The Emotional Cost of Leading

Executive Supervision in Education

Executive supervision in education is becoming essential. This article explores the emotional cost of leading and why leaders need protected thinking space.

Executive Supervision in Education: The Emotional Cost of Leading

If you’re reading this in July, you’re probably running on fumes. Most leaders are. This is the point in the year where the system quietly leans on your sense of duty to get it over the line. And you do, because you always do, but the cost is obvious to anyone who’s stepped into a school in the last fortnight.

Dr Jon Reid puts it well:

“Education is intellectually and physically demanding, but we don’t always pay enough attention to the emotional demands.”

He’s right. We don’t.

We pretend leaders can absorb everything, the safeguarding, the staffing crises, the parental pressure, the political noise, without consequence. Eventually, though, the strain shows. And when it does, we act surprised.

What Executive Supervision in Education Revealed This Year

Between March and July, I supervised a group of Executive Heads and Headteachers. These weren’t inexperienced leaders. They were the ones everyone else leans on. The ones who “cope.”

However, they weren’t coping.

Not really.

They were overloaded.

Not because they lacked skill, but because they had nowhere to put the emotional weight of the job.
Over time, that weight becomes impossible to carry alone.

One leader said something that stopped the room:

“I didn’t realise how much I was firefighting until I finally stopped.”

That’s the problem.

Leaders don’t get to stop. Unless someone creates the space for them, they simply keep going until something gives.

Why Executive Supervision in Education Matters

Supervision isn’t therapy, coaching or performance management. Instead, it is the one protected space where leaders can:

• think without being dragged into the next crisis
• say the thing they can’t say to their Chair, their SLT or their Trust
• admit the doubt they’ve been ignoring
• see the pattern they’ve been too busy to notice

Because of this, supervision becomes the only space where they don’t have to hold it together for everyone else.

And yes, sometimes it’s uncomfortable and messy. Even so, it is often the first time many leaders hear their own thoughts without the noise and distraction of leading and managing a school.

For a practical look at how small, intentional behaviours support resilience and culture, my earlier NEXUS article Micro‑Practices in School Leadership explores this in more depth.

Why July Is the Breaking Point

By July, leaders are stretched thin.

Not because they’re weak, because the system is relentless. As the term drags on, the emotional cost becomes visible:

• the short fuse
• the foggy thinking
• the guilt
• the sense of being permanently behind
• the feeling that you’re carrying the whole place on your back

Although executive supervision in education doesn’t fix the system, it gives leaders a place to put the weight down long enough to see straight again. Consequently, they regain clarity, steadiness and perspective.

For further insight into leadership wellbeing, Education Support’s annual index is helpful.

Just a Thought

If you recognised yourself anywhere in this piece, you’re not the only one. And if the emotional cost of leading has become the part of the job you carry in silence, there is a different way to work, one that doesn’t require you to sacrifice your health, your clarity or your sense of self to keep a school standing.

Executive supervision in education isn’t a luxury.

It’s a safeguard for the people holding the system together.

When September comes, the leaders who have a space to think will be the ones who lead with steadiness, not survival.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn to continue the conversation about executive supervision in education.

The author

Jane McNally

I lead safeguarding supervision, consultancy, and workforce development at LPI Education Ltd, drawing on 30 years of teaching and leadership in Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of Birmingham. My work is rooted in statutory guidance, NSPCC principles, and a relational, ethical approach that strengthens professional confidence and psychological safety for staff working in demanding contexts. As a serving Catholic School Inspector, I bring deep experience of Catholic Life, Religious Education, and Collective Worship, supporting schools and trusts to align mission, culture, and everyday practice. I am currently completing ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring to deepen the support I offer to leaders. Alongside this, I co‑host Being the Head, a podcast exploring the realities, challenges, and joys of school leadership. Across all my work, I am committed to helping leaders build cultures where people feel valued, supported, and able to make a meaningful difference to the children and communities they serve.

https://www.lpieducationltd.co.uk/