Ballarat Clarendon College teacher’s swear-filled VCE English essay feedback

A teacher’s expletive-ridden rant in an online VCE English tutorial has been leaked by students at an elite Ballarat private school.

A teacher’s expletive-ridden Year 12 English tutorial has been leaked by students at a top-performing Ballarat private school.

The swear-filled online feedback session was delivered by a highly educated teacher from Ballarat Clarendon College, who the Herald Sun has chosen not to name.

The clip, which has been shared widely by students, starts with the teacher saying the students’ work contained some “f—cking appalling mistakes”.

Students in many VCE English classes this term are studying a comparative analysis of two books, Seven Stages of Grieving by Wesley Enoch, and The Longest Memory by Fred D’Aguiar.

The teacher was giving them feedback on their draft essays.

“It’s absolute dogsh—t. Whitechapel (a character in the second book) is not an Indigenous Australian — three of you did that,” the teacher yells at one point.

“Seven Stages was not written during the LA riots. It’s written in Australia in the mid-90s – 20 years after the LA riots.”

Clarendon College in Ballarat.

The clearly frustrated teacher goes on to ask students: “Do you know who Indigenous Americans are?”

“Is Whitechapel (a slave) a f—cking Indigenous American?”

“No, native people in America are native American Indians,” the teacher yells.

“They are not African-American. African, it’s the first part.

“Sort out that sh—t, that sucks, get rid of that. That f—cks up your essay so bad.”

She goes on to tell her students that their general statements are “so f—cking sh—t”.

“I nearly killed myself as I was reading them. We are going to sort them.

“If your essay starts crap, guess how I am going to feel about it as I am reading it.”

She goes on to tell her students off for their “sh—t” quotes as well.

In a letter to families on Monday, the school — which consistently rates among the best in the state for VCE results — said it had become aware of a video recorded from Microsoft Teams circulating on social media.

“The recording was of a Year 12 class that occurred earlier this week in which the teacher’s behaviour fell outside that which would be expected of a staff member at Ballarat Clarendon College,” the statement said.

“We know that the recording has been distributed through social media. That the video was copied from a Teams recording of the class has a range of implications for those sharing the video.

“The sharing of a school video falls outside of our community expectations and, to be clear, falls outside the law. We ask people to desist from sharing the video and to delete the video if you have or do receive it.”

The school said: “We are dealing with a complex and difficult situation. We have commenced a process around this incident that will be followed appropriately and sensitively.

“As a community, we need to be respectful of those involved who have the right to confidentiality.”

The school’s departing principal, David Shepherd, last year was the subject of numerous accusations from staff for being a bully and for pressuring teachers to achieve high academic standards.

He was ultimately cleared by an internal investigation but problems have remained at the school.