Greater Shepparton Secondary College teachers quit over ongoing stress

Teachers at a trouble-plagued Shepparton school have quit their jobs or taken stress leave amid vicious brawls and threats from students.

Dozens of teachers at Greater Shepparton Secondary College have quit or taken stress leave.

Teachers at a trouble-plagued Victorian super school are being driven out of classrooms and dozens are resigning or taking extended leave.

The Herald Sun can reveal teachers at Greater Shepparton Secondary College have been under “duress” suffering burnout and threats from students, causing serious mental health problems.

The Herald Sun has obtained documents listing 20 teachers absent on March 19.

The school has about 210 full-time teachers, and former teachers and parents say dozens had left since Shepparton’s four public schools merged into one in January last year.

The Herald Sun also understands more than 12 teachers are on stress leave.

A former teacher said teachers were under constant stress at the school, and dozens had left or were “too afraid” to teach.

“One teacher was threatened last week and took sick leave. Other teachers are consistently involved in breaking up schoolyard fights,” he said.

“These are experienced and respected teachers, they are under duress and suffering high rates of burnout. Something needs to change because they can’t go on like this.”

He said the school had arranged counselling for teachers through its employee assistance program, and sessions were booked out.

“It’s a clear sign that they need support, they are so stressed — I know some of them are driving home at night in tears from the pressure,” the former teacher said.

Greater Shepparton Secondary College have been under “duress” suffering burnout and threats from students. Picture Victorian School Building Authority

Parents also said the school should be “urgently divided” because their children had a right to “quality education”.

Deputy Nationals leader Steph Ryan said she had received reports of teachers under “immense stress”.

“Parents, teachers and students have been trying to voice their concerns about the issues at the school but it continues to fall on deaf ears,” she said.

“We are now seeing the consequences of classes going unstaffed.”

Parent Robyn Boschetti, who has been calling for more “choice” of schools in the area, said the situation had reached “boiling point”.

“The kids aren’t learning anything, we need Education Minister James Merlino to step in and look at this issue,” Ms Boschetti said. “He needs to investigate this and do something about it.

“The teachers can’t work in these unsafe environments and they are taking on extra workloads, that’s why there’s a high turnover.”

This month, videos of vicious schoolyard fights at the McGuire campus showed dozens of students brawling, one boy kicked to the ground and a teacher attempting to break up the altercation by forcing a student into a staffroom.

“Greater Shepparton secondary schools have experienced declining enrolments for a decade and poor educational outcomes for much longer than that,” Education Minister James Merlino said.

“Under the Shepparton Education Plan, we are delivering unprecedented investment in Greater Shepparton secondary education to undertake transformational change to reverse those trends.

“We always knew it would be challenging, but this is about delivering the school facilities every student in Shepparton needs to excel.”

“I want the staff to feel supported in every way possible. It why I have been very clear with my department that every single available support should be provided to the school.”

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