Students’ criminal conduct shocks senators

‘I have had chairs thrown at me, children become so angry with me they have struck me’ – fearful teachers spell out the dangers of chaotic classrooms.

A Senate inquiry into classroom disruption reveals rising levels of violence.

Out-of-control students have sexually assaulted and threatened to kill teachers, punched classmates, and dealt drugs in the playground as classrooms grow dangerously chaotic, a Senate inquiry has warned.

After a year-long inquiry, the Senate education committee has called on the Albanese government to fast-track its reforms to teacher training, which will force universities to teach trainees the skills to keep classrooms under control.

The committee angered the teachers’ union by recommending a new “behaviour curriculum’’ that would force teachers to instruct children in good manners and obeying rules.

But the shocking criminal conduct of some students – detailed in an interim report tabled in the Senate on Friday – has been blamed on childhood trauma and family dysfunction, as well as mental health or behavioural disorders that go undiagnosed or untreated.

The extent of student violence was outlined by a teacher from an unidentified regional public school, who told senators that students had hit or thrown furniture at staff.

“Staff have had the windows next to their heads punched in,’’ the teacher said in a confidential submission.

“Staff are harassed. They have had their cars keyed. They have had their wallets stolen. They have had students punching the walls of their classroom. Staff have been forced frequently to deal with vaping, drug use and alcohol use … and drug selling and distribution on school grounds.”

The inquiry was told that some teachers have been refused stress leave despite being caught in violent brawls.

“I have been sexually assaulted and harassed by a student, I have had chairs thrown at me, children become so angry with me they have struck me,‘’ said a teacher who works at a school where two-thirds of students live in the poorest families.

“We are made to call the parents and let them know … and are often then exposed to hostility from the parents.’’

Teachers have been injured in playground brawls.

A government high school, which was not named, told the inquiry that “staff have faced targeted swearing, threats of physical harm including mentions of killing staff and hurtful references of a highly personal nature’’.

The committee, chaired by Liberal senator Matt O’Sullivan, called for more integration of education and healthcare services to give students faster access to psychologists and social workers.

“Teachers reported that they are increasingly expected to manage students with complex needs without timely access to relevant supports – particularly qualified professional, health, and school counselling services,’’ the report found.

In a dissenting report, Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne, who taught in Queensland public high schools for 25 years, warned that the inquiry could “demonise children and punish parents’’.

“We should be addressing the causes of disadvantage and properly resourcing our schools so that teachers have the time to plan properly and provide proper support to every student,’’ she said.

Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe said the report failed to ­acknowledge a $6.5bn funding shortfall that stops schools hiring extra teachers or providing specialist support to struggling students.

She said the key to calm classrooms was “more teachers with more time to support students, more specialist staff to help students with complex needs, and smaller class sizes’’.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said he wanted student health and wellbeing to be prioritised in the next National School Reform Agreement with state and territory governments.

He said principals had blamed bad behaviour on students’ use of mobile phones – which will be banned in all government schools next year – and vaping, which the federal government is tackling through a ban on the importation of single-use and non-prescription vapes from January 1.

The federal government gave schools $204m this year to pay for psychologists, school camps and excursions, but the funding is not ongoing. Education ministers have ordered universities to strengthen their teaching of classroom management in education degrees by the end of 2025.