Teachers threatening to quit profession over ‘weekly’ physical assaults at schools across SA

School violence has escalated to “ridiculous” levels, teachers say, as authorities fail to take action against the culprits.

High school teachers claim they are being assaulted “weekly” and threatening to leave the profession daily as they are increasingly attacked by students.

Several teachers have told The Advertiser students have physically and verbally assaulted them without consequence and no action from the Education Department.

The teachers, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of losing their jobs, said they were either too traumatised to return to work after being assaulted or would soon quit teaching because of the increasing violence.

“It’s gotten ridiculous,” a teacher at a country school said.

“It’s nightmarish.”

The teacher, who has been physically assaulted several times, including being punched, said the Education Department had failed to act on reported assaults, forcing teachers to remain silent after violent incidents.

“For every written report, there’s probably at least three or four (assaults) that aren’t reported.

“There’s no support for the teachers.”

Australian Education Union SA branch president Andrew Gohl said he was “deeply and gravely concerned” about the violence. Picture: Dean Martin

He said teachers were threatening to quit the profession “daily” because of the violence.

Another teacher, who was punched and kicked several times in the head this year, said the Education Department was “not doing anything” about the violence.

“Being a weekly occurrence, it’s quite shocking that that’s happening,” he said.

Australian Education Union SA branch president Andrew Gohl said he was “deeply and gravely concerned” about the increased violence.

“There needs to be very clear consequences for members of the public, and indeed students, who are violent,” Mr Gohl said.

“There’s no place for that in our society, much less our schools, which are a place of learning.

“We really need to examine this as an issue.

“It’s one of the reasons why people are leaving the workforce and we … can’t afford to lose any educators from the system at the moment.

“We’re in a national teacher shortage and that shortage is felt here in South Australia.”

Mr Gohl said the Education Department needed to work more closely with SA Police to ensure more was done to protect teachers and condemn violence in schools.

Education Minister Blair Boyer said he would “ensure schools got the resources they need to get on top of incidents”. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Mariuz

Mr Gohl last week met with Police Minister Joe Szakacs to discuss the increased violence after a member of the public assaulted a deputy principal on school grounds.

“It needs to be taken seriously,” Mr Gohl said.

“Support needs to be given to education workers.”

An SA Police spokeswoman said police worked with the Education Department to “ensure the safety of staff and students”.

Last month, The Advertiser revealed reports of serious incidents in public schools had soared past 10,000 in a single year, including violence bullying, drug taking.

Another teacher, who said she was physically assaulted by a student last year, has been left too traumatised to return to work.

She said she was told she would need to work at another school if she did not want to continue teaching the student who allegedly assaulted her.

“You go into work and you don’t expect to have the experience that you have,” she said.

Another teacher at an Adelaide school said female teachers were being regularly sexually harassed by male students.

“It makes it quite an aggressive environment to be teaching in,” she said.

“People are ending up in tears after teaching.”

Education Minister Blair Boyer said he had “prioritised staff safety” in current negotiations for a new enterprise bargaining agreement with teachers.

Education Department chief executive Martin Westwell said violence against teachers was “unacceptable” Picture: NCA NewsWire/Naomi Jellicoe

Mr Boyer said he would “ensure schools get the resources they need to get on top of incidents”.

Mr Boyer said the state government had invested more than $12m to support schools including funding behavioural coaches and security personnel in schools.

Education Department chief executive Martin Westwell said violence against teachers was “unacceptable”.

“The safety of our children, students and workforce is our priority,” he said.

“Schools act swiftly to address these issues and have clear violence prevention policies, disciplinary measures and wellbeing supports in place, including suspending perpetrators, reporting to SAPOL and developing safety plans to give our staff the support they need.

“In the wake of an incident, staff are supported by their manager or other members of the school leadership team to assess both their physical and emotional wellbeing.”