What you said about bullying issues in Qld schools

Queensland’s schools have been urged to address their own issues in a bid to ultimately tackle bullying affecting so many students. HAVE YOUR SAY

Queensland’s schools have been urged to address their own issues in a bid to ultimately tackle bullying affecting so many students.

It was revealed that homeschooling enrolments have reached a record high in the state, as parents desperate to protect their children from bullying abandon traditional education facilities.

At-home learning enrolments have soared by 229 per cent over the past five years, spiking from 3411 in 2019 to 11,250 of the state’s 880,000 students in 2024 – the equivalent of a student missing from every third Queensland classroom.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

A prep student assaulted 13 times, a Year 2 boy taunted by his own teacher and classmates with names like “garbage can”, a 13-year-old girl who received death threats from kids who smashed her laptop, and a 10-year-old boy who attempted to take his life after being body shamed are among the students forced to learn at home.

A record 11,250 Queensland kids are now being homeschooled, up from 10,048 since last year, with experts revealing a driving force for many parents was the protection of their children from horrific bullying.

Tara Goodfellow, son William Cook and their dog Rose. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Toowoomba mother Tara Goodfellow, whose son William, 9, has autism spectrum disorder level 2, described his final year of school as “a year from hell”, saying her son was “destroyed on every level”.

Parents and Citizens Queensland chief executive Scott Wiseman said Queensland had “a lot of work to do” when it came to addressing bullying.

A Department of Education spokesman said Queensland state schools were working hard every day with their students, families and staff to make sure students were safe and engaged in their learning.

Readers weighed into the debate – some claiming that teachers were to blame.

Others, though, insisted Labor’s inability to tackle wider crime problems was also a factor.

While some simply claimed tough love was the remedy.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

WHAT YOU SAID

I blame Labor

Nick

Labor is soft on crime. Destroying Qlds one life at a time.

Kim

I hope LNP have the courage to make suitable changes but I think it’s to late -we went all in on woke and now the system is BROKE

Theodore

Welcome to the no consequences world of Education Queensland!

KJM

This is on Labor. Soft on crime, soft on discipline, soft on the economy, soft on plans for the Olympics. I doubt that any Labor pollies have a muscle between them.

It doesn’t work

Woody

Education Department says they are working on it. Been going on for my whole lifetime, it is obvious the new way of teaching and running schools is not working. Modern pedagogy being pushed through the universities should have a full overhaul, get rid of the woke deadwood.

Paul

Two parts to this problem. First is that kids aren’t being taught resilience and how to deal with adversity and failure by their parents. Secondly the schools are lacking in many areas including leadership, discipline and having very few male teachers.

Dave

Labor’s INCLUSION Experiment hasn’t worked well for years with bullying increasing year after year. Severely disabled children don’t survive the mainstream in many cases and the mainstream students resent the amount of time teachers have to spend on them. The individual programs sound good on paper but rarely get used on a day to day practice when classes have 5+ more needy children.

Realistic

Thanks to all you do gooding academics. This has been festering in schools for years but nothing was/is done about it.

William

Rather than enriching childcare providers, the money would be better spent supporting families and enabling one of the parents home care and provide for the development of the child with a family and community environment rather than in a clinical state approved facility.

Tough love is needed!

Christian

2 words … belt them. That’s what happened to us and we deserved it … but we grew up with respect for people and things.

William

And that’s why we have so much youth crime. No respect.

Duane

If schools aren’t safe for teachers, how can they be safe for students!

Ron

Give parents back authority and make them accountable.

Australian Psychological Society CEO Zena Burgess

It’s the teachers’ fault

Snoopdogg

Are teachers really focused on the students, or just getting through the day without working too hard, and earning enough to pay the mortgage?

Andrew D

Teachers can act on complaints for a start.

Snoopdogg

The teachers unions have become an ALP affiliate.

They seem more interested in politics and pay packets than student welfare and educational standards.

Sir Humphrey

The schools are gutless and just want your money. One particular fancy private girls school in Brisbane is a classic example.