Female teachers victims of generational sexual violence

Half of teachers in schools and kindergartens – almost all female – have been victims of routine sexual harassment, mostly by male students, a shock new study has found.

Boys in Years 9 and 10 were the primary aggressors, but some were much younger. (File picture)

Half of teachers in schools and kindergartens – almost all female – have been victims of routine sexual harassment, mostly by male students, a shock new study has found.

They have also had their images posted on “rate my teacher” pages online, and nearly a fifth have been sexually assaulted by a colleague.

The national survey of 1000 teachers, released on Monday, was conducted by female advocacy group Collective Shout in partnership with parenting author and educator Maggie Dent.

It found female teachers did not feel safe at work amid widespread, entrenched and normalised sexual behaviour.

Eight in 10 respondents reported a rise in sexually harmful behaviour, with 69.7 per cent saying they had experienced inappropriate sexual behaviour from a student.

Boys in Years 9 and 10 were identified as the primary aggressors against teachers in more than half of reported incidents, however children as young as kindergarten age were also culprits.

Teachers also reported dealing with harmful sexual behaviour against other students by their male peers.

Children as young as Year 2 were accessing and sharing pornographic content through personal devices or social media, and girls in Years 5 and 6 were coerced into sending sexual images by their male peers.

Teachers attributed the rise in harmful sexual behaviour to early exposure to pornography, the negative effect of social media influencers and sexist societal attitudes.

Some reported declines in their mental health, others took long-term leave or left the teaching profession.

Author and educator Maggie Dent collaborated with the study.

Some teachers reported seeing students mimicking sexual acts they had seen in pornographic content, making sexual propositions, and making rape jokes and threats.

One teacher said she had a student tell his girlfriend about his rape fantasies involving her.

“He also threatened to rape his girlfriend if she told anyone,” the teacher said.

Another said there had been a particular increase in the behaviour over the past two years.

“[As a teacher I have] never felt so drained, mentally and emotionally, in the past two years dealing with the increase of this behaviour with no school supports in place,” they said.

Teachers’ Professional Association of Queensland president Scott Stanford said it was a widespread issue in both secondary and primary schools across the state.

“So the inappropriate comments to staff, especially female staff … that has had a drastic increase, and also the taking of photos then posting them on sites like ‘rate my teachers’ is still very, very prevalent,” Mr Standord said.

Mr Stanford said there was one instance he had heard of where a female prep teacher bent over to help another student and a boy commented on the size of her breasts.

“That ended up being the reason she retired four years ago. And when she went to the parents and said, ‘look, I’m bit uncomfortable with what (your child) has said’, the comment from the parent was, ‘well, you do’.”

Mr Stanford said the issue had been “building up” over the years.

“Or they’ll flick their skirts as they walk past and say ‘oh didn’t mean to do that’, well, yes, you clearly did,” he said.

Mr Stanford said he hoped the new state government would put control of schools back in the hands of principals.

The report found 58.9 per cent of teachers had reported feeling unsafe in the classroom or on school grounds following sexual harassment and 66.6 per cent reported witnessing sexual harassment of a student by another student.

QTU acting president Leah Olsson

Queensland Teachers’ Union acting president Leah Olsson said Queensland state school teachers and school leaders continued to experience the full spectrum of incidents of occupational violence and aggression including sexual harassment and assault.

“Queensland Teachers’ Union members deserve protection under the law like other front line workers, we have a teacher shortage crisis and can’t afford to lose valued staff who feel threatened and experience abuse without recourse.”

“If we are to improve safety, state education can’t afford cuts to staff or resourcing, Queensland society benefits with investment in education budgets.”

Ms Olsson said the QTU was seeking meaningful engagement with the new government for clarity on its plans and to ensure our members are represented and consulted on education policy.

“The fact state schools are still not fully federally funded remains a major roadblock to fixing issues like the teacher shortage crisis and occupational violence and aggression.”

The report was published by Collective Shout in partnership with parenting author and educator Maggie Dent.

Ms Dent said this had been a concern of hers “for a while now”.

“I thought it was important to get a sense of the prevalence of sexual harassment in schools.

“This is something staff, parents and students need to be educated about.

“Some of what we are hearing about in this report is technically criminal behaviour and it simply cannot be dismissed as ‘boys will be boys’ – which was a phrase we heard multiple times in the survey.”

Ms Dent urged parents to have the “awkward conversations” with their kids, and not just expect schools to be responsible for addressing this behaviour from some boys.

“This needs to be a whole-community response,” she said.

Collective Shout’s Melinda Tankard Reist

Collective Shot movement director Melinda Tankard Reist said this issue was a crisis and had reached its worst in over a decade.

“Schools have become sites of abuse,” she said.

“The safety of teachers and female students is significantly compromised.”

A Department of Education spokesman said violence and abuse towards teachers and school staff was not tolerated.

“And appropriate actions are taken to maintain a safe and respectful environment for everyone,” the spokesman said.

“The department has a comprehensive framework that includes a student code of conduct in every school, disciplinary guidelines, and tailored behaviour management plans, to safeguard staff health, safety, and wellbeing.

“Additionally, the No Excuse for School Abuse campaign raises awareness about unacceptable forms of aggression or harassment, reinforcing a zero-tolerance stance on these behaviours.

“Teachers are encouraged to first report any concerns related to sexual violence, to their principal or a senior member of staff, who can provide immediate support and guidance. “Following this, they can report the incident through the MyHR Workplace Health and Safety incident management system. If needed, further assistance is available by lodging a Workers’ Compensation claim with WorkCover Queensland.”

The spokesman said teachers who had experienced sexual violence were offered confidential 24/7 counselling and various assistance programs.

“We take a risk-based approach to ensure staff safety, working closely with affected teachers to provide proactive protection throughout the process,” he said.

“In cases of serious violence, threats, or harassment, we collaborate with the Queensland Police Service.”