Seven schools were issued infringement notices by WorkSafe ACT over the financial year, including two for Calwell High School. Photo: Calwell High School.
The number of reports of occupational violence in ACT public schools increased by more than 30 per cent in 2022-23, reaching a record high.
Over the last financial year, 7448 work incident reports were submitted to the directorate’s RiskMan reporting system in relation to occupational violence (around 38 a day for the 40-week school year), up from 5682 in 2021-22.
The reports range from verbal abuse to more serious matters.
“Based on reported incidents, the most significant risk to health and safety of workers in ACT public schools continues to be occupational violence in the form of verbal or physical aggression by students or parents,” the Education Directorate’s annual report said.
The report also revealed there are still directorate staff who have not completed mandatory occupational violence training. At the end of the financial year, 83 per cent of directorate employees had completed the online training, though this was an increase from 70 per cent in the previous reporting period.
Education Minister Yvette Berry told the Assembly on Tuesday (31 October) that the increase in violence in ACT schools is “not acceptable” and is indicative of broader issues in the community.
“It definitely shows that there has been an increase in violence in our schools, there has also been an increase in violence in our community and our schools are representative of what occurs in our communities,” she said.
“Our schools do the very best that they can to address what they can inside the school gates as far as school violence is concerned, it is a complex issue, and it does get influenced by a number of factors including what happens in our community as well.”
“The ACT Government is committed to a campaign to reduce violence in our schools to ensure that members of the community understand that no one should have to accept violence in their workplace and that’s a campaign and an issue that we are absolutely concerned about and will continue to address.”
“There is a lot of work happening in that space but clearly things are getting worse and we have to do more.”
Patrick Judge, branch secretary of the ACT Branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU), said the level of occupational violence indicated in the report is “too high”.
“The Education Directorate is required to provide a safe workplace, and that includes making the workplace free from occupational violence and other workplace health and safety risks,” he said.
“No violence should be tolerated, and we need to work hard to make sure of this.”
Mr Judge said the ACT Government needs to better communicate that violence will not be accepted in Canberra public schools and that this messaging needs to be clear and consistent across the Territory.
“We won’t tolerate unsafe behaviour in our schools, and that requires the government to communicate that really clearly to the community,” he said.
“It also requires us to take steps to address the root causes, like chronic understaffing, and addressing other public services to make sure people are properly supported, not coming into our schools under stress.
“The expectation of standards of behaviour needs to be the same across the Territory,” he added.
“We need clear guidelines of what’s expected of people when they’re in our schools, whether that’s staff or students.”
Overall, 10,067 work health and safety incident reports were submitted in 2022-23, up from 7106 in 2021-22 and 4464 in 2018-19.
The directorate attributed the increase to schools remaining open for longer in the reporting period compared with previous years when COVID-19 lockdowns caused a noticeable decrease in reports of occupational violence.
The number of reports has increased significantly since WorkSafe ACT issued an enforceable undertaking to the directorate in 2018.
WorkSafe ACT alleged that the ACT failed to prevent workplace hazards associated with student behaviours and did not provide adequate training to staff. It alleged that, as a result of this, staff at multiple schools sustained both physical and psychological injuries.
The number of improvement notices issued by WorkSafe ACT under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 also more than tripled from nine to 30 in 2022-23.
Seven schools were issued infringement notices over the financial year, including two for Calwell High School. The school made the headlines in 2022 after Year 7 and 8 students were barred from attending school after WorkSafe ACT found an “untenable” violent and unsafe situation on campus.
Documents released under Freedom of Information requests last year revealed that the violence at Calwell High School was so frequent and extensive that the school was partially or fully locked down 10 times in one term.
Other schools issued with notices included Hawker College (11 notices), Dickson College (six notices), Lanyon High School (three notices), Lyneham Primary School (two notices), Gold Creek School (three notices) and Melba Copland Secondary School (three notices).
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