Teacher suspended for letting students play with rivet guns, guillotine in class

A lax Queensland teacher who left students to mess around with dangerous workshop tools during chaotic classes has a chance to return to the classroom following the outcome of a disciplinary hearing.

A HIGH school industrial design technology teacher who let students use potentially dangerous tools without properly supervising them will remain suspended from teaching.

The teacher, whose name has been suppressed on mental health grounds, has been suspended since October, 2017, after a series of incidents at his Queensland school.

Queensland College of Teachers claimed the teacher allowed students to walk around aiming a pneumatic rivet gun at each other.

It was also claimed he allowed students to use a metal-cutting guillotine without goggles and jump, sit or stand on the treadle, using it like it was an exercise machine.

A senior student using a radial saw cut into a nut on the machine’s guide fence, while the teacher was in a nearby workshop.

“On some occasions a Year 9 student would be using the bench grinder, the use of which produces sparks,’’ the tribunal said of the unauthorised use of the tool.

On four occasions students were seen operating a bandsaw without wearing goggles.

“The videos show prolonged breaches of rules by students, especially with the episodes of students playing with the rivet gun or guillotine for up to several minutes,’’ the tribunal said.

The teacher claimed he would shut down the workshop if students misbehaved in an unsafe manner and sometimes would put students on detention or ban some from the workshop.

Video footage of the more unruly classes showed the teacher sometimes turning off the power for the bench grinder, the tribunal said.

However, it was found that he left students unattended in a workshop for up to 35 minutes and some of the classes were “quite chaotic’’.

In many instances the videos showed the teacher oblivious to students playing with a rivet gun, using the guillotine as an exercise machine or chatting and checking their mobile phones.

“All of this points to a lax and somewhat erratic approach to classroom discipline on the part of (the teacher),’’ the tribunal members said.

The teacher was either oblivious to the need to enforce rules or made little effort to do so.

“Overall, we consider that the video footage shows that (the teacher) failed to provide adequate supervision of classes and that this increased the risk of student injury,’’ the tribunal said.

It found the teacher should have ensured close supervision of a senior student who, while using a radial saw, cut into a nut on the guide fence of the machine.

Rather than allowing certain conduct, the teacher tolerated it, the tribunal said.

“However, the pervasive extent of misbehaviour, departure from rules and absences was such that we find that there was a substantial failure on (the teacher’s) part to properly supervise students and maintain a safe learning environment,’’ the tribunal said.

While students were not placed in imminent danger, it was more a problem of such a lax atmosphere prevailing.

In such a risky environment, the emphasis should have been on meeting safety rules and on being alert and available to respond to any emergency.

“That emphasis was quite lacking,’’ the tribunal said.

The tribunal ordered the teacher’s suspension to continue until he completes courses in student behavioural management and managing risks in manual arts workshops.