We need to fight for change in

This page contains cleaned historical text recovered from the former Bad Apple Bullies website. Character encoding, punctuation, headings, lists and obvious extraction errors may have been repaired for readability. The underlying claims and opinions remain those of the original author and have not been independently reverified. Listen uses on-device text-to-speech — no audio files are stored.

1) the way WA public schools manage behavioural issues at the school level;

2) workplace bullying - often in relation to concerns and issues about / related to student behaviour management;

and

3) the way the department of education manage the complaints and investigations process.

I'm a very reluctant 'crusader'.

But this latest episode is beyond the pale.

I need your support.

20 June 2013

Mary Claire, ex-teacher: I was verbally abused on a daily basis.

Mary Claire is one of many school teachers who has left the profession after being emotionally scarred by her students.

She was left with back and neck injuries after a child threw tables and chairs across her classroom.

I was stressed constantly. I was constantly waiting for the next thing to happen, waiting for someone to be hurt or for someone to be killed, " she said.

I was threatened that my house would be burnt down. I got hit, kicked, spat, head-butted, had hot water thrown at me and being verbally abused on a daily basis.

Violence in schools, Leisa Goddard, Today Tonight, 27 May 2013, Schools across the country have become dangerous places with teachers painting a terrifying picture of classroom violence. http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/17342811/violence-in-schools/ Historical link preserved from the original page.

Karen Tyrrell, ex-teacher: every day was a psychological battle with the students.

School teacher and author Karen Tyrrell was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after being attacked with rulers, kicked, punched and beaten with chairs by her students.

She says every day became a psychological battle with her pupils.

"Every night I would wake up screaming with night terrors, " she said.

St Patrick's College, Townsville: teachers struggle to control violence.

Teachers struggled to control a violent classroom brawl between students at St Patrick's College in Townsville.

St Patrick's College is an all-girls school.

The mother of one student, who declined to be named, said four students were involved.

Furniture was thrown.

Teachers struggled to control the teenage girls.

The principal of St Patrick's confirmed a "physical altercation" had occurred between two students.

Classroom brawl gets out of hand, Townsville Bulletin, p.11, The Courier-Mail, 6 March 2013. Historical link preserved from the original page.

NSW school principal speaks out about pollies who are only interested in helping themselves.

Back in December, a federal Labor MP representing a western Sydney seat attended an end-of-year function at a local school.

When the headmaster listed some of the events that had affected the school and the community during the previous 12 months, one line in particular resonated with the assembled students and parents.

We learned about how people we elect to office who should be doing things for us are more interested in doing things for themselves, " the principal said.

"You could feel the reaction wash through the room, " the MP told a colleague later.

PM deflects heat in pressure cooker seats, Laurie Oakes, p. 43, The Courier-Mail 2-3 March 2013 Historical link preserved from the original page.

Casual work reduces teachers to day laborers to be picked up by the side of the road.

I am a former high school teacher.

The casualization of the teaching workforce is a disgrace and does nothing to contribute to positive educational outcomes.

It simply demeans and discourages adult men and women of considerable training who are asked to consider themselves as day laborers picked up by the side of the road.

It results in abusive economic hardship.

Related to this is the call for more powers for principals to "weed out the incompetent teachers. "

Anyone who has worked in a school knows how pernicious is this paradigm.

Yes, there are incompetent teachers but they are fewer than popularly imagined.

I've seen good teachers who stand up for values get shown the door by principals determined not to offend unreasonable parents, seeking to maintain the glossy images of their school brochures by sacrificing the whistle blower.

By all means test teachers, but use a variety of means to do so and bring in independent teacher assessors, specialists not connected to the school and having skills similar to those previously practised by schools inspectors.

In other words, senior people operating independently of school councils and school principals.

It's too easy today to trash good teachers for short term gains.

One of the worst abuses we can inflict on our educational programs is to casualize our teaching work force.