Victorian teachers’ group vows to push pro-Palestine messages in class

A Victorian Teachers and School Staff for Palestine group has vowed to ‘break the silence the Victorian government is trying to impose’ on educators amid the conflict in Gaza.

Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll has warned teachers not to bring ‘divisive’ rhetoric into the classroom. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

A Victorian Teachers and School Staff for Palestine group has vowed to “break the silence the Victorian government is trying to impose” on educators amid the conflict in Gaza.

About 70 people involved with the group met on Monday for a forum discussion on “Why there’s no ‘neutrality’ in genocide”.

The forum, which opposition MPs pressured the state government to cancel, included attendees discussing how to “(use) our ‘teacher voices’ to show solidarity with Palestine in our schools and classrooms”.

A high school teacher at the forum vowed to continue to share pro-Palestinian stories with her students. “I 100 per cent have a mandate to teach about Palestine,” Lucy Honan, who has also been involved with the Teachers for Refugees movement, said.

The forum went ahead on Monday despite calls from opposition MPs for it to be cancelled. Picture: Instagram

She said it was “absurd” teachers were even being asked to consider the question of neutrality when it came to teaching students about Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

In November, Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll warned teachers against displaying pro-Palestine messages or wearing the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh in classrooms. He described such actions as “divisive and inflammatory” and insisted teachers stick to the curriculum.

Speakers at the forum accused him of being selective in his demands for teachers to maintain neutrality. “When Ben Carroll says in his statement that teachers have a code of conduct of being unbiased … he didn’t make that statement about teaching the Holocaust or World War I or the war in Ukraine,” Palestinian playwright Samah Sabawi said. “He was deceptively responding to teachers, not even teaching … but simply wearing a Palestinian national symbol.”

Organisers of the event said the state government’s demands for teachers to maintain neutrality were hypocritical because of its apparent ties with Israel. “Ben Carroll is calling on us to be neutral when he went to Israel … to negotiate with arms manufacturers,” Ms Honan said, in reference to a visit Mr Carroll made to Israel in March 2023.

One aim of that trip was “pursuing defence industry opportunities”, according to a travel report on the Victorian government website.

Ms Sabawi also told Monday’s audience that educators had a duty to inform students about the lives of children in Palestine. “Students in Australian classrooms must be made aware of the challenges other children their age endure in their educational journey,” she said. “What is life like for an eight-year-old student in Gaza?”