Education Qld: Violence against teachers ‘worst it’s ever been’

Queensland teachers are being subjected to 119 incidents of violence a day, or one every four every minutes, with a union saying it’s the worst it has ever been.

Queensland teachers are increasingly under attack. (File picture)

Queensland teachers are being exposed to violence and aggression from students in state schools every four minutes, as unions warn it is the worst it’s ever been in classrooms.

Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek has revealed teachers reported 5741 incidents of occupational violence and aggression in just the first term of 2025.

That equates to about 119 incidents a day, or one every four every minutes, based on the number of school days and hours in that term.

The shocking number of incidents is a 21 per cent increase on the 4710 reported in term one last year.

Reported incidents could include physical violence by a child such as hitting, kicking or throwing objects, as well as verbal abuse.

Not all incidents result in worker’s compensation.

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson said the union had consistently raised the issue of increasing occupational violence against teachers.

“Schools and society have changed over the last decade with inclusion of complex students into mainstream classes, as well as what our members describe as a lack of respect from some students, parents and caregivers compared to previous generations,” she said.

“These issues have helped create the chronic teacher shortage crisis our school communities are experiencing, a crisis the government can no longer ignore.

“This lack of teachers increases workload across schools, causes burnout, and adversely affects the safety and functionality of entire school communities.”

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson

Teachers Professional Association Queensland president Scott Stanford said violence against teachers was the worst it had ever been.

“A lot of older teachers are not putting up with it,” he said.

“They’re doing their jobs because they want to but … they’re saying enough is enough.

“Meanwhile younger teachers are not being taught well enough going into the industry.”

Primary and special schools have recorded the highest number of reported incidents, with a total of 2664 and 2039 incidents respectively.

Meanwhile, metropolitan Brisbane and South East Queensland teaching staff reported the most altercations by region over the term.

Brisbane’s south saw 514 reported incidents in primary schools, 30 in primary-secondary, 69 in secondary and 782 in special schools – a total of 1395.

The northside saw similar numbers, with a total of 920 reports.

Southeast schools led the regions with 810 reports of violence, followed by Central Queensland at 775 and the 571 total incidents on the north coast.

Ms Richardson said change needed to start with more qualified teachers in schools.

“This won’t happen without meaningful attraction and retention initiatives and nation-leading salaries, the government knows this,” she said.

In June the QTU rejected a “disappointing” pay offer from the state government and negotiations remain ongoing.

Mr Langbroek said the government would not tolerate bad behaviour in the states schools and were committed to providing schools the resources they need.

“We’re sending in the resources to help schools after a decade of failure from the former Labor Government that saw classroom assaults skyrocket,” he said.

Originally published as Education Qld: Violence against teachers ‘worst it’s ever been’