School Principal
Plans, organises, directs, controls and coordinates the educational and administrative aspects of primary, middle or intermediate and secondary schools including physical and human resources. Registration or licensing is required.
ANZSCO 2013, the edition the department applies to the points tested visas (189, 190 and 491).
Job titles this occupation covers
If your job title is one of these, this is usually the code it belongs to, whatever your employer calls the role.
- Headmaster/mistress
Specialisations within it
- Middle or Intermediate School Principal
- Primary School Principal
- Secondary School Principal
Duties
Published for unit group 1343 School Principals
- determining educational programs based on curricula set by educational authorities
- implementing systems and procedures to monitor school performance and student enrolments
- directing administrative and clerical activities concerning student admissions and educational services
- preparing school budgets and maintaining budgetary controls
- promoting the educational program, and representing schools in the wider community
- supervising the maintenance of school facilities
- enforcing a disciplinary code to create a safe and conducive environment for students and teachers
- organising and implementing methods of raising additional funds in conjunction with parent groups
- controlling selection, training and supervision of staff
- may teach students
- Occupation:
- 134311 School Principal
This is what the occupation is, not what a skills assessment requires. The assessing body applies its own criteria on top of this, and those criteria are not published here. Check them with the body itself.
Who assesses this occupation
Last confirmed against the department's list on 30 July 2026.
This occupation reads differently for the 186 and 482
Two editions of ANZSCO are current at once, and the department applies ANZSCO 2022 to the employer sponsored visas while everything above follows ANZSCO 2013.
The definition is identical in both editions, but the published duties are not:
- determining educational programs based on curricula set by educational authorities
- implementing systems and procedures to monitor school performance and student enrolments
- directing administrative and clerical activities concerning student admissions and educational services
- preparing school budgets and maintaining budgetary controls
- promoting the educational program, and representing schools in the wider community
- supervising the maintenance of school facilities
- enforcing a disciplinary code to create a safe and conducive environment for students and teachers
- organising and implementing methods of raising additional funds in conjunction with parent groups
- controlling selection, training and supervision of staff
- may teach students
If you are going for a 186 or a 482, this is the wording that governs you. Everything above governs the points tested routes.
Where School Principal stands right now
Vizard tracks the live queue for this occupation: how many people are waiting at every points score for the 190, 491, the recent invitation round cutoffs, and how far down the queue your own score puts you. 2 state nomination lists include this occupation.
Updated to 1 July 2026, from the department's own SkillSelect data.
See where you standWhere this comes from
Definition and duties: Australian Bureau of Statistics, ANZSCO
Assessing authorities and skilled lists: Department of Home Affairs skilled occupation list
Vizard is not a registered migration agent and nothing here is migration advice. It is published government information, organised. For advice on your own situation, speak to a registered migration agent.