Low year 11 and 12 attendance rates, kindergarten children being suspended from school, and an increase in workers compensation claims resulting from stress or other psychological injury are just some of the statistics released in new education department data.
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The information, from a response to Labor MLC Josh Willie in a question without notice, revealed trends in student violence.
The data showed that in 2020 across kindergarten to year 13, there were 6790 incidents that resulted in student suspension.
The figure down from 7425 in 2019, but still high when taking the remote learning period between March and June into consideration.
The number of workers compensation claims lodged for stress increased from 44 out of 9573 staff in 2016, to 71 out of 10,669 in 2020 - showing that both the number of staff and number of claims continued to increase.
Australian Education Union Tasmanian branch president David Genford said teachers were struggling with an extra workload, leading to burnout.
"I've been speaking to teachers who have been teaching for 20 to 30 years and they're saying this is currently the most workload pressure they've ever been under," he said.
"Post-COVID there's been some pretty high expectations that have been maintained and there's lots of teachers who are burning out and finding it too difficult to live up to some of the expectations the department has of them.
"Teachers are always willing to try and help students the best they can, and then sometimes it's one of the guilty flaws of a teacher, they keep saying yes and unfortunately if you keep saying yes to doing extra things it comes to a point where you can't actually handle it and you have to end up saying I need to step away from this and look after myself."
Mr Willie said the number of violent incidents was worrying.
"The fact that so many students and teachers are on the receiving end of violence and the level of anti-social behaviour is unacceptable," he said.
"Tasmania's schools should be safe learning places where both students and teachers should feel supported ... everybody understands it is not possible to prevent all incidents across all schools, but it's abundantly clear the government is not working closely with all schools to provide resources and greater support."
Retention data showed fluctuating attendance rates at northern high schools extended to offer years 11 and 12 to students - an average of just over 69 per cent attendance in term one, with some schools significantly higher or lower than that number.
Mr Willie said the government needed to tell students, parents and teachers what support they would offer to lift the "alarmingly unacceptable" attendance rates.
"It's abundantly clear that the Liberal government has dropped the ball on engaging Tasmanian kids and providing them with a purposeful school experience," Mr Willie said.
"It's enormously sad that Tasmanian teenagers are not finding their high school experience to be an engaging one to such an extent that they are simply not showing up."
Education Minister Sarah Courtney said she was grateful for the work of staff across the sector, particularly during the challenges faces due to COVID-19
"I know that this has been very stressful for our staff and we're very grateful for that, this is why though we're employing more staff in our schools, it is why we have delivered on more teachers, it is why we are currently recruiting more school nurses, we want to make sure that the students and the staff are well supported to continue delivering education across the state," she said.
"Since coming to government, we've employed over 600 more full time equivalent staff in our school systems. We know that it's important to make sure that we've got not just the teachers but the support staff, which is why we have those 600 additional staff that have been employed."
Ms Courtney said increasing student attendance at school was a priority, with the school extension offering personalised support to retain students.
"Our colleges and schools offering years 11 and 12 continue to provide young Tasmanians with every opportunity to complete their education through to year 12," she said.
"This includes many students who wouldn't have proceeded to year 11 and 12 at all if it wasn't offered at their school, including students who had lower levels of attendance at earlier schooling."
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Ebony Abblitt
Ebony Abblitt is a features writer at the Examiner in Launceston, with an interest in pets, politics and people. | ebony.abblitt@examiner.com.au
Ebony Abblitt is a features writer at the Examiner in Launceston, with an interest in pets, politics and people. | ebony.abblitt@examiner.com.au
