|
Good morning, Wentyl. Australian teachers have copped it recently.
Politicians lined up to pile on educators, accusing them of ‘woke ideology’, while global testing revealed Australian students had recorded their worst-ever results in maths and reading.
Above all, news of shockingly violent alleged assaults sickened us all. A female Queensland teacher was
allegedly mobbed by up to 300 students and pelted with food, and a Victorian teacher was whisked away in an ambulance after her head was smashed against a brick wall by a student.
Schools are well and truly in the spotlight as Australia’s classroom crisis engulfs public debate. But the people on the frontline — teachers — are rarely given a chance to respond.
So we thought it was important to platform their voices this week.
We heard from a teacher who said when educators are punched by a student they are asked: "What did you do to upset them?”
Another told us parents fight them every step of the way in disciplinary matters, saying “they outright refuse to believe that their child misbehaved in the first place.”
Among the voices rallying against surging criticism is one outspoken western Sydney teacher, who took to social media to blame today’s parents directly for students’ poor behaviour.
“Parents back then understood, their child’s behaviour is a reflection of them,” he said.
“Parents took pride in that, but somewhere along the line things changed.”
It’s never been tougher to be a teacher in Australia. Some scrutiny is fair. Teachers are safeguarding and educating our country’s future.
But if we want schools to turn around and fix the crisis, we need to begin by backing teachers to do their job.
On the topic of schools, our annual Top 100 Schools list was a great success and sparked some healthy debate about the best ranked schools in your state.
Judge the list for yourself below.
See the Top 100 Schools list and local analysis here
|
