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‘Out of control’: Sexual harassment rife in Australia’s schools

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Australian teachers face “widespread, entrenched and normalised” harmful sexual behaviours at school, a national survey reveals.

The ‘Sexual Harassment of Teachers’ [SHoT] report, published by Collective Shout in partnership with parenting author and educator Maggie Dent, found that teachers – almost all female – report being propositioned, threatened with rape, subjected to sexist slurs, asked for nudes and intimated, and other offensive behaviours.

Of 1,000 teachers who participated in the survey, almost 80% reported a rise of harmful sexual behaviours in their schools, with many female teachers saying they did not feel safe at work.

Many respondents reported major gaps in policies, procedures and codes of conduct.

One teacher commented: “The safety of very large portions of the school community is at risk, not just physical safety but mental and emotional wellbeing.” 

‘A whole community response is needed’

Speaking on the report’s findings, Dent said the findings demonstrate “a strong need” for educational authorities to provide teachers and schools with clear steps they can follow to prevent and deal with sexual harassment.

“This is something staff, parents and students need to be educated about,” Dent said.

“Some of what we are hearing about in this report is technically criminal behaviour and it simply cannot be dismissed as ‘boys will be boys’ – which was a phrase we heard multiple times in the survey.”

Dent also urged parents and caregivers to have “awkward conversations” with their kids.

“They should not just expect schools to be responsible for addressing this behaviour from some boys. This needs to be a whole community response.”

‘Schools have become sites of abuse’

Melinda Tankard Reist, movement director at Collective Shout, said the situation has reached “crisis level.”

“This is a crisis. Schools have become sites of abuse,” she said. “The safety of teachers and female students is significantly compromised.”

Tankard Reist said a uniform national approach is needed to address the issue.

“I speak in large numbers of public and private schools and the stories I’ve been told by female teachers and students this year are the worst I’ve heard in more than a decade of engagement with public and private schools,” she said.

“The situation is unacceptable. There needs to be strong, national, uniform response to address it.”

‘Education around gender must be part of teaching degrees’

Research shows harassment and abuse of women and girls thrives within cultures and systems where there is poor understanding of gender equity.

Samantha Schulz, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at University of Adelaide, and Sarah McDonald, a Lecturer in Education Futures at the University of South Australia, recently discussed this issue in an article published in The Conversation.

“In Australia, we have a decades’ long policy vacuum around gender equity in schooling,” Schulz and McDonald wrote. “So, our systems are ill-equipped and reluctant to deal with this issue, despite warnings schools are becoming breeding grounds for gender-based violence and teachers are leaving.”

Schulz and McDonald pointed out that while schools now have mandatory consent education, it is not being delivered consistently or effectively across schools.

“Education around gender must be part of teaching degrees and a central component of the Australian Curriculum. And all of us in the community – including parents – need to take responsibility for the way men and boys treat women and girls.”



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