Duty of Care: Teachers' experiences of sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment in Australian schools

Over the past several years, educators across every state and sector have described a marked escalation in sexist and misogynistic behaviour directed towards them by students, colleagues and, in some cases, parents and carers, often echoing the language, attitudes and worldview of online misogynistic ‘influencers.’ This escalation has been facilitated by existing conditions in schools, captured by a long history of past research, which has established schools as unsafe workplaces for women. This acceleration on hostile conditions has not, however, been met by a commensurate response, nor acknowledgement, from federal and state departments of education who are obligated to provide a safe workplace for their employees. Despite extensive evidence demonstrating, clearly and unequivocally, that schools are increasingly unsafe workplaces for many women, experiences of sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny have consistently been treated as isolated incidents rather than recognised as symptoms of systemic failure. This tendency to individualise and minimise gendered harm has obscured its scale, weakened institutional accountability and allowed harmful workplace cultures to persist. A shift from the historical understanding incidents of sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny in schools as behavioural issues, normative behaviour of adolescent men and boys or as problems of teacher skill, this report insists that sexual and gender-based harassment must be viewed as a foreseeable workplace risk that requires systemic prevention. This report presents a compelling and timely call to action to address persistent failures in the prevention of and response to sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment in Australian schools. The introduction of the Positive Duty under Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)[SDA]) in 2022 represents a significant turning point in how harmful behaviour in school workplaces should be understood, defined and addressed. Rather than requiring teachers to report incidents of harm and pursue complaints after the harm has occurred, the Positive Duty places a proactive legal obligation on education departments and school employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate unlawful sexual and gender-based harassment, hostile workplace environments and victimisation before they occur. Therefore, ensuring that schools are workplaces free from sex and gender-based discrimination is a core responsibility of education employers. In presenting this evidence, the report situates AEU members' experiences within the significantly revised legal and policy landscape that now governs workplace sexual harassment in Australia, while acknowledging the longstanding history of sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny in education settings. We know that these harms are not new. They have shaped the experiences of generations of students and educators, particularly women, yet have too often been normalised as an inevitable feature of teaching rather than recognised as a preventable form of workplace gendered violence. The blame has too frequently been placed on teacher and student victims, who have had their own contributions to their harm put to them, had their skill and expertise questioned, and have experienced the ongoing injury of a workplace that does not recognise the gendered nature of the injustices that occur in school settings. This report also considers the implications of recognising sexual and gender-based harassment as a foreseeable occupational health and safety hazard. Its findings have significant consequences for teacher wellbeing, workforce attraction and retention, and Australia’s commitments under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032. The evidence demonstates that sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny in schools represents as systemic workplace safety risk, as a barrier to gender equality and as a matter of national significance for Australia’s violence prevention plan. At a time of persistent teacher workforce shortages, creating school workplaces that are free from harm is not only a legal obligation but also a social, educational and economic imperative.