A decade ago, the NSW Catholic Education Commission became so concerned about the lack of applications from quality candidates it commissioned a study into the reasons why the job of principal had become so unattractive. The executive director of the CEC, Dr Brian Croke, says that one of the main problems revealed was that many applicants ''felt that the rapidly increasing liabilities and responsibilities of the position no longer justified the salary differential''.

Despite some successful reforms, attracting good candidates to principal positions remains a problem for Catholic schools. According to Dr Croke, several dioceses are experiencing greater difficulty than previously in attracting high quality candidates for principals in schools considered to be in desirable locations.

Peter Morgan, who recently retired as principal at Belmont High School, agrees. Principals are being squeezed by too much accountability without enough support, he says, citing the pressure to deliver a 21st-century education with a 20th-century budget and a 19th-century curriculum as a major disincentive.

He believes that unrealistic political pressure for continually improved data is placing principals - particularly those leading schools in low socio-economic areas - in an impossible position. ''Getting improvement out of existing school structures is very difficult,'' he says. New approaches are needed but governments want schools to go back to what they used to be like: they are just ''flogging a dead horse harder'', he says.

A retired principal from Riverside Girls High, Judy King, blames the relentless work hours and the demands of a managerial culture for taking principals away from their first love - improving teaching and learning. ''Teachers don't want to deal with leaky loos and gutters and be site manager for the BER,'' she says.

The NSW Secondary Principals' Council has been asking the department to provide business managers for public high schools for 15 years to no avail. King believes deputy principals - once the primary pool of potential candidates for the role - are increasingly reluctant to apply because they see firsthand just what principals have to put up with.

A current deputy principal of a Sydney high school confirms her perspective. He was the relieving principal of an inner-city high school for two years but left the position after being assaulted by two intruders when he went to the aid of a parent who was being attacked. After three months on leave with post-traumatic stress disorder, he has decided to remain a deputy. He also believes the current uncertainty about what the O'Farrell government's eventual policy on school autonomy will look like is in itself a disincentive. ''If they don't know what they may be confronted with if they get a principal's job, they'll just hold off applying,'' he says.

It is not only at the more cash-strapped end of our education system that the increasing pressures on school leaders have become apparent.

Louise Robert-Smith moved from principal of North Sydney Girls' High to the top job at Ascham, and also believes that the job has become much more difficult than it used to be. ''From being the educational leader, a skill set at which principals were expert, they have become CEOs of large and multi-faceted organisations covering project management, industrial relations, family law and financial management,'' she says. ''The trend towards litigation and the changed attitude of parents to their offspring adds complexity to the mix.''

Robert-Smith says demographics also play a part in the problem. ''We are paying the price for several decades when we did not attract sufficient appropriate people into the teaching profession,'' she says.

In fact, one of the remedies the CEC tried in response to the fall in numbers and quality of applicants for principal 10 years ago was to seek out potential principals under 30 and offer them training to help them fast-track.

But Morgan, who is currently mentoring three public school principals in their 30s, sees problems with this as a long-term solution.

''They are great educators,'' he says, ''but they are struggling with their interpersonal skills. They don't have enough scars and callouses and so are more vulnerable.''

Home life, too, can become impossible, says the Sydney deputy principal, especially for those with young children at home.

''I came home to my wife and young kids and found I had either nothing left to give or only residual anger and frustration,'' he says.

The principal of Merrylands High School, Lila Mularczyk, sums up the dilemma by simply describing her day. ''Today I have spent time clarifying issues and mistakes with procurement, another 20 minutes with AMU to get a leaky roof repaired after many phone calls yesterday and sorting out a broken electronic gate,'' she says.

''All this while I balanced time with a pregnant student, a depressed student and a classroom team-teaching situation. Sadly, more time was spent on facilitating the repairs of buildings than the repair of students or enhancing learning.''