Kids stabbed with pencils, racist slurs: Student behaviour a growing concern as schools battle teacher shortages

Even though Mary Pateras was forced into retirement by traumatic experiences as a teacher, she still says it’s the best job in the world.

Having taught for years at a high school in Melbourne’s western suburbs, Ms Pateras remains a staunch advocate of education but says she was forced out of the industry.

“I had a nervous breakdown and was medically retired in 2012,” she told the ABC.

It’s an experience that resonates with many teachers across Australia.

Earlier this year people across the country responded to an audience call out embedded in a story about tutoring, inviting them to share their experiences with the education system.

The ABC heard from dozens of teachers that managing worsening student behaviour, bullying from other staff and parents, and ever-longer working hours were all commonly experienced in Australian schools.

Several teachers who did not want to be identified due to fear of professional backlash told the ABC in interviews that they, like Ms Pateras, were on workers compensation or were considering leaving the profession altogether.

And it’s contributing to a severe shortage of educators.

The federal Department of Education predicts by 2025 the number of new graduates will be 4,100 less than the number of secondary teachers needed nationwide.

“Being a teacher is the most important job in the world and we don’t have enough of them,” said federal Minister for Education Jason Clare in a statement to the ABC.

“That’s why the Albanese government has launched new teaching scholarships worth up to $40,000 each to encourage more people to study to become a teacher.“

A national problem

A 2024 survey of Queensland state school teachers found that half reported managing classroom behaviour was the biggest issue taking time away from educating students.

A teacher named Greg recently told ABC Brisbane he was “mentally, physically and emotionally abused” to the point where he had to go on workers compensation.

“I am a good teacher, but last year I even doubted that I would ever teach again,” he said.

“We have chairs thrown. We’ve got kids who stab other kids with pencils. I’ve seen 11 staff members leave since the start of the year.”

Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe said that “occupational violence is unfortunately very real in the school setting”. 

“We have seen increased rates of people reporting these instances, and indeed going on WorkCover, and for some, finishing their careers early,” she said.

In this year’s annual principal safety survey, conducted by the Australian Catholic University, 48 per cent of the 2,300 respondents reported witnessing or experiencing physical violence.

More than half (54 per cent) were threatened with violence.

The latest available international data on student behaviour from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) — from 2018 — found the “disciplinary climate” in Australian schools was among the worst in the OECD.

Monash University education researcher Erin Leif told the ABC that “compared to other countries around the world, Australian students perceive their classrooms to be quite disruptive and noisy”.

Burdensome admin, lack of respect

Dr Leif said that while violent incidents often made headlines, it was comparatively low level disruption and disengagement taking up the most time for teachers away from the work of educating students.

Many teachers entering the industry felt unprepared for supporting improved behaviour in their classrooms, she said.

One high school student told the ABC many of their classmates had become “downright horrid” to teachers.

“I saw it myself when a class called a teacher of Asian ethnicity racist words until he had to call in a higher staff member,” they said.

A teacher with 20 years’ experience, who did not want to be identified for fear of professional backlash, said the job was becoming more difficult every year.

“The administrative workload has increased exponentially … we have to keep detailed records of any communication with students, parents, or reporting agencies,” they said.

“At the same time, face to face teaching hours have remained the same.”

Another experienced educator wrote that they were “very concerned about the wellbeing of teachers”.

They echoed concerns around “tedious compliance and recording requirements”, “unrealistic demands from parents”, “increasing lack of teacher autonomy” and “constant scrutiny” by school leadership.

A report by the OECD released in 2023 said that there were “higher-than-average net teaching hours” in Australian schools along with less competitive salaries compared to “similarly educated professions”. 

Resourcing, behavioural capacity building key to teacher retention say stakeholders

The Australian Education Union says that only 1.3 per cent of public schools are funded to the Schooling Resource Standard, which the government defines as “how much total public funding a school needs to meet its students’ educational needs”.

Union president Ms Haythorpe said: “When you starve a system of resources — and that’s exactly what’s happened over the last decade — that plays out in the classroom.

“We’re now seeing a common working week is in the order of 50 hours plus per week, because teachers are filling the gaps with respect to that shortage.”

In Victoria, for example, only 3 per cent of teachers said their schools were well-resourced in a union survey of 1,371 teachers, principals and support staff conducted in March and April 2024.

Mr Clare, the education minister, said Australia has a good education system “but it can be a lot better and a lot fairer”.

“That’s why we have put $16 billion in additional funding for public schools on the table — this would be the biggest increase in Commonwealth funding to public schools that has ever been delivered.”

For Dr Leif, integrating the teaching of “behavioural, social and emotional skills” into the curriculum — and equipping teachers to find “teachable moments to work on these skills” throughout the day — would improve teacher retention.

“We should start to see things like enhanced wellbeing, reductions in anxiety around school, improved mental health as an outcome for many of these students,” she said.

Mr Clare said the government was improving teacher training to make sure they were “taught the fundamentals about how to teach children to read and write and how to manage disruptive classrooms”.

The myriad challenges of the job don’t mean that young people should avoid becoming teachers, Ms Pateras said.

“If anyone said to me, ‘should I be a teacher?’ I’d say absolutely yes — it is the best job in the world.”

One Victorian teacher who wrote to the ABC said: “The reason I and many other teachers persevere, is our commitment to those amazing children in our respective classes.

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