Disheartened, Reader's Comment, November 3 2011, Exodus could lead to teacher shortages, Yasmine Phillips, Education Reporter, The Sunday Times, 5 February 2011
Victoria: teachers put up with a working environment that is shoddy, dangerous and an occupational health and safety concern.
More than 100,000 items - many in dangerous states of disrepair - need to be repaired or replaced at Victoria's 1594 state schools.
The situation is so dire that some school repair bills now exceed the total capital investment they received during Labor's decade in power.
Australian Principals Federation president Chris Cotching said run-down schools were a huge problem after years of neglect by governments that mostly paid for only the most urgent repairs. Historical link preserved from the original page.
Schools have been left to run down and down and down. Principals and teachers now have to put up with things that are shoddy, dangerous and an occupational health and safety concern, " he said.
Education Minister Martin Dixon said his department estimated the total maintenance backlog to be in excess of $300 million.
More than $17 million of the work is considered urgent, due to danger posed to students and teachers.
"Labor actually cut maintenance funding between 2000 and 2010 despite schools running up million-dollar maintenance backlogs, " Mr Dixon said.
Victorian state schools left to rot, Peter Mickelburough, Herald Sun, 3 November 2011: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/state-schools-left-to-rot/story-e6frf7jx-1226184234812 Historical link preserved from the original page.
Geelong, Victoria: students insult their teachers on an internet site. AEU President Mary Bluett says teachers are distressed. "It damages people".
Teachers in the Geelong region are being belittled and defamed on an internet site that asks students to rate them.
The website invites students to comment on teacher performance and personality.
The site carries Australian Government advertisements. Historical link preserved from the original page.
It also features advertisements for a number of tertiary providers, including Victoria University, La Trobe University, Macquarie University, Monash University and RMIT.
While the majority of comments on the site are positive, on 8 September 2011 the Geelong Advertiser read dozens of insulting comments about local teachers, many using obscene language. Historical link preserved from the original page.
Claims were made via the website that teachers were g_y, promiscuous and had touched students inappropriately.
Derogatory comments about teachers' physical appearance, hygiene, and speech were also commonplace.
Australian Education Union Victoria president Mary Bluett said some teachers were so distressed about comments on the website, they had lost the confidence to teach and some had even taken extended leave. Historical link preserved from the original page.
It damages people, " Ms Bluett said. "It's not a site that I think should occupy cyberspace.
Geelong educators slandered and abused on website, Mandy Squires, 9 September 2011: http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2011/09/09/278265_news_pf.html Historical link preserved from the original page.
Victoria: Ballarat High School teacher assaulted. 14-year-old accused claims it was "... the best day yet" and tells his friends that he had "never felt better".
At 12.45 pm on 21 June 201, a group of between 10 and 15 youths allegedly went to Ballarat High School to fight with a small group of students.
Two teachers tried to intervene and and were assaulted.
One teacher was knocked unconscious after one of the youths allegedly walked up and punched him in the head, knocking him back and causing him to hit his head on a sign post.
The teacher went to ground and lay in the gutter at the side of the road.
Another teacher was punched and kicked while on the ground
IT teacher Daryl Cavender was taken to St John of God Hospital by ambulance with severe concussion and soft tissue injuries to his face, shoulder and side of the head.
The 14-year-old boy accused of bashing the teacher boasted of his exploits on Facebook just hours after the alleged attack, claiming it was "... the best day yet".
The Delacombe boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wrote about the attack on the night before the incident and posted a number of Facebook statements after he was released from police custody.
About 10pm on Tuesday night he posted a comment saying he had "never felt better".
A number of his friends also congratulated him on Facebook, with some calling him “the man” and others praising him for making the news.
In the early hours of Tuesday he posted “off to bed big day tomorrow”.
Ballarat High School teacher bashed, Pat Nolan, The Courier, 22 June 2011: http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/news/general/ballarat-high-school-teacher-bashed/2202551.aspx Historical link preserved from the original page.
Boy, 14, assaults teacher, brags on Facebook, Ballarat Courier, Pat Nolan, 23 June 2011: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/boy-14-assaults-teacher-brags-on-facebook-20110623-1ggdn.html Historical link preserved from the original page.
Ballarat High School brawler in court, Evan Schuurman, The Courier, 18 October 2011: http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/news/general/ballarat-high-school-brawler-in-court/2326934.aspx Historical link preserved from the original page.
On average, at least one teacher is assaulted and another teacher or student is s_xually attacked each day in a Victorian school.
On an average day during the 2010 school year, at least one Victorian teacher was assaulted, one teacher or student was s_xually assaulted in school grounds and nearly four students were seriously bashed.
There were 175 s_xual assaults against students.
43 of these s_xual assaults against students occurred in primary schools.
S_x attacks were slightly down overall on 2009.
Teachers were the alleged victim of 12 of the s_x attacks.
Victorian Department of Education spokeswoman Megan McNaught said there were no alleged r_pes in state schools in 2009 or 2010.
Government figures also reveal that 100 students and 32 teachers were either threatened or assaulted with knives or other weapons last year.
There were 918 assaults reported in 2010, up 13 per cent on the previous year.
Megan McNaught said some of the allegations had not been proved and some occurred outside school grounds.
Leading child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said one of the most shocking cases he had encountered in the past year involved a 14-year-old girl who was held down and s_xually attacked by another female student at her southeastern suburbs all-girls school.
"There was an audience so you could imagine how traumatised the girl was, " Dr Carr-Gregg said.
Schools are our blackboard jungle, Hamish Heard, Sunday Herald Sun, 22 May 2011
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/schools-are-our-blackboard-jungle/story-fn6bfmgc-1226060203141 Historical link preserved from the original page.
Victoria: the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's principal selection process needs to be improved - and quickly.
I am sure the diagnostic criteria for 'psychopath' would apply to many Victorian school principals.
Perhaps it is the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's narcissistic principal selection process - or just the nature of of a very difficult job - that breeds so many deviants.
Whatever the reason things need to change and quickly.