Violence and harassment in schools: Members call on employers to take action

More than 100 delegates at the union’s quarterly Council meeting in August passed four motions calling on employers to adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards violence and harassment in schools.

The four motions called on employers and government to:

  • adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment in the
    workplace so that every employee is protected from
    harassment by all members of the school community and feels
    empowered to report incidents without fear of retaliation
  • provide formal confidential reporting channels, prompt and
    thorough investigations, clear communication with the victim
    throughout the process of the investigation, and appropriate
    actions against perpetrators
  • implement mandatory training for all employees and students
    to raise awareness about harassment, its impact, and strategies
    for prevention and intervention, including when students are
    the perpetrators; and
  • develop and enact explicit workplace policies and procedures
    with regard to student offences against teachers, including clear
    definitions of unacceptable behaviours, reporting mechanisms,
    and consequences for students involved in such incidents.
Work in progress

After the Council meeting, the union wrote to all Catholic dioceses and the Association of Independent Schools requesting meetings to discuss what measures they have in place, and any other steps needed to ensure a safe workplace.

“We need to bring these issues out into the open, so we can understand the prevalence of incidents in non-government schools and address it,” IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews said.

On 1 October, the union released a statement to the media calling on non-government employers to provide clear data on the rates of violence in schools. The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported on new figures from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research showing that in the year to June, there had been almost 2300 assaults occur on public and private school premises, which was only just below 2460 from the year before (see: bit.ly/harassmentSMH).

“Our members are reporting increasing incidents of violence and sexual harassment by students directed towards teachers and other staff in schools, and we are calling on their employers to produce a clear picture of what is happening and what they’re doing about it,” IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Deputy Secretary David Towson said in the statement.

“This problem is escalating in all school sectors and it is unacceptable.”

On ABC Radio Canberra, Towson highlighted the lack of data on incidents in the independent school sector and the need for clearer information to address the problem.

“While some schools are starting to implement programs like student surveys and staff training, more proactive measures are needed across the sector to ensure a safe working environment for teachers and support staff,” he said.

The IEU has met with several dioceses, with more meetings planned in coming weeks to discuss data disclosure, policies and action on this issue in schools.

Federal funding to support school-aged boys

On 17 October, the federal Labor government announced it had allocated $3.5 million to develop three projects to encourage healthy perceptions of masculinity among school-aged boys:

  • Empowering Boys to Become Great Men: The Man Cave
  • The Common Ground Project: Future Fit Masculinities – a
    consortium led by the Foundation for a Positive Masculinity
  • Active Respect: The Men’s Project (Jesuit Social Services).

These projects aim to encourage healthy, respectful, relationships among school-aged boys by influencing andchanging attitudes and behaviours that may lead to gender-based violence.

“Through the delivery of positive, educational workshops in schools, we can evaluate and determine what approaches are effective in encouraging healthy expressions of masculinities among school-aged boys,” said federal Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth during a visit to the Man Cave, a preventative mental health and emotional literacy charity, based in Melbourne, on 17 October.

Sue Osborne
Journalist
Monica Crouch
Journalist