Education union concerned teachers could be left to do heavy lifting following anti-bullying review
The education union warns already stretched teachers cannot be left to do the heavy lifting of the recommendations made by the Albanese Government’s anti-bullying review.
Announced in February in response to sky-rocketing cyber-bullying among school students, the review’s final report released on Saturday has made eight recommendations — including that States and Territories commit to a National Standard to make schools safe, inclusive, and respectful.
The Albanese Government has committed initial funding for two of the recommendations, with $5 million to go towards a national public awareness campaign about bullying and $5 million towards resources for school staff and students.
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“Materials and resources is important, but without investing in the people who deliver them through professional development and training, staffing, reduced workloads and proper support, the risk is that those resources will not be able to be used effectively in schools,” Mrs Haythorpe said.
“Teachers are on the front line when it comes to preventing and responding to bullying and they must be fully supported by governments in this important work.
“Teachers are balancing large class sizes, increased administrative load, behaviour issues and wellbeing demands. Any new anti-bullying initiative must not add to that burden, it must relieve it.”
Among the reviews recommendations is for Education Ministers and schools, along with their leaders, to commit to implementing clear, transparent, trauma-informed and responsive anti-bullying policies and procedures.
They should include a requirement that once schools become aware of bullying or harmful behaviour, they make “reasonable effort” to initiate “support planning and communication” within two days.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare believed the requirement was in line with community expectations.
“A lot of parents told us it was taking too long for some schools to act on bullying complaints,” he said on Saturday.
“If we’re going to properly tackle bullying, we need to nip it in the bud and to act early, and we need to make sure teachers have the right tools and training, so they know how to act and what to do.”
Originally published on The West Australian
