Struggle to retain and attract staff to remote Qld schools amid student violence
Its been revealled a Cape York deputy principal was hit in the face last week by a student as a former teacher at a remote Qld school claims to be “traumatised” after threats of rape and having her car smashed up with a star picket.
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Its been revealled a Cape York deputy principal was hit in the face last week by a student as a former teacher at a remote Qld school claims to be “traumatised” after threats of rape and having her car smashed up with a star picket.
Rural, remote and regional state schools in Queensland are facing a crippling teacher shortage with hundreds of positions vacant across the state.
An audit entitled “attracting and retaining teachers in regional and remote Queensland” is expected to be tabled in the Queensland parliament between July and September this year.
It’s understood an escalation of school violence, more prevalent at remote schools, has contributed to teacher vacancies which dramatically increased from 282 in 2019 to 526 in 2024.
Former teacher aide Rosa Panameno spent six months working at the Doomadgee State School in 2021 but left after a student threatened to kill her.
“I would ask them to sit down and they would threaten me and show their fists and one threatened to kill me but as a teacher you have to carry on with your duty,” she said.
“One teacher was slapped in her face in front of everybody, and the kids were just laughing.
“It happens quite often, in that time we had three or four lockdowns.”
The retired teacher aide said staff tried to offer the students gifts in exchange for good behaviour but that was largely unsuccessful.
Security guards were hired to keep the violence in check but were also ineffective.
Ms Panameno said she suffered from depression and lived in constant fear after an attack on her husband’s vehicle.
“They smashed the windscreen with a star picket, the same night they targeted the back window and broke the driver’s side window,” she said
Ms Panameno immigrated from war-torn El Salvador in 1990 where kidnappings, brutal violence and murder was commonplace.
She came to Australia for a better life as a refugee and was shocked to be treated so poorly by children who tried to break into cars and houses of staff and threatened sexual abuse of teachers.
“It’s worse than a third world country, we couldn’t sleep through the night,” she said.
“I was very traumatised, it was very scary and not very safe at all, the teachers are not respected.”
Despite the challenging circumstances, at times, former Mareeba State School principal Jo Soothill encouraged teachers to go bush.
“Teachers are provided with greater support systemically, access to subsidised housing and travel,” she said.
“That said, if there is a significant disconnect between a teacher’s lived experience and the community’s, the teacher needs to be open to difference, able to adapt to different community expectations and be resilient.
“A school tends to reflect the community standards and expectations and teachers who positively embrace the community develop effective relationships with students and their parents/family.”
The Department of Education has confirmed the deputy principal of the troubled Aurukun State School was struck in the face by a student last week.
But the department claimed the staff member did not suffer from a black eye as alleged by an anonymous source.
“Claims that graduate teachers are being attacked and left with bruises are also unfounded and inaccurate,” a department spokesman said.
It comes after a petition called for the closure of Northern Peninsula Area State College following an alleged brawl. Four students have been charged with serious violence.
The school has four teaching positions available, according to the Smart Jobs government recruiting portal.
Meanwhile, disturbing footage emerged last week of a fight between three male students at Trinity Bay State School, with three teachers shoved as they attempted to break up the brawl.
Last year teachers at Aurukun State School called on the department to shut the violence-stricken school, amid an increased number of lockdowns due to assaults, threats of sexual violence, and students carrying machetes.
At the time teachers were offered an extra $8000 a year, plus $150 a day on top of a free accommodation and a base salary of between $74,146 – $116,729 a year.
One proud Wik man raising his family in Aurukun, who asked not to be named, said alcohol-fuelled fighting was happening daily on the streets and until the early hours of the morning.
“It is a big problem in Aurukun ...” he said.
“We have to admit that we do have a problem so they can send people to help out.
“We want our kids to grow up in a safe town.”
Owner of the Kang Kang Café Tim Jones acknowledged the sly grog problem that contributed to the Aurukun riots in 2020 when six homes were firebombed and two teens were charged with the stabbing murder of Austin Woolla.
But he believed the situation in Aurukun was OK.
“At different times grog does come in and it can get really volatile but at the moment it seems OK, but it does affect attendance of the kids at school,” he said.
Aurukun is a dry community but sly grog does make its way into the western Cape York town via road and on Skytrans air services departing Cairns.
A $14 cask of wine can be sold in Aurukun for up to $450 in a remarkable 1300 per cent mark-up, while a 750ml bottle of rum goes for around $700 — an 800 per cent increase.
Queensland Teachers Union president Cresta Richardson implored everyone to uphold teacher safety within school grounds.
“Occupational violence and aggression is a growing problem we’re seeing right across the state, the QTU believes a community-wide approach is required to improving safety in our schools and classrooms,” she said.
“Key to the structure and successful functioning of our schools is respecting our teachers and school leaders, parents and caregivers play a major role in achieving this.”
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Originally published as Struggle to retain and attract staff to remote Qld schools amid student violence
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