Teachers deserve our respect, not our vitriol
AFRIEND recently told me about his late wife’s battle with cancer. Even as her health began to fail, she continued to work. She would leave at 7am each day and return home after 6pm each evening. After a break for dinner, she would work from home, preparing for the next day.
She was a teacher. Such dedication runs through the profession.
Each morning, around 7.30am, I drive past a local primary school on my way home from taking my dog Luna for a run in an off-leash park. The staff car park, visible from the street, is always mostly full.
On other occasions I’ve driven by in the evening and witnessed teachers leaving after five o’clock.
Principals, we’re told, work even longer. The annual Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey recently revealed half are working more than 56 hours a week.
“I consider the greatest single issue is workload,” one principal said.
“I work on average a 65hour week and I am not alone.”
And the thanks they get? The same survey revealed that educators are subject to a record high level of physical and verbal abuse. Not just from older kids but their parents.
“I have been verbally threatened and abused by students and their parent/ carers,” one principal said.
“This has involved being sworn at, spat on, having things thrown at me, having my physical safety and that of my family threatened, witnessing having staff and other students threatened while I was managing a situation, doors slammed and punched in close proximity to me, desks and chairs overturned and thrown towards me and personal property damaged.”
Another recently wrote to parents, complaining that abusive attacks on teachers had reached “unacceptable” levels.
“Nearly every one of these incidents involved social media or email,” she said. “On two occasions, parents have been directed off the grounds due to their hostility.”
It’s not a new problem but it’s getting noticeably, measurably worse. The report revealed the number of Queensland principals reporting threats of violence rose from 37 per cent in 2011 to 49 per cent last year. That’s a shocking statistic.
Teachers in Gold Coast schools are among those who have suffered. Multiple schools have been subject to threats so serious they have forced lockdowns over the past 18 months. In one case, which occurred at Upper Coomera State College, a parent was found to be responsible and duly convicted in court.
More recently, Helensvale State High hired private security and postponed a P&C meeting amid a crescendo of heated criticism about the school’s anti-bullying policy.
The febrile stew of social media commentary is a source of much of the angst. The things said about teachers, and the vitriol hurled in their direction, is utterly appalling.
Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates told this column the abuse – both online and in person – was having a major impact on staff. He believes it is a problem for society generally, saying “there is an increasing willingness of people in the community to act violently”, but that teachers are at the sharp end of abuse.
“These are choices that people are making – to go to school and behave in a violent and inappropriate manner,” Mr Bates said.
Mr Bates said the bad example shown by parents could often spill into actions by children in the classroom.
“There are times when children don’t think twice about behaving violently towards staff,” he said. “People will remember there were days when the community as a whole would never have stood for that behaviour. It’s a community-wide problem.”
Mr Bates suggests a “concerted campaign” stressing zero tolerance for physical abuse against teachers may be necessary, similar to the major campaign, including TV ads, which was run in support of paramedics.
It would be a crying shame if resources better used in classrooms had to be spent on such a campaign. But because of the downright idiotic behaviour by some parents, that is where we are headed.
As Mr Bates says, there was a time when such behaviour would never have been tolerated by society. What has happened in recent years to make this change?
Yes, teachers are not all perfect. Shock horror, they’re human, so like all of us they make mistakes. If it happens, there are proper channels to go through, none of which involves threats, violence or online rants.
On my walks in Gold Coast dog parks, if an owner was seen shouting at and slapping a puppy, it wouldn’t be long before they had the RSPCA at the door. Community outrage would follow, and damn right too. But in schools, teachers are expected to cop all kinds of abuse without much opportunity for comeback.
And they cop it despite the enormous burden of work they shoulder on behalf of our kids.
Next time you’re driving past your local school in the morning, cast a glance at the staff car park. It’s always full, hours before the bell rings.
And there will still be plenty of cars there long after the last pupil has gone home.
It is clear evidence of hard work and dedication from our teachers. None of them demands a pat on the back.
But neither do they deserve to cop even a fraction of the abuse they are enduring.
The least we can do is show them a bit more respect.