Shocking stories of abuse shared by Queensland’s teachers

A Queensland teacher has shared a harrowing confrontation, as a fresh push to protect educators gathers momentum.

Sandgate State School teacher Lisa Broadhurst. Picture: Liam Kidston

Being called a “f---ing b-tch” by an angry father, having personal belongings destroyed by a student and having a student spit in their face are among the experiences revealed by Queensland teachers forced to work with their abusers in classrooms every day.

A new campaign by the Queensland Teachers’ Union has blown the lid off the abusive emails, threats from parents and physical abuse that are all too common for teachers across the state as occupational violence runs rampant in schools.

Teachers, who wished to keep their last names anonymous for their own safety, have come forward for the QTU campaign “My workplace is not like yours”.

Among those teachers was Amanda, 40, who said a student’s father sent her a threatening email and called her a “f---ing b-tch” to her face.

“I now need to sit down with him in a parent-teacher interview,” she said.

Others who came forward included Leah, 34, who said she has to teach the same child every day after they spat in her face and Lisa, 29, saying she had to remain calm while a student destroyed her personal belongings at the back of the classroom.

Rebecca, 36, said she was assaulted.

“I now have to face my attacker every day like nothing happened,” she said.

Education Minister Di Farmer

It comes following an announcement made aimed at tackling occupational violence in schools with Education Minister Di Farmer saying physical and psychosocial claims for work cover continued to escalate.

“Unfortunately, we are hearing more and more stories about simply unacceptable behaviour towards teachers and school staff,” Ms Farmer said.

“If the average person knew what teachers put up with every single day in terms of occupational violence, they would fall off their chair, some of the stories that you hear are shocking.”

Sandgate State School teacher Lisa Broadhurst said she had experienced occupational violence at the hands of parents in ongoing incidents.

“There was no real ‘one’ incident for me,” she said.

“This (teacher abuse) isn’t happening in back alleys or anything like that, it's happening in lovely classrooms with lovely, caring teachers who just want to do their best.”

Ms Broadhurst said what used to be a rare occurrence of taking WorkCover for more minor incidents had increased over the past few years to more serious issues.

“I had to take some work cover, and I know some other teachers have taken that as well,” she said.

“For example, a mental health incident could be something that’s building up and for myself, I didn’t realise I was unwell until I was really unwell,” she said.

QTU president Cresta Richardson said no other workplace or worker endured what teachers were forced to on a daily basis.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Pat Murphy

“Teachers can be assaulted and abused but have to continue working with the perpetrator moments later, often for years to come without any recourse or justice,” she said.

Ms Richardson said until leaders properly protected, valued, and respected teachers and school leaders, we would continue to lose quality educators and school communities would suffer as a result.

“Our teachers and school leaders are also targeted and attacked by parents and caregivers, in person, on the phone and in social media. It’s unacceptable behaviour and it’s all too common” she said.

The announcement saw the launch of a social media campaign called “No Excuse For School Abuse” which is set to be rolled across Meta, Google, YouTube and a dedicated website.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Pat Murphy said the “No Excuse For School Abuse” campaign to combat occupational violence would make limited change and was the tip of the iceberg in solving the issue.

“We would hope that this is a start and is something that goes further than just being on social media sights,” he said.

“It’s a matter of making sure, firstly, the other students are safe, then our staff are safe, when we are trying to regulate the behaviour of a child who may be lashing out.”

Mr Murphy said the number of incidents reported by teachers had increased in recent years.

“We need to be making sure that staff members involved in trying to regulate a student’s behaviour aren’t in danger themselves when intervening,” he said.