More than 80 teachers quit in two years amid allegations of ‘toxic’ work culture at Al Sadiq College

A Western Sydney Islamic school has rejected claims the college has lost more than 80 teachers in the space of two years, with educators alleging the school has a toxic work environment with out of control students.

More than 80 teachers have quit Al Sadiq College in Greenacre amid allegations of a toxic work culture.

More than 80 teachers have quit working at a Western Sydney Islamic school in the space of just two years, with educators claiming the school has a toxic work environment with out of control students.

Al Sadiq college in Greenacre, which houses 796 students and 70 teachers, has been called on by the Independent Education Union to address “concerns around leave entitlements and procedures, staff turnover and teacher workloads”.

The Daily Telegraph has obtained documents from within the school revealing the true extent of the staffing issue, stating that since 2023, more than 80 teachers have left the school, including as many as 13 staff from one specific subject.

A notice to IEU-affiliated Al Sadiq staff members issued on June 11, said the “extraordinary high turnover of teachers which currently sits at 80 since the start of 2023” had burdened teachers with “covers, merged class, caused instability and academic disruption”.

Al Sadiq College in Greenacre is listed as having nearly 800 student. Picture: Google

Al Sadiq has strongly denied the claims, labelling them “misleading and inaccurate”.

However, a 2024 notice to Al Sadiq co-signed by IEU-affiliated staff listed almost 50 signatures demanding the school take action on “poor staff morale, an extraordinary number of teacher resignations” and understaffing “impacting the productivity of student learning”.

In a resignation letter in 2023, one educator, said the school had “major student misbehaviour” with “a lack of structured consequences” for disobedient students.

He claimed racist remarks made to him went unpunished by the school who instead turned the blame on the teacher.

The teacher’s letter claimed the school has a “patronising and inflexible attitude” towards staff, which created “a poor employment relationship”.

In a statement, the IEU confirmed its members at the school had “raised legitimate workplace concerns”.

One source told The Saturday Telegraph that the school had an “extremely toxic culture”, including staff members being continuously “undermined”.

“Despite staff complaining several times about students seriously misbehaving – nothing was ever done,” the source said.

“The school failed in so many ways to hold students accountable for their disruptive behaviour.”

Another source said: “There has been such a high turnover because the school isn’t properly dealing with spitefulness and nasty gossip,” they said.

A parent with children who have now graduated from school said they felt students had been “disrupted” by the staff turnover.

“There were so many teachers coming through the door you have to wonder whether that impacted the kids’ learning,” they said.

“It’s disruptive for the kids.”

The parent said the staff turnover wasn’t often discussed with parents or students.

“It was like ‘OK next teacher’, no real talk about it. Obviously you start to wonder why.”

Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT branch secretary Carol Matthews said members had raised concerns around leave entitlements and procedures, staff turnover and teacher workloads.

“The IEU supports our members at the school who have raised legitimate workplace concerns with their employer,” Ms Matthews said.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said all students and staff should be safe at school.

“School registration requirements prioritise the safety and wellbeing of students,” she said.

Al Sadiq College’s board and management said in a statement that the allegations were “misleading and inaccurate”.

“It is simply not true that 81 teachers have left the college since 2023,” the school board said

“That figure includes casual and short-term contract staff, both teachers and non-teachers, and does not reflect the fact that the college has retained 79 per cent of all staff during that period.

“Our college serves our student population with nearly 90% of students from a language background other than English.

“Despite these challenges, our students’ NAPLAN results have been recognised by ACARA as among the most improved in the state, reflecting the dedication and professionalism of our staff. These gains have been building steadily since 2023.”