At breaking point
Violence, curriculum stress taking toll on teachers
QUEENSLAND teachers are at breaking point with insurmountable workloads, expectations of being “on” 24/7, results-driven pressure, a steamroller curriculum and increasingly violent students forcing many to consider abandoning the profession.
Current and former teachers, union representatives and academic experts all confirm stress and exhaustion are rife among school faculties.
Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates said the demands confronting teachers were causing them to question remaining in the profession.
He said the community was at risk of losing good teachers because they “are unable to keep up with the depth and breadth of expectations”.
And Independent Education Union NT & QLD branch secretary Terry Burke said Queensland schools needed “a reset”, as good teachers who felt “the job they love is one they can no longer do” began resigning.
Education Minister Grace Grace said there was zero tolerance for violence against teachers in Queensland schools. She said school workplaces were supported through health and safety committees and advisers, rehabilitation and return-towork coordinators and additional regional support.
She said the implementation of the Occupational Violence Prevention procedure “demonstrates the seriousness with which the Palaszczuk government takes health and safety in Queensland schools”.
A retired state high school teacher of 40 years said there was too much paperwork and not enough time for “real hands on teaching”.
“There’s just too much pressure on the curriculum, you don’t get time to do reading and writing in class because you’ve got to keep going with the curriculum.”
The former teacher said despite the fact “kids are kids” and are going to “push the envelope”, student behaviour had become more “nasty, malicious, disrespectful and violent”.
“Kids do hit out and that but there’s more pushing of desks and banging of chairs, throwing things, slamming doors, there’s more of that, whereas before that never used to happen.
“I was always very fortunate that I didn’t have anything more serious than that.”
But former Townsville teacher Noel Gorringe vows he will never be able to teach again after he was bashed and stabbed on two separate occasions in the classroom.
Mr Gorringe, who worked in a Townsville high school, said he felt “broken” and that his experience “fundamentally changed” him.
“I’ve changed from being an extroverted person who enjoys going out, being around people, playing sport, to being an introvert and wanting to avoid places where people are and kids particularly, and being social,” he said.
While a special education case manager, a position Mr Gorringe said he was untrained for, he was punched several times by a student who also swung a stool at him.
“I could see in his eyes he was going to punch me, I backed away from the situation and he just came after me and punched me in the face,” he said.
In shock, Mr Gorringe said he tried to walk away from the situation but was followed by the student and hit again, until the student was held back by another teacher and teacher’s aide.
“He broke free, and came across and punched me again, and then he ran out of the classroom,” he said.
“I left the classroom to report the incident, he caught up with me and attempted to punch me again, without touching him I put my hand up to his face to block the punch, and the student ran off.
“As I came back in the next day, I couldn’t handle it … I had flashbacks of it all again, I just left.”
Mr Gorringe said he sought medical treatment and professional help, and made a Workcover claim and returned to work in August.
But in another alarming attack in April 2019, Mr Gor
ringe – while teaching physical education, a specialty he also was not trained in – was stabbed in the hand with a broken plastic ruler by a student he had sent out of the classroom to calm down after disruptive behaviour.
“One of the kids opened the window where he was [standing outside], I went to close the window because the airconditioning was escaping, as I went to close the window he stabbed me with the plastic ruler he had broken in half,” he said.
Mr Gorringe filed a WorkCover claim before later resigning in May 2020. “Now I don’t have the mental strength or resilience to do it [teaching] and the whole process has robbed me of something I wanted to do and can’t do any more,” Mr Gorringe said.
Teachers’ Professional Association of Queensland state secretary Jack Mcguire said he was disgusted that “yet another teacher has been the victim of extreme violence”.
A Maurice Blackburn spokesman said the firm was currently investigating a potential claim against the Education Department.