Education and Training Reform Amendment (Protection of School Communities) Bill 2021

Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): I am very pleased to be speak in support of the Education and Training Reform Amendment (Protection of School Communities) Bill 2021.

Because at its heart, this Bill is about making our schools a safer, more welcoming environment for the whole school community – our teachers, staff, students and their families.

Over the past two years, I have had the great pleasure of collaborating with school communities across my electorate as we work together to upgrade facilities and ensure our young people get the best start in life.

And what I have seen is remarkable.

In today’s modern, technological, time-poor and sometimes impersonal environment, I have seen school communities defined by strong bonds of companionship and compassion.

I’ve seen School Councils that give their time and expertise selflessly to work hand-in-hand with our Principals and teachers to achieve a shared vision. I’ve seen relationships blossom between parents and teachers that become true lifelong friendships.

I have also seen the incredible passion, dedication and skill our educators bring to their roles every day.

Great teachers can make a huge difference in a child’s life. I’m sure many of us in this Chamber have memories of special teachers who inspired us to follow our passions or gave us the confidence to push through our self-doubt and try new things.

For some young people in the community, our schools and our teachers have also been that safe space they needed when times were tough at home or on the playground. I’ve seen teachers and Principals be more than advocates for vulnerable students – fighting for them with a passion that is visceral and every bit a part of who they are.

I won’t name schools nor students, but Speaker I have witnessed the lengths our educators will go to in order to ensure the wellbeing and the long-term achievement of some of our State’s most vulnerable students.

And over the past year, our teachers and school staff have gone above and beyond – supporting students and families through home learning and the return to school with compassion and skill.

When I think of our schools and our school communities in the Northcote electorate, this is what comes to mind – tight knit and dedicated communities of people, working together for the good of our young people.

But my time working with our schools has also revealed to me some of the incredible pressures and challenges faced by our Principals, teachers and other educational staff.

Speaker, as many in this Chamber will know, one of the biggest challenges facing our educators today is workload pressures.

Many of the current and former teachers I have spoken with over the years have raised this issue with me as one which has a huge impact on morale.

Our teachers today play multiple roles. They must juggle face to face teaching time, lesson preparation and professional development responsibilities, with caring for our children’s social, emotional and mental wellbeing. They must be there for each child’s unique needs, while delivering a complex curriculum and more recently have had to rapidly adapt to new technologies and ways of teaching.

For some this juggle means many additional unpaid hours, anxiety and most heartbreaking of all – a sense of failure when they can see a child struggling but simply do not have the time and capacity to give them the help they need.

The responsibilities of our school leadership include some incredibly difficult and complex circumstances – including supporting young people experiencing mental health crises, bullying and sadly, even suicide attempts.

That is one reason I am incredibly pleased that this Labor Government has put the mental health and wellbeing of our students front and centre of our reform of Victoria’s mental health system.

Speaker we are transforming the way we respond to mental health in young people: placing Mental Health Practitioners at every single secondary school; expanding the Mental Health in Primary School pilot and delivering a $200 million School Mental Health Fund to give schools the power to select mental health and wellbeing programs that best meet the needs of their students.

Our transformation of the mental health system also means two separate streams of care will be established – one dedicated to infants and children (aged 0 to 11) and their families, and one dedicated to young people (aged 12 to 25) – with localised services devoted to their needs.

Amidst all of this, teachers have been there, persevering, doing everything they can because they care deeply about the children in their care, and are passionate about their profession.

In my conversations with educators and school staff, I sometimes hear anguished accounts of when circumstances do not go to plan and despite the best of intentions, rifts occur and relationships break down.

This Bill addresses the extreme end of the scale when it comes to these matters. It shines a light on those instances where abuse, harassment and other unacceptable harmful behaviours do arise from parents, carers and other adult members of the school community.

As I have said, the vast majority of parents and carers develop wonderful supportive relationships with their schools. Even when disagreements arise, the engagement is constructive and based on a relationship of respect, compassion and shared interest.

Those engaging in harmful behaviours are a small minority. But the impact on teachers, students and other families can be significant.

Recent research shows that work related violence is by far the greatest occupational health and safety risk for Victorian school staff.

A 2019 La Trobe University study surveying Australian teachers on their experiences of bullying and harassment found that over 80 per cent of surveyed teachers had considered leaving their job due to the bullying and harassment they faced.

Over half reported this unacceptable behaviour coming from both students and parents, and 12.4 per cent solely from parents.

More recently, the 2020 Australian Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey found that 30 per cent of Victorian principals reported experiencing threats of violence and 21 per cent experienced physical violence. That is one in five principals. It is horrible to think about.

Speaker, threats to school leadership, teacher and staff safety has significant consequences – the wellbeing of educators and the teaching profession in Victoria as a whole.

Victorian Principals Association President, Andrews Dalgleish, outlined these impacts recently, sharing: “I know from colleagues who have encountered the physical side that the effect is real and the trauma that they face can have long-term and damaging consequences”.

In addition to physical violence and abuse, teachers are also being impacted by online forms of harassment. With Mr Dalgleish also noting that the Association has heard stories of stalking as well as direct abuse from parents and other adult school community members online.

In many other professions, Speaker, abuse may come in the form of a one-off incident with a client or customer. But in school settings, it’s not unheard of for abuse to span across years, compounding its impact on the health, safety and wellbeing of those involved.

Understandably, these experiences of harassment and threats to safety have been linked to higher staff turnover rates and teachers deciding to leave the profession.

No one deserves to be threatened, bullied or intimidated in their workplace. That is something I think all Victorians agree on wholeheartedly.

Our teachers, educational and support staff should be no different. They deserve the same level of respect and decency as your doctor, your barrister, your bus driver and your colleagues.

But it’s not just our teachers who are impacted by this behaviour.

We know that children and young people are particularly vulnerable to psychological trauma from witnessing violence and abuse. We know that it impacts brain development.

Schools are and should always be a safe space for our kids and young people. We have a duty to ensure that is so.

It is also critical that in our schools, we are modelling positive behaviours. We have a duty to ensure that young people, particularly in an education setting, are not exposed to behaviours that we in turn don’t want them to pursue. That is our responsibility as adults.

For other families, the knowledge that another parent or carer is acting in a violent, abusive or harassing way on school grounds can be terrifying.

They may be fearful of sending their child to school, or fearful of making the school pick up run themselves.

This is particularly the case for parents, in many cases women, who may themselves be experiencing or be survivors of family violence. Witnessing or even the knowledge of people exhibiting these harmful behaviours in person or online in these circumstances can be retraumatising.

This Bill is so important, Speaker. It not only addresses the importance of workplace safety for teachers, it protects the whole school community.

Delivering on a key recommendation from the 2018 Protective Schools Ministerial Taskforce, this Bill expands protections available to the school community through the introduction of a School Community Safety Order Scheme.

Unlike existing laws, the new scheme is specifically designed for the school environment.

Under the proposed changes an Ongoing School Community Safety Order can be put in place for up to 12 months if a parent or carer:

·         poses an unacceptable risk of harm, significant disruption to the operation of the school or risk of interfering with the wellbeing, safety or educational opportunities of students;

·         has behaved in a disorderly, offensive, abusive, intimidating or threatening manner to a member of the school community; or

·         has engaged in vexatious communications relating to a staff member. 

The order will prohibit the person from entering, remaining on or being within a range of up to 25 metres of the school premises. It will also prohibit them approaching, telephoning, messaging or contacting the staff member impacted.

In circumstances where there is an immediate risk of harm schools will also be able to issue an Immediate School Community Safety Order.

This might be used in a situation for example where a parent or carer threatens imminent harm to teaching staff or other members of the school community. It allows the school to keep staff, students and other family members safe by preventing them from remaining at the school or coming on school grounds for 14 days.

Now, I have heard some groups raise questions about these new rules, concerned that they extend the power of schools too far or could be used in situations where there is a valid disagreement with the school. And of course, as a parent myself, I too would want assurance that parents are not prevented from rightly advocating for their children or being involved in their learning.

But that is not the circumstance we are debating. We are debating circumstances on the extreme end of the scale that go well beyond what any one of us should deem acceptable.

And importantly, there are measures built in with enable parents to continue to be involved in and communicate with the school about their children’s education.

Indeed, the new scheme provides for greater procedural fairness for parents than existing schemes. It is flexible, ensures lines of communication remain open so parents remain involved in their child’s education and consideration is given to vulnerable cohorts.

For example, when implementing an order, a school must ensure that this is the least restrictive means by which to prevent harm. And there are range of early intervention measures available to schools to help prevent the escalation of complaints such as alternative dispute resolution, the assistance of the complex matters team and the school complaints procedures that can be implemented prior to taking action with an order.

Schools must also take into account any vulnerabilities of the parent or carer in question that might impact behaviours arising from mental health, disability or any other factors.

Regarding procedural fairness, if a parent or carer disagrees with an order, this Bill provides for both an internal review mechanism and an independent external review through VCAT.

Under existing legal mechanisms available to schools like the trespass warning notice scheme, review was only available through the Supreme Court. This judicial review process is expensive and the grounds for review were limited. By contrast, under the proposed scheme, external review is undertaken at VCAT which is less formal and therefore less expensive and more timely.

Critically, the deterrents set out under this Bill are backed up by a communication and education program aimed at preventing these behaviours in the first place.

Because, as with other areas of violence prevention, such and gender and family violence, we know that cultural change is critical to achieving long term change.

This includes promoting positive interactions and raising awareness of the impacts of harmful behaviour of staff as well as clearly articulating expected behaviours through school channels.

Speaker, this Government has a record of achievement in upgrading our schools – over $78 million in capital works in the Northcote Electorate alone in recent years. And it’s true, fit for purpose, modern infrastructure is critical to ensuring our children have access to a quality education.

But a safe and secure learning environment for teachers and students alike is just as important.

The mental and physical health of our school workforce is worth fighting for, worth protecting, worth improving – and that is what this Bill does.

In closing, I want to take this opportunity to thank all our local Principals, teachers and support staff who every day are giving it their all to build a brighter future for our children.

I commend this Bill to the House.