline in Australian principal occupational health, safety, and wellbeing being reported each year, despite evidence of multiple systemic strategies adopted to address the issue, my research was dedicated towards unearthing a better new way of supporting our principal class. From my research, I quickly discovered a predominant pathogenic approach being taken when attempting to support principals, with a focus on reducing the environmental stressors and strains imposed by their environment. Seeing that this was not having the desired impact, my research embarked on testing the efficacy of adopting a salutogenic approach towards addressing the issue. This directed my research to focus on identifying and learning from those within the principal class who were thriving; exploring their adaptive coping strategies and resource usage. The Case-Study research focused on six high-performing, experienced principals (10-Years+), within the Catholic Education Diocese of Cairns (CEDC). These individuals were studied through qualitative case analysis to uncover the personal, cultural, and organizational resources required to support sustainable principal wellbeing.
Framework of Understanding 1. Salutogenic Model of Health (SMH)
Developed by Antonovsky (1996), the SMH reframes health as a continuum rather than a binary state. It emphasizes the role of General Resistance Resources (GRRs)—such as emotional intelligence, social support, and cultural stability—in fostering a Sense of Coherence (SOC). SOC comprises:
- Comprehensibility: perceiving life as structured and predictable.
- Manageability: believing one has the resources to cope.
- Meaningfulness: viewing challenges as worthy of engagement.
Figure 1: The role of culture in the Salutogenic model of health (SMH) (Benz et al., 2014)
Within the research, it was found that high performing experienced principals possessed a strong SOC, increasing their capacity to demonstrate resilience and proactive coping in their demanding and complex work environments. Their ability to draw on GRRs—such as supportive partners, community trust, and professional role models—enabled them to sustain wellbeing whilst experiencing and resisting significant work demands.
Framework of Understanding 2. JD-R Burnout Model
The Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) Model, updated by Bakker and de Vries (2021), explains how burnout arises when job demands exceed available resources. Key components include:
- Job Demands: workload, emotional labour, cognitive strain, and pressure to hide emotions.
- Job Resources: autonomy, support, development opportunities, and recovery practices.
The model incorporates self-regulatory behaviours:
- Adaptive: recovery, job crafting, emotional intelligence, proactive personality.
Maladaptive: coping inflexibility, self-undermining, avoidance.
Figure 2: Burnout as a function of job demands, resources, and self-regulation.
Note: A = Maladaptive regulation feedback loop; B = Adaptive regulation feedback loop.
(Bakker & de Vries, 2021, p.6)
Utilising this framework of understanding, the research was able to ascertain that high-performing experienced principals were more readily able to engage in adaptive behaviours such as boundary setting, mentoring, and proactive communication. These strategies buffered job strain and prevented burnout. Several system and personal leadership and HR practices were also shown to moderate stress responses, reinforcing the need for systemic support.
Wise Principal Model (WPM)
The two frameworks enabled the research to engage in an extensive assessment of the personal and organisational resources utilised by the high performing experienced principals to withstand the strain of their highly complex and demanding work within the CEDC context. This nuanced understanding led to the development of the Wise Principal Model (WPM), a holistic framework for understanding sustainable education leadership. The WPM illustrates how principals can create resource gain spirals by leveraging three interconnected domains:
- Personal Cultural Resources: upbringing, professional influences, supportive partners.
- Work Cultural Resources: relationships with staff, community, peers, and system leaders.
- Personal Physical/Psychological Resources: routines, recovery, boundaries, and disconnection.
At the heart of the WPM is the Wise Mindset, a cognitive-emotional state developed through experience and resource accumulation; a process that was acknowledged as taking between 6-8 years within the role to acquire. It includes principled decision-making, meaningfulness, resilience, self-reflection, humility, and healthy rebellion. This mindset enables principals to optimize resource use, reduce strain, and engage in personal restorative practices.
Figure 3: Wise Principal Model – A resource acquisition, utilisation and conservation model.
Conclusion
It is with great excitement that I can share this modest snapshot of my extensive research findings and insights with the CaSPA community. This research represents many years of dedication towards a noble cause, whilst simultaneously continuing to walk the challenging and rewarding path of principalship. I am excited by the potential inherent within this novel approach and what it offers in advancing an understanding of our dedicated education leaders along with additional avenues to more effectively support them. I hold the greatest hope in the agency of sharing the wisdom of the high performing experienced principal mindset, presented within the Wise Principal Model, with aspiring, novice or struggling leaders. This I hope, will equip them with the knowledge of the optimal personal and organisational resources required to better withstand the complexities and demands of their role, enabling them to move towards greater health and wellbeing. Finally, I am buoyed that this research complements the latest recommendations coming out of the 2024 ACU POHSWS Report, supporting the potential of exploring a salutogenic, culturally adaptive strengths-based approach towards improving principal wellbeing. We have much to learn from the wisdom of our elders.
References (APA Style)
- Antonovsky, A. (1996). The salutogenic model as a theory to guide health promotion. Health Promotion International, 11(1), 11–18.
- Bakker, A. B., & de Vries, J. D. (2021). Job Demands–Resources theory and self-regulation: New explanations and remedies for job burnout. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 34(1), 1–21.
- Dicke, T., Kidson, P., & Marsh, H. (2024). ACU Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey: 2024 Summary Report. Australian Catholic University.
- Felstead, L. (2025). A Case Study Approach Towards a Salutogenic JD-R Understanding and Response to Poor Principal Class Occupational Health Safety and Wellbeing in the Diocese of Cairns [Doctoral dissertation, CQUniversity].
- Marsh, H. (2024). Violence escalates and mental health suffers but principals remain resilient. ACU Institute for Positive Psychology and Education.
- Riley, P., et al. (2018). CEDC Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey Report. Australian Catholic University.
- School News. (2025). Alarming findings in ACU’s principals’ wellbeing survey. Retrieved from school-news.com.au