The Teachers Are Blowing Their Whistles!

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Valissa Julietta Bauer, a Bundaberg school teacher, taught a composite Year 6 and 7 class at Thabeban State School.

There were 31 Special Needs children in Ms Bauer's composite class, including -

 * a diabetic child who required insulin injections,

 * two autistic children,

 * a child with cardiac disorders

 * and a number of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Ms Bauer claims that she had to over-use her voice and damaged her larynx trying to control the class.

She is suing the Queensland Government over a lack of adequate classroom assistance.

Shine Lawyers have filed a claim for almost $420,009 in damages for personal injury as a result of the Queensland Government's alleged negligence, etc.

Bundaberg teacher claims $400,000 damages from injuries to larynx from yelling at students, The Sunday Mail, 11 July 2010.

The difficulties and stresses of running a small Queensland school have been highlighted by complaints about the principal of troubled Mount Murchison School, who has allegedly threatened to kill herself due to student behaviour.

It appears that the principal had been under great stress running the small school.

Education Queensland assistant director-general Craig Allen said that the EQ Ethical Standards Unit will conduct a preliminary inquiry process into the allegations against the principal.

EQ probes principal's behaviour, Russel Guse, The Central Telegraph, 11 June 2010.

I am a first year teacher in the state school system and on completing my contract at the end of this year I plan to get the hell out of such an unsustainable career.

The compromises one makes on a daily basis are soul destroying.

High school teacher of Brisbane, Reader's Comment, Union says prepare for private teachers strike, Tanya Chilcott, The Courier-Mail, 24 May 2010.

I worked at all levels of industry / commerce and went into teaching late in life.

Teaching was complex, time consuming, the hardest and most stressful job I ever undertook.

No wonder there is such a huge burnout rate from the profession.

Retired teacher, Reader's Comment 12 of 19, Union says prepare for private school teachers strike, Tanya Chilcott, The Courier-Mail, 24 May 2010.

Veronica Wakefield, Amy Stuckey, Logo Nanai and Jade Appelcamp are trainee teachers at the Queensland University of Technology ( QUT ).

Veronica, Amy, Logo and Jade are worried about the amount of time they have to divert from their QUT studies because they need to work for money to make ends meet.

Jade gets Austudy of about $200 a fortnight.

She needs to find a job and work for 10 or so hours each week so that she can study at QUT for 30 hours a week.

This is the only way that Jade can become a teacher.

The demands on Jade's time do not encourage academic excellence.

"There should be more scholarships available so people can spend more time on study," Jade says.

About 150,000 Australian students will gain access to start-up scholarships valued at $1300 this year, rising to $2128 next year.

So maybe Jade will be lucky.

Study means hard work for cash-strapped trainees, Guy Healy, The Australian, 19 May 2010.

Bradley Boustead was a secondary teacher at Maleny High School.

On the afternoon of Wednesday 14 February 2007, Mr Boustead and three or four other teachers were supervising about one hundred students who were not participating in inter-school sport.

Beau Guest was a Year 9 student at Maleny High School.

Early in the afternoon Beau Guest was sent to the Deputy Principal's Office after an incident.

Twenty minutes to half an hour later, Mr Boustead saw Beau Guest playing ping-pong with other students.

Ten minutes before the final school bell, Mr Boustead noticed three chidren at the school fence.

He went up to them and started to speak to them.

Beau Guest was at a window upstairs.

Beau Guest began yelling "hey you, teacher, you leave those kids alone."

Mr Boustead went upstairs to Beau Guest and asked him "was it you yelling out to me below?"

Beau Guest "arched up" at this, came towards Mr Boustead and started to push Mr Boustead, saying "Do you want a fight?"

Mr Boustead said "mate, this is just a yes, no question; that's all I ask."

Beau Guest became really agitated, so Mr Boustead walked away.

Beau Guest threw something at Mr Boustead, which hit him in the back.

Mr Boustead went downstairs towards the administration block.

There was a large audience of parents, waiting to collect their children.

Beau Guest yelled out at the top of his voice "I'm going to get you, you big fat blue c-nt".

Mr Boustead hand-wrote a statement describing what had occurred.

 * Always keep a photocopy of these statements.

He gave the statement to the deputy principal.

The next day, Thursday 15 February 2007, the principal asked Mr Boustead if he would be willing to participate in a mediation process with Beau Guest.

Beau Guest was given a three-day suspension.

On Tuesday 20 February 2007, Beau Guest returned to school.

Another student told Mr Boustead "Hey, Mr Boustead, Beau still wants to fight you."

There were other unpleasant incidents.

Mr Boustead had the impression that Beau Guest was spreading rumours concerning him.

Nobody on the staff asked Mr Boustead how he was.

 * I understand how Mr Boustead must have felt about this, because I had a similar experience. A Grade 7 student sat on a first-floor window-sill, looked over at me in a jeering sort of way, and then jumped out of the window. I was horribly shocked, but the child thought that it was a huge joke. I could remember nothing at all till I was standing in the school office saying "He jumped! He Jumped!". But the next time that I went to the school, nobody on the staff asked me if I was OK. I also found this lack of interest in my welfare quite upsetting.

Actually, this was a good school and, when the principal realised that I was suffering from shock, she was most supportive.

But there does seem to be a systemic lack of awareness of the impact of these sorts of incidents on teachers.

By Sunday 25 February 2007, Mr Boustead was feeling that the carpet was being pulled out from under him and that he needed help to deal with the situation.

He felt that he did not know when another incident was going to happen.

 * I also had this experience. I kept having visions of the class of children all rushing to the first-floor window and jumping out. I did not want to go into that classroom again. I went to see the Staff Welfare Officer and she suggested that, when I had this "vision", I should imagine myself walking over to the window and closing the window. This simple strategy worked well for me.

By Monday 26 February 2007, Mr Boustead knew that he was unwell.

He made an appointment to see Dr Heidi Gills as soon as possible.

On Wednesday 28 February 2007, Mr Boustead saw Dr Gills and she gave him a certificate for two weeks off work.

WorkCover refused Mr Boustead's application for Workers' Compensation.

Q-Comp confirmed this decision.

Mr Boustead appealed to the Magistrates Court of Queensland.

And on 21 July 2008, The Magistrates Court of Queensland found that -

 * The injury arose out of Mr Boustead's employment.

 * Mr Boustead's employment was a significant contributing factor to the injury.

 * The injury had not arisen in the course of reasonable management action taken in a reasonable way by his emplyer.

So Mr Boustead's appeal was allowed.

And compensation was payable to Mr Boustead.

Bradley Boustead's case in more detail. 

A deputy-principal at Mackay North State High School has been bashed by the father of one of the students.

It is understood that the deputy principal was informing the man of his son's suspension when the father bashed the deputy principal, causing concussion.

The attack was so severe that the deputy-principal had to be taken to hospital.

He needed to have stitches in his face.

Parent bashes school deputy, Clare Chapman, The Daily Mercury, 13 February 2010.

In late 2009, a Queensland teacher tried to intervene in a  student assault.

"I saw (name of student) holding another student in a headlock," the teacher said.

"I instructed him to let go ... when (he) let go (he) appeared very aggressive."

"I stood in front of (him) and advised that he could not go anywhere until he calmed down."

"At this point (he) bit my arm in an attempt to escape."

The teacher was left bleeding.

There were several other assaults on Queensland teachers between July 13 and September 14 2009.

School principals win right to expel problem students, Alison Sandy and Tanya Chilcott, The Courier-Mail, 18 December 2009.

I spent several years teaching Science and Mathematics in a third-world country where it is sink or swim.

People and their children were courteous and hard-working.

The children took pride in their learning and were very focused.

You never had to ask them to be quiet, listen or make an effort.

They didn't have the wonderful school facilities that we have in this country, yet they had the right attitude and the children achieved good grades in a curriculum of a high standard.

I can only imagine how they may one day overtake us lazy Westerners.

I came back to Australia, started teaching here, and left teaching after a few years.

Too many Australian children have vile manners, not to mention how lazy, arrogant and unconcerned they are.

They are highly aware of their "rights", but conveniently ignore their responsibilities.

This starts at home and can't be fixed at school.

I left teaching as I felt that my skills were being wasted.

I think out society is heading for trouble and we MUST find a solution.

Teacher no more of Brisbane, Reader's Comment 455 of 457, Queensland headed for dumb, immoral future, warns teacher, James O'Loan, The Courier-Mail : 7 November, 2009

Cooper Dawson has taught at 12 state primary schools in Cairns and the Gold Coast.

He has decided to break the silence about student's pathetic learning attitudes and behaviours.

And the fact that this pathetic behaviour is often triggered and passively supported by students' parents.

"I am taken aback, astounded and shocked by the behaviour and the disinclination of students to learn," Mr Dawson said.

Cooper Dawson's view is backed in private by many teachers, principals and parents across the state.

Queensland headed for dumb, immoral future, warns teacher, James O'Loan, The Courier-Mail, 7 November, 2009.

The real story here is ... what is going to happen to Cooper Dawson?

Queensland teachers are not supposed to tell the truth about what is going on in classrooms.

Education Queensland will have to do something really horrible to Cooper Dawson, or more Queensland teachers will speak out.

The public servants who make up the Education Queensland ( EQ ) bureaucracy do not tollerate criticism from within, which is why most teachers cannot go public.

When public interest has moved on and the issues is no longer in the spotlight, EQ will make life difficult for Mr Dawson.

Watch what happens to his career as the vindictive EQ makes an example of him for daring to speak the truth.

Principal no more of Queensland, Reader's Comment 446 of 450, Queensland headed for dumb, immoral future, warns teacher, James O'Loan, The Courier-Mail : 7 November, 2009

Cooper Dawson is to be commended for having the courage to stand up and state the truth despite the bucketing he will now receive from the state education department and senior administrators.

I know he will, for I tried to do the same thing as he has just a handful of years ago and ended up becoming a burned-out has-been because of the indifference of both the Education Department and school administrators.

I take my hat off to you, Mr Dawson ... I failed in what I tried to do.

I hope YOU succeed.

Tom Barton of Melbourne, Reader's Comment 426 of 450, Queensland headed for dumb, immoral future, warns teacher, James O'Loan, The Courier-Mail, 7 November, 2009

As a recently retired (early) principal, I agree totally with Cooper Dawson's comments.

The biggest problem facing the future of Australia is not climate change or economic downturns, but the crisis coming from the next generation - together with the indifference of their parents - who have no sense of honesty, morality or care for others.

There is no respect for authority.

God help Australia because the Government and education unions won't back teachers.

John Allen, Reader's Comment 37 of 128, Queensland headed for dumb, immoral future, warns teacher, James O'Loan, The Courier-Mail : 7 November, 2009

I graduated from school about 20 odd years ago.

I went to university.

Then I went into IT / consulting, etc.

Now I am thinking about teaching and I have been doing prac. teaching in a high school.

So I have been at the coal face and I can tell you for 100% certainty that life in the classroom is VERY, VERY different to 20 years ago.

Now, it is the KIDS in charge.

That is basically the bottom line.

THE KIDS ARE IN CHARGE.

The state system is a jungle.

Kathleen, Reader's Comment 142 of 182, Queensland headed for dumb, immoral future, warns teacher, James O'Loan, The Courier-Mail : 7 November, 2009

A 49-year-old female teacher has suffered a complete breakdown after allegedly enduring years of workplace abuse at a Queensland school.

The teacher alleges that she suffered a complete breakdown as a result of the "abusive, volatile and manipulative" behaviour of the female head of special education services at a special needs school in southeastern Queensland.

A 44-year-old female teacher's aide at the same school has made similar allegations.

Both the teacher and the teacher's aide had complained about the situation to the school principal.

But the school principal seemed to "turn a blind eye".

So then they complained to Education Queensland.

But Education Queensland also seemed to "turn a blind eye".

Lawyer Gillian Klanke of Trilby Misso Lawyers says that, after enduring years of verbal abuse and intimidation at her school, the teacher suffered a complete breakdown.

Trilby Misso Lawyers are preparing a notice of claim against WorkCover as the insurer of Education Queensland.

Teacher sues alleging years of bullying, Angela Harper, Reported by AAP on 7 September, 2009: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=858950

A number of years back  I completed a graduate diploma in primary teaching in Brisbane and was happily informed that I was given a fulltime teaching post in Hervey Bay at a fairly new primary school in the area.

I spent the first term at this school. Everything was going fine, I was learning the ropes and had good support from management and got on well with the teaching staff.

However, at the end of the term the school was informed that there were too many teachers for the number of pupils, and I had been chosen by the Department of Education to move to another nearby school.

Looking back this should have been my first warning signal. The fact that I was just settling into a new career and school and then being moved is an act of mismanagement and non-care of new teaching staff as far as I'm concerned. 

The callous nature of QLD Education as employers was confirmed a few years later when a very good friend of mine was told, demanded, that she do her country service, after getting all of her points mind you, through teaching for 7 years in the Wide Bay area, and then being given her 2nd choice of Toowoomba. She was engaged and told the department who curtly told her that they "Dont recognise engagements as a vaild reason for not doing country service". She had been teaching for a few years in Toowoomba at this time.

Anyway, I went to this new school which was a marked difference to the previous one. More problem children, more behavioural issues. On the day before the kids came back I met the deputy principal for the first time when he walked into my classroom, stated his name and position and then said in a very serious tone of voice, " My son is in your class, and he is my only child, and I expect you to do a good job". Then he turned around and walked out. Needless to say, I found that encounter a bit unsettling. 

I was then introduced to my "mentor" who a number of weeks later I learned was doing a spy job on me worthy of the best Gestapo agent. She watched a few lessons, made notes but never spoke to me about anything. I thought this was normal, but I know different know. I made the big mistake of assuming that she would speak to me only about anything that needed to be worked on or changed and I assumed her silence was a sign that things were okay.

I do specifically remember in the 2nd week there that I asked her which end of the building the PE cupboard was in. I was pretty sure where it was, and she pointed to the area of the building I was heading to.

Here I was, naive in my thinking that all was rolling along OK. I had a very difficult pupil in my class who was was trying her hardest to make my life difficult. On one occasion she went and sat on the edge of the balcony about 10 feet above the ground. I was scared to safely remove her because I was petrified that if I tried and she fell I would be in deep water and she would suffer big damage. So I phoned the deputy principal, who came and ordered her off, and he walked off. He didn't offer any advice for a situation like this or anything like that.

On the Wednesday of the 6th week in that school I got a phone call from the principal saying that he wanted to see me in his office straight after class.

I came in, sat down, not having any idea what it was about. He then plonked a 20 A4 page pack in front of me and told me that this was all the information he had on things that concerned him about my performance. I will repeat that, 20 A4 pages, I counted them. Listing in bullet point form, sentences and paragraphs all the things I wasn't doing right.

His next words were, "Here are my concerns, I have had numerous complaints from parents (of which I had no idea of or heard a single complaint myself). This is a formal procedure, you have 4 weeks to prove that these things can be removed, I don't believe that you can do it, I strongly suggest you resign, I am asking the Department of Ed to rescind your employment, if you choose to use the 4 weeks to correct things and fail, it will go to a board and you will not be able to teach in QLD". "Again, I strongly suggest that you resign". Then mentioned someting about teaching in another state, like WA! 

I was gobsmacked and speechless, I looked through some of the pages and clearly remember reading one bit about having to ask the mentor where the PE cupboard was which showed that I had not familiarised myself with the school. There were many things in there, along the same sort of lines, which I then realised had come straight from my "mentor". 

I was so stunned and naive that I followed the principal's suggestion to phone the local union guy, who already had a copy and the union organiser's exact words to me were, "mate, you're screwed".

I look back now and wonder if they were drinking buddies or something like that.

I quickly realised that I was going to lose, even if I had 40 weeks to correct things, so a few days later I wrote out my resignation.

I was devastated, my career seemed to be in ashes before it even began. I went to live with my father who had to come and cart all my stuff a few hundred km away, and then had to pay the QLD ED 2000 dollars for removal costs as I didn't stay in the allocated position they had given me for at least a year.

I had made some silly mistakes, such as turning up an hour late on an inservice day as I had the times wrong. And I made an error of judgement when grading the deputy principal's son's test. But they are things that could have easily been sorted, managed and changed in the future.

I then got supply work in the area my father lived in and taught between 6 different schools for the next year or so, including a Catholic school, and got nothing but positive feedback and continual requests for work. There wasn't a day when I didnt work, so my self esteem was rebuilt. But there seemed to be no permanent future in teaching in Queensland for me, so I moved to London and had the most awesome two years of life that was beyond my imagination!

Now I live in London permanently , and I'm still loving it. I compare Hervey Bay to this place and the travel opportunities and laugh, and just think, my God, I couldn't imagine living there for a day longer than I did.

I also look back now and realise that I wasn't on a proper misconduct procedure, discussions and warnings were not given, just a straight to a paper document where the next step was career annihalation. If that happened over here, I could sue under the Workplace Act and under the Human Rights convention.

Besides the unions here would have those doing such a thing pummelled under law so quickly that their heads would spin.

The Unions here are good. They really stick up for teachers, and know their stuff.

Anyway that is my story. Chewed up and discarded at the foot of my career ladder, and feeling very alone with it at the time. Trust me, a young adult man cried that day from disbelief. I will never teach in QLD again, just on the sheer fact that NO ONE takes away my freeedom to choose where to work, live and create a life for myself.

I tell friends and co-workers that your basic life choice freedoms are negligable in QLD as a teacher. After their jaws hit the ground, we laugh, and get back to passionately teaching to the best of our abilities.

The principal of the school mentioned retired a number of years ago.

I love London. It is an extraordinary city. And I've travelled to over 30 different destinations worldwide. Accommodation is more expensive, but I'm earning over 30,000 pounds a year, or about 75,000 Aussie dollars.

Classroom teacher LDW made a "reverse" Freedom of Information application in 1997.

Teacher LDW objected to the disclosure to another teacher of information that LDW had conveyed to their school principal during the course of a casual conversation.

Teacher LDW claimed that the matter in issue was communicated to the school principal in confidence and therefore was exempt under S.46 (1) (a) or (b) of the FOI act.

The Queensland Information Commissioner applied the principles stated in B and Brisbane North Regional Health Authority (1994) 1 QAR 279 in deciding that the issue in question was not communicated by the applicant in circumstances attended by an express or implicit mutual understanding that the matter would be kept confidential by the respondent.

The Information Commissioner therefore found that the matter in issue did not qualify for exemption under either S.46 (1) (a) or (b) of the FOI act.

This suggests that if Mr Very Charming ( or Mrs Impulsive N. Irrational ), your school principal, slides up to you and tries to "pump" you for your opinion of another teacher, you should hear alarm bells ringing.

Because any comment that you make may be copied onto a scrap of paper by Mr Very Charming, and placed in his "secret file" on that teacher.

Then, at some much later date, you may find your casual comment - maybe spun out of all recognition - will emerge from Mr Very Charming's secret file, and be represented as "important evidence" in a trumped-up "case" against your fellow teacher.

And your fellow teacher may be driven into ill health and out of work on the basis of your casual comment.

And you may feel ashamed.

 LDW and the Department of Education (1997 SO112, 27 November 1997)