More respect, less violence: the upside of COVID-19 for principals Share Escalating levels of physical and verbal violence against secondary school principals have been reported over the past decade, but 2020 provided a brief reprieve due to school closures and social distancing. An annual survey into the safety and wellbeing of Australia’s school principals found heavy workloads and increasingly offensive behaviour by parents and students were risking the health of the nation’s school principals. Principals at schools are increasingly exposed to violence from students. Jamieson Murphy The report found that while 40 per cent of principals had been a victim of violence or been violently threatened in 2020, there had been noticeable reductions in abusive behaviour towards them compared to the previous year.