The final straw that broke veteran Qld state school teacher

A former Queensland teacher has revealed the extreme acts of violence that broke her, forcing her to quit after almost 20 years.

Teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

• Open letters: Why teachers are quitting

A former state school teacher has spoken about being punched, spat on, threatened to be shot, abused by parents, and having a ball deliberately thrown at her stomach while pregnant.

But it was an extreme case of schoolyard violence that finally broke the highly-experienced Queensland teacher, forcing her to leave state education after almost 20 years.

Despite leaving public schools, she still works in education and asked that her identity be kept confidential.

The teacher described watching an older student, who she said had been recently released from juvenile detention, beating a younger special needs student “to within an inch of his life, while other students filmed on their phones” as the final straw.

“I ended up becoming so disheartened that day because I thought I was watching that kid die,” she said.

“The younger boy was from the special education unit, I think he had difficulties reading social cues.

“I actually knew the boy beating him up, he had been in one of my classes.

“I tried to stop the violence by yelling at the instigator, but he only paused to tell me: ‘Shut the f*** up, you c***, you’re next’.

“Then he continued to beat the younger student in the face until he slumped to the ground, then he began stomping on his head.

“He had to be wrestled off by a male teacher. Nobody had been told or warned that he’d just been released from juvenile detention.”

The teacher said students were coming to school with more complex background issues, which staff were largely not trained to deal with.

“These kids were part of criminal gangs at night stealing cars, and by day they came to school and we were expected to deal with them, you don’t sign up for that,” she said.

“These kids were also coming to us traumatised from issues at home. The things you learned about some of those kids … I cared so much that I had to get out.”

The woman said her first 10 years in the job were positive.

“But parents need to be made more responsible for their children, I know people won’t like to hear that, but it’s the truth,” she said.

“I’ve had kids who have never seen a book, the parents just stick a screen in front of them at home.

Education Minister Di Farmer this week announced funding for more alternative learning spaces in Qld schools. Picture: Tertius Pickard

“I remember calling a parent to tell them that their son was not doing well, and the response I got was: ‘From 9am-3pm he is your problem, I don’t care’.”

NewsCorp’s Best In Class campaign revealed this week that Australian students will be taught old-school discipline – including how to line up, keep quiet and be still – in a bid to rid classrooms of the behaviour crisis.

However, the teacher was not optimistic, adding that she was still in contact with current state school staff.

“Any measure to teach manners is lost when you have a generation of students being raised by parents who don’t care, or worse still, enable and justify their child’s behaviour,” she said.

“The tide has turned into a tsunami of violent aggression against teachers and support staff, and I think it’s too late to try to turn it back.

“Until school staff are properly supported by leadership, and they are in turn supported by their regional office, nothing will change.”

A Department of Education spokesman outlined a range of initiatives across state schools to address these issues.

“All students have the right to learn — and teachers have a right to work — in a safe and supportive environment,” the spokesman said.

“Addressing the risk to staff from occupational violence and aggression has been identified as an area of priority focus.”

The $106.7m Student Wellbeing Package will give every Queensland state school student access to professional mental health support by June by funding more psychologists, social workers, guidance officers and youth workers across public schools.

The Department maintains that it is on track to complete this program rollout on time.

In addition, Education Minister Di Farmer announced this week a further 34 state schools have been approved for funding to transform traditional classrooms into alternative learning spaces, known as FlexiSpaces, which are proven to re-engage students regularly wagging school, and support children with learning difficulties.

Meanwhile, the Education Justice Initiative - which commenced in 2018 and was recently expanded - is a network of court liaison officers who work with young people who appear before the Childrens Court, and support them to re-engage with education or training.

This includes departmental officers who share information regarding any potential risks they pose to school students and staff.