"There were times when, as a principal, I was threatened with violence from students as well as parents, I was harassed and harassed on social media," president of the Australian Primary Principals Association Dennis Yarrington said.

"If this keeps up, we're not going to attract people into the role. Principals don't go work expecting to be threatened or intimidated."

Sustained bullying has also been identified as a major issue among principals, with principals at public high schools experiencing the highest rates of bullying at 39 per cent. In comparison, 21 per cent of principals at independent high schools experienced bullying at work.

About 20 per cent of principals reported being bullied by parents, about 13 per cent were bullied by their subordinates, 7 per cent were bullied by colleagues and about 5 per cent were bullied by someone in a senior position to theirs.

Dr Riley said incidences of negative behaviours had been rising steadily since the annual survey first began seven years ago.

"I think we've become a very anxious society, particularly in schools," Dr Riley said.

"There's a lot of high stakes issues going on now around school funding, NAPLAN results, PISA results, and parents experience pressure, which they're putting onto teachers and principals, and pressure sometimes leads people to behave inappropriately."

Nationally, principals are reporting 1.6 times the rate of burnout compared with the general poopulation, and principals in NSW have the highest burnout rate in the country.

Australian principals are also experiencing sleeping troubles at 2.2 times the rate of the general population, stress at 1.7 times the general rate, and reporting that their overall health is about 10 per cent below that of the general population.

Dr Riley said "cumulative stress" is a major issue for school leaders.

"When I talk to principals, they tell me they often wake up in the middle of the night thinking about something they haven't done, reliving a difficult conversation they had or thinking about a difficult conversation they have to have with a student, parent or teacher the next day," he said.

The report recommends the establishment of an independent authority to investigate violence, and bullying in schools and determine who is most at risk and what can be done to protect them.

It also recommends that better policies and resources to support principals be put in place, noting that unlike other professions with high emotional demands such as psychology and social work, principals do not receive sufficient levels of professional support and are instead expected to learn to cope on the job.