‘It’s out of control’: Shocking report into sexual harassment at school released

A shocking new report has revealed “insidious” details of abuse and misconduct across Australia’s schools.

A shocking new report claims children as young as Year 5 and 6 are being pressured by peers into sending nudes, and the photos are then being passed around to other boys.

In disturbing testimony, teachers and educators have documented the rise of sexual harassment against children and teachers in primary and high school, amid concerns that unfettered access to pornography at an early age is driving alarming behaviours.

Teachers – almost all female – complained of routine sexual harassment including moaning, sexist slurs, being asked for nudes and rape threats.

“Children showing other children pornography, sexual noises, children choking other children in the playground, children simulating sex from behind on other children from the age of four,” one educator told the survey.

“I’ve had to deal with an increase in sexual assault threats online, sexual images being shown and girls being pushed to do sexual acts,” another teacher said.

Another teacher complained that threats were not taken seriously.

“A Year 7 (boy) was harassed by a Year 11, when he ‘joked’ about inviting (him) to suck his ‘lollipop’ while gesturing to his penis. After a week’s suspension, the dad defended his 16-year-old son at his re-entry interview, saying it wasn’t sexual harassment and that it’s just ‘boys being boys’,” a teacher said.

A shocking new report claims children as young as Year 5 and 6 are being pressured by peers into sending nudes and the photos are then being passed around to other boys.

In their survey responses, teachers said: “Moaning is a big problem. Even ‘good’ kids are doing it to win favour with others.”

“Students in Grade 7 are coercing girls into sending child exploitation material,” a schoolteacher said.

“Year 5 and 6 students sending nudes after being continually asked to do so. Photos then being passed around to other boys,” another educator said.

Survey respondents reported instances of children as young as those in Year 2 accessing and sharing pornographic content through personal devices or social media.

In disturbing testimony, teachers and educators have documented the rise of sexual harassment against children and teachers in primary and high school amid concerns that unfettered access to pornography at an early age is driving alarming behaviours.

A total of 46.9 per cent of survey respondents reported being sexually harassed at school, and 49.1 per cent reported witnessing the sexual harassment of a colleague.

Among those who reported being sexually harassed, 69.7 per cent reported being sexually harassed by a student, 10.9 per cent reported being sexually harassed by a colleague and a student, and 19.4 per cent reported being sexually harassed by a colleague.

A shocking new report has revealed “insidious” details of abuse and misconduct across Australia’s schools.

Teenage boys in Years 9 and 10 were responsible for the majority of harmful sexual behaviours, but children as young as Kindergarten to Grade 3 were also exhibiting these behaviours.

The survey results of 1000 teachers are analysed in the Sexual Harassment of Teachers report, published by Collective Shout in partnership with parenting author and educator Maggie Dent.

The report includes instances of children as young as Year 2 accessing and sharing pornographic content through personal devices or social media.

Many female teachers said they did not feel safe at work. They were also having to deal with multiple disclosures from adolescent victims of harmful sexual behaviours, including girls in Years 5 and 6 coerced into sending sexual images.

“I have been very concerned for a while now about some of the things I’m hearing from teachers and parents in my community and the team at Collective Shout, and I thought it was important to get a sense of the prevalence of sexual harassment in schools,” author Maggie Dent said.

The report makes for shocking reading.

As do many of the testimonials.

“This is something staff, parents and students need to be educated about. Some of what we are hearing about in this report is technically criminal behaviour and it simply cannot be dismissed as ‘boys will be boys’, which was a phrase we heard multiple times in the survey.”

Melinda Tankard Reist said the report demonstrates that schools were “in crisis”.

“I speak in large numbers of public and private schools and the stories I’ve been told by female teachers and students this year are the worst I’ve heard in more than a decade of engagement with public and private schools,” she said.

“The situation is unacceptable. There needs to be a strong, national, uniform response to address it.”