Gold Coast teacher beaten, sexually harassed by primary school students

News.com.au

6 days ago

A Queensland primary school teacher has spoken of being beaten and sexually harassed by her students, as tens of thousands of educators across the state walked off the job on Wednesday in a historic strike.
Chelsea Rose, who is based on the Gold Coast, detailed just how far from what some perceive to be 'the easiest job on earth' teaching can really be in a video on TikTok.
'In honour of the strike on Wednesday … I'm going to tell you about my most tricky day as a teacher,' she said.
'The day started like most days where a specific child came into the room every day with their metal drink bottle and a ruler and they would bash it and make the loudest noise.
'This day they decided to put their drink bottle (in front of their private parts) and start shaking it, making the, you know, motion (to simulate masturbation).
'They then opened the lid and let the water spray everywhere and said, 'I just c*mmed all over you'.'
In a separate incident that same day, Ms Rose said a group of students brought a dead bird into the classroom and threw it at her and the other children.
After which a male student 'basically started laying into me' as they exited the classroom.
'Because of restrictive practices I could not defend myself, so I just had to stand there and cop it,' Ms Rose said.
'The child hit me so hard and (so) many times that they ended up breaking one of my ribs.
'The child was suspended for 20 days and then they were back in my classroom for the rest of the year.'
The strike on Wednesday, the first of its kind in 16 years, comes as the Queensland Teachers' Union (QTU) warned of a chronic staffing crisis, rising workloads, and a pay dispute they say has pushed the public education system to breaking point.
The union has accused Premier David Crisafulli's government of failing to address the 'urgency of serious issues' affecting classrooms statewide. Addressing a crowd in Brisbane on Wednesday morning, QTU President Cresta Richardson said that concerns like school violence were also being overlooked.
Last October, a shocking report – published by Collective Shout, a grassroot campaigns movement against the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls, and parenting author and educator, Maggie Dent – revealed children as young as Year 5 and 6 are being pressured by peers into sending nudes, and the photos are then being passed around to other boys.
In disturbing testimony as part of the Sexual Harassment of Teachers (SHoT) survey, teachers and educators documented the rise of sexual harassment against children and teachers in primary and high school amid concerns that unfettered access to pornography at an early age is driving alarming behaviours.
Teachers – almost all female – complained of routine sexual harassment by male students including moaning, sexist slurs, being asked for nudes and rape threats.
'I've had to deal with an increase in sexual assault threats online, sexual images being shown and girls being pushed to do sexual acts,' one teacher said.
'I had a student tell his girlfriend about his rape fantasies involving me,' another said.
'He also threatened to rape his girlfriend if she told anyone.'
Almost all (80.6 per cent) of those teachers who had experienced such harassment within a school environment said it had been instigated by a student, predominantly male students in Years 9 and 10. Some of the harmful sexual behaviours, however, were exhibited by children from as young as kindergarten to Year 3.
'(As a teacher I have) never felt so drained, mentally and emotionally, (as I have) in the past two years dealing with the increase of this behaviour with no school supports in place,' one teacher said.
Other educators expressed a similar sentiment. 'The safety of very large portions of the school community is at risk, not just (in terms of) physical safety but mental and emotional wellbeing,' one said.
Ms Richardson said the QTU is 'united and dedicated to turning around the exodus of burnt-out teachers and school leaders from our schools'.
'We can't let more teachers and school leaders walk out the door,' she said.
'We have to attract and retain our educators. Today is a day to remind everyone how important our state schools are.'
Queensland Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the government had held 18 formal meetings with the union over the past five months and remained committed to reaching an agreement. The union is due to resume talks with Mr Langbroek, Mr Crisafulli and the Department of Education on Thursday.