Greater Shepparton Secondary College student teachers drop out of uni courses amid verbal abuse

Student teachers have dropped out of their courses after enduring the “stressful and unsafe environment” at the Shepparton super school.

A CRT agency insider says the Shepparton school is ‘impossible’ to place teachers at. Picture: David Caird

Victorian students undertaking teaching placements at the trouble-plagued Shepparton super school are dropping out or becoming disillusioned with the industry.

After witnessing verbal abuse and violent incidents, students undertaking placements at Greater Shepparton Secondary College, told the Herald Sun they were left feeling “stressed” and “burnt out”.

This includes Permission to Teach (PTT) teachers, which involves university students given permission to teach in Victorian schools to cover workplace shortages.

A former teaching student, who undertook a placement at the school last year, said she was left feeling “anxious” after seeing several confronting incidents.

Student teachers have been left feeling ‘stressed’ and ‘burnt out’.

“I was personally verbally abused by some students and also saw them taunt other teachers,” she said.

“It made me feel like I was back at high school and raised some trauma for me, it was very stressful and an unsafe environment.

“I ended up finishing my degree, but I am now studying another course as that experience really affected me.”

A Permission to Teach teacher, who recently taught at the school, also said she had witnessed fights and abusive behaviour.

“It’s a very unpleasant environment, I felt extremely burnt out. There were regular fights between a group of year 9 boys and there was bullying between another group of kids,” she said.

“It opened up my eyes to teaching and I’ve ended up taking a break from the industry as I did find the whole experience full on.”

It comes as one CRT agency insider says the Shepparton school is “impossible” to place teachers at.

“People say many of the kids are great but say the overall environment is still very negative and unstable,” he said.

TikTok accounts show students making fun of its principal and vaping in the bathrooms while wagging school.

There are currently 26 jobs advertised for Greater Shepparton Secondary College, including 21 teachers, four education support staff members and one leading teacher.

The teacher roles include a number of graduate jobs in English and Health, classroom teachers in English, Engineering, Humanities, Japanese, Woodwork and Italian.

Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said the Victorian Institute of Teaching had responded to the increased demand for teachers by streamlining the application process for pre-service teachers, resulting in an 80 per cent increase.

“This has helped to ensure that the overwhelming majority of government schools are fully staffed,” she said.

“Schools and pre-service teachers have welcomed the opportunity to get a start in the classroom.”

The Herald Sun revealed last month that several current and former teachers at Greater Shepparton Secondary College said staffing in the region had reached crisis point, with 17 open vacancies at the school in subjects including English, maths and physical education.