He arrived to find the school was very dysfunctional.
The principal working at the school before 1995 had verbally abused the children, especially 12-year-old girls.
"During his time child molesters and abusers entered the workplace and stayed".
A paedophile ring grew around the teacher flats in the 80's.
Ancillary jobs at the school were given to a 'clique', most of whom were abusers of students, or relatives or friends of abusers.
Teacher 187 'notified' the principal of two assaults by another teacher.
The principal verbally abused him.
Teacher 187 found that he was regarded as a "dobber".
Some of the abusers are still at the school.
New South Wales teacher: submission 138 to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Workplace Bullying.
A New South Wales teacher has made submission 138 to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Workplace Bullying: D. A (PDF 766KB)
In 2009 teacher 138 returned to full-time teaching after working as a temporary teacher for seven years while she looked after her youngest child.
Teacher 138 was "merit selected" (for what seems to have been a promotion position).
Teacher 138 discusses many problems with the NSW "merit selection" process.
Because teacher 138 had been "merit selected", the principal and other staff were unco-operative.
After two years of workplace bullying, teacher 138's doctor advised her to apply for Workers' Compensation because of the effect of the bullying on her health.
Then the Department of Education and Communities bureaucrats also began to bully teacher 138.
The DEC culture protects the bullies.
DEC bureaucrats refuse to read and implement their own policies.
DEC bureaucrats seem to commonly 'lose' a bullied teacher's documentation.
The perpetrators and the DEC mob walk away from their bullying unscathed.
And the system continues.
After a twenty-four year career as an excellent classroom practitioner, my career is in tatters as a group of nasty women decided to make my life within the school untenable.
Teachers are supposed to stop students being bullied but we are being bullied ourselves.
The students can see that a bullied teacher has no power to protect themselves.
I have worked at many schools where it is known that the principal has a history at many schools of bullying...
The idea that a school can have five teachers out on stress leave and the DEC is not held to account in any way is appalling.
... Frankly the Teachers Federation did not want to assist me and blatantly ignored my requests for assistance.
... Many teachers feel the Federation is in cahoots with the DEC.
Sydney teacher: assignments have to be marked after hours, when we could be, you know, relaxing.
I was a teacher, and I left teaching because I could get a lot more money for less time spent working.
Crazy as it sounds, but assignments and the like (for, on average, 180 kids in high school) have to get marked after hours, when we could be, you know, relaxing.
The time to mark appropriately a students work is dependent on the work you put in to setting the assignment.
A good assignment might take 10 minutes per student to mark.
That means that, for the 30 kids in a class, you are spending 5 hours on just that class.
If you set one assignment per class, due each fortnight, then that is 30 hours of 'non-face-to-face' time spent per fortnight on just marking.
Then add preparation, administration, etc. and it's not such a cushy life, is it?
Also, when you get to go on holidays everything costs top dollar, because it's school holidays.
Yet you get less money for the hours you put in, and you have to spend time on holidays when kids are also, meaning no real down time
Pay teachers what they are really worth, or give them the respect they are due.
In our society the respect comes through pay.