Editorial: Qld teachers assign society a fail mark

Distressing revelations about the depths of depression, anxiety and self-medicating experienced by many Queensland teachers must serve as a wake-up call for the state government, writes the editor.

Teaching has always been a challenging job and has become even tougher in the modern era.

The collision of a cluttered curriculum, the changing needs of students, and high parental expectations means more pressure is being loaded onto our teachers than ever before.

But the distressing revelations from Queensland public school teachers about the depths of depression, anxiety and self-medicating many in the profession are succumbing to must serve as a stark wake-up call for the state government and its education department.

Clearly, something fundamental has broken and it is our teachers who have been left at breaking point. Abused, assaulted and left to go into battle over lengthy WorkCover claims, teachers say their calls for support to the department simply go around in circles.

A survey of school leaders released last month revealed Queensland school leaders are at an increasingly high risk of assault, with almost half physically assaulted or threatened in the past year. Stress and depression levels are the highest in the country.

Without adequate support from the department, these teachers and school leaders will continue to languish and the statistics rise.

It is crucial there is appropriate intervention where there are systemic problems across the system, or else we face the very real possibility of losing large swathes of the profession altogether.

The department needs to ensure its budget is being spent effectively, and that financial resources chewed up by unnecessary layers of bureaucracy are channelled into practical support for teachers. For example, with extra teacher aides to assist students with behavioural or learning difficulties that go far beyond what a classroom teacher can handle. And the profession must become one which ties remuneration to classroom performance, something the Queensland Teachers’ Union has always advocated strongly against.

The union should be a powerful voice in this important fight but instead it is quick to appease the Labor government and too often fails to take a pragmatic approach to solving issues for its 47,000 members.

While there is clear evidence the department must modify the way it deals with the challenges of the modern classroom, parents also have a significant role to play.

While they have every right to have sensible, productive communications with school staff, they also must recognise that teachers cannot and should not be de facto parents.

Responsibility for behaviour standards must lie with parents, and no longer can parenting be outsourced onto the shoulders of teachers. And the abuse of teachers by parents must be a line which is never acceptable to cross.

Important teaching time must also not be disrupted by a constantly ballooning curriculum, where ideological folly too often distracts from the imperative basics. For our teachers to provide the best education to our kids, their health and wellbeing must be fiercely protected.

They deserve nothing less.