Violence, discrimination on the rise in Tas schools, with “toxic masculinity” rife in classrooms
“Toxic masculinity” mixed with teacher shortages is worsening bullying in Tasmanian schools, an inquiry has heard.
Tasmania
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Tasmanian children experience among the highest rates of bullying in the world, with students and teachers telling a government inquiry many schools are no longer safe places to be, let alone learn.
“Toxic masculinity” is worsening the environment in classrooms, teachers say, compounded by teacher shortages, the hangover of the Covid-19 pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis.
“Feeling unsafe or unhappy in school is a daily occurrence for some children, and that sense of not belonging is so damaging to a young person’s development.” said Isabelle Crompton, the Interim Commissioner for Children and Young People, adding that girls were disproportionately experiencing negative feelings around their education.
Feeling unsafe in Tasmanian schools is not just anecdotal.
According to a report published by the The Australian Council for Educational Research, Tasmanian students experience the highest rates of bullying in Australia, reporting almost twice as many instances of being threatened or having things destroyed by bullies compared to the national rate.
A government inquiry into discrimination and bullying in Tasmanian schools resumed its public hearing on Thursday, and those giving evidence painted a grim portrait of insidious violence, chronic underfunding and desperate, violent children with dangerous behavioural issues.
Bullying has become a flashpoint around Australia after the high-profile deaths of young girls in NSW, the NT and QLD were attributed to bullying by their peers.
Education experts gave evidence on Thursday that bullying is getting worse in Tasmania and students with a disability or identifying as LGBTIQA+ fare worst.
A transgender woman named Lexi gave evidence that she was relentlessly bullied at a Catholic high school when she was in her early teens.
As well as slurs, exclusion and physical assaults, Lexi recalled being forced to play on male sports teams and change in the male change room during PE, despite identifying as a girl.
She was also made to speak with a “therapist” who specialised in conversion therapy, and was referred to by her “dead name” (former male name) by the school’s Principal, who instructed other staff to do the same.
“I noticed an uptick in behaviour by my male classmates which I would describe as toxically masculine, which included quite a lot of machismo, and policing of ‘the norm’ – gender roles.” Lexi wrote in her submission.
“Our cultural norm is a white, athletic male and especially in Tasmania that group is prioritised,” Lexi told the hearing on Thursday.
“And all minorities suffer, not just LGBTQI+ but immigrants, First Nations and people living with a disability.”
According to the Working it Out advocacy organisation, 83 per cent of LGBTIQ+ Tasmanian young people reported high or very high levels of psychological distress in the past 12 months, compared to 27 per cent nationally.
Daniel Howard is a Schools Inclusion Officer and said 90 per cent of LGBTQI+ young people in Tasmania had experienced suicidal ideation at some point in their lives.
Mr Howard gave evidence to the Inquiry that some school Principal’s were threatened by other parents that their children would be withdrawn from the school if a transgender child was admitted into the class.
“Discrimination is alive and well,” Mr Howard said.
David Genford is the President of the Australian Education Union Tasmania Branch. He said teacher shortages weren’t accurate – the real problem was qualified teachers refusing to return to the classroom because of the routine mayhem within them.
“Our staff and our students should feel safe in schools. It is quite obvious that they currently don’t.” Mr Genford said.
Mr Genford emphasise that the violence in schools was not only child on child, but in increasing rates child on adults.
eleanor.dejong@news.com.au
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Originally published as Violence, discrimination on the rise in Tas schools, with “toxic masculinity” rife in classrooms
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