$322m in compo for teachers

QUEENSLAND teachers have been paid out over $322m in workers’ compensation over the past six years as Workcover claims skyrocketed by an alarming 86.7 per cent – a trend the Opposition claims is proof of a growing workplace safety crisis in schools.

Despite an additional $41m being dished out to teaching staff during the first half of the 2021-22 financial year, the Queensland Teachers’ Union says that physical and psychological workplace issues remain heavily under-reported.

It comes as teachers revealed harrowing tales of abuse at the hands of their students and called for a zero-tolerance approach to occupational violence.

Union president Cresta Richardson said after battling through extreme pandemic conditions, the state’s educators were in desperate need of support and resources.

“Queensland Teachers’ Union members do an amazing job and, as we have seen first-hand throughout the pandemic, under extreme conditions with students’ education at stake,” Ms Richardson said. “Queensland state schools are in need of real support.”