In August of this year, Queensland State School teachers and teacher aides went on strike for the first time in 16 years[1], arguing for more pay and improved working conditions.
More recently, in late October 2025, the majority (a reported 67%) of the Queensland Teachers’ Union’s (“QTU”) roughly 50,000 members voted against a proposed pay rise of 8% over three years.[2]
With a purported salary of more than $100,000 per year by the end of 2028 for each State School teacher[3], speculation on social medial has been rife regarding the ongoing disagreement between the Queensland Government and its teachers, spearheaded by the QTU. But pay isn’t the only major issue in dispute.
As a Partner at Travis Schultz & Partners and an Accredited Specialist in Queensland personal injury law, I’ve spent years representing and advocating for the rights of Queensland workers – including those in the education sector who face rising occupational violence. Over the last few years I’ve seen a higher level of enquiries from injured teachers and teacher aides, and the common feedback I receive is that Queensland State School teachers and teacher aides are overworked, underpaid and subjected to increasingly frequent episodes of occupational violence for which there seems to be no reprieve or effective plans for reform.
I recently made a right to information request to Education Queensland, to better understand the feedback I had been receiving. The data received revealed my assumptions were accurate and, concerningly, it paints a picture even more dire.
In Queensland State Primary and State Secondary Schools, there has been a largely stable number of enrolled students across the 2022, 2023 and 2024 schooling years as follows[4]:-
Table 1
| Schooling Year | Total Number of Queensland State Primary School Students Enrolled | Total Number of Queensland State Secondary School Students Enrolled |
| 2022 | 332,140 | 239,410 |
| 2023 | 330,337 | 239,922 |
| 2024 | 328,049 | 240,080 |
Of concern, the data shows that whilst the total number of students enrolled (and presumably attending) Queensland State Primary and Secondary Schools over those three school years has not even varied by 1%, the number of assault-related injuries reported by Queensland State School teachers and teacher aides working with those students over that same period has skyrocketed.
Strangely, whilst the number of workers’ compensation claims for Queensland State Primary and Secondary School teachers and teacher aides has (on average) increased over that same period, it is nowhere near the same extent as the increase in the number of assault-related injuries[5]:
Table 2
Queensland State Primary Schools
| Year | Reported Assault Related Injuries –Teachers | Worker’s Compensation Claims –Teachers | Reported Assault Related Injuries –Teacher Aides | Worker’s Compensation Claims –Teacher Aides |
| 2022 | 134 | 131 | 70 | 46 |
| 2023 | 1,706 (up 1,173%) | 230 (up 75%) | 947 (up 1,252%) | 82 (up 78%) |
| 2024 | 5,968 (up a further 249%) | 269 (up a further 16%) | 3,194 (up a further 237%) | 83 (up a further 1%) |
Table 3
Queensland State Secondary Schools[6]
| Year | Reported Assault-Related Injuries –Teachers | Worker’s Compensation Claims –Teachers | Reported Assault Related Injuries – Teacher Aides | Worker’s Compensation Claims – Teacher Aides |
| 2022 | 60 | 91 | 13 | 18 |
| 2023 | 634 (up 956%) | 148 (up 62%) | 129 (up 892%) | 19 (up 5%) |
| 2024 | 2,262 (up a further 256%) | 169 (up a further 14%) | 463 (up a further 258%) | 39 (Up a further 105%) |
Further, despite the significantly increased numbers of reported injury related assaults against Queensland State Primary School and Secondary School teachers and teacher aides, the numbers of short suspensions, long suspensions and exclusions (which Education Queensland describes as “the most serious disciplinary action that can be imposed on a student and must only be used if other disciplinary consequences are inadequate to deal with the student’s behaviour”)[7] has not increased to anywhere near the same extent over that same period[8]:
Table 4
Queensland State Primary Schools
| Year | Number of Short Suspensions | Number of Long Suspensions | Number of Exclusions | Total |
| 2022 | 20,992 | 229 | 81 | 21,302 |
| 2023 | 22,944 (up 9%) | 241 (up 5%) | 105 (up 29%) | 23,290 (up 9%) |
| 2024 | 22,121 (down 3%) | 213 (down 11%) | 123 (up a further 17%) | 22,457 (down 3%) |
Table 5
Queensland State Secondary Schools
| Year | Number of Short Suspensions | Number of Long Suspensions | Number of Exclusions | Cancellations[9] | Total |
| 2022 | 51,460 | 2,894 | 1,514 | 856 | 56,724 |
| 2023 | 53,349 (up 3%) | 2,774 (down 4%) | 1,638 (up 8%) | 867 (up 1%) | 58,628 (up 3%) |
| 2024 | 46,101 (down 13%) | 2,256 (down 18%) | 1,445 (down 11%) | 929 (up a further 7%) | 50,731 (down 13%) |
The data is simply striking in its discrepancy. Is there an over-reporting of minor (if they can be called that) injury related assaults upon Queensland teachers and teacher aides in State Primary and State Secondary School settings?
Is there a reluctance, or otherwise, on the part of Queensland state school teachers and teacher aides to lodge worker’s compensation claims for their workplace injuries given the significant disparity between the increase in reported number of assault related injuries and the number of worker’s compensation claims?
Is there a reluctance, or otherwise an explanation, as to how the numbers of reported injury related assaults upon Queensland State Primary School and State Secondary School teachers and teacher aides have increased so significantly (on average); however, the numbers of short suspensions, long suspensions, exclusions and (in the case of Secondary School students, additionally cancellations) seem to be largely static between 2022 and 2023 but decrease by 3% (for primary schools) and 13% (for secondary schools) between 2023 and 2024?
Whichever way you look at the data, the disparity between the numbers of reported assaults and disciplinary actions seems to suggest a systemic failure to protect our educators. From a legal standpoint, this raises valid questions about Education Queensland’s duty of care to its employed teachers and teacher aides, its liability as their employer, and the adequacy of current workplace safety protocols to protect those employees.
From a personal injury lawyer’s point of view, the unexplained difference in reported numbers of injury related assaults upon our state school teachers and teacher aides to the number of student sanctions and associated claims for workers’ compensation by teachers/teacher aides is concerning.
Under Queensland law, employers have a duty to provide a safe workplace. If teachers and teacher aides are assaulted and claims are underreported or unsupported, it reflects not just a cultural issue, but a legal one.
It’s time for policymakers, unions, and school leadership to pay heed to the data and to collaborate on a comprehensive safety framework for our teachers and teacher aides.
[1] See: https://www.qtu.asn.au/qtj-Vol130No6-teachers-school-leaders-strike and https://news.uq.edu.au/2025-08-queensland-teachers-are-striking-its-not-just-about-money-they-are-asking-profession-worth-staying
[2] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-07/queensland-teachers-strike-action-planned-no-date/105976976
[3] https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/103791
[4] https://qed.qld.gov.au/our-publications/reports/statistics/Documents/enrolments-summary.pdf
[5] Source: Queensland Department of Education, RTI Application 252792, documents released from “Health, Safety and Wellbeing / Workplace Health & Safety Strategy” containing assault-related injury and WorkCover claim data for 2022–2024
[6] Includes Queensland State School Teachers and Teacher Aides working in primary-secondary and secondary roles
[7] https://behaviour.education.qld.gov.au/procedures-guidelines-and-forms/disciplinary-consequences/exclusion
[8] See link via Qld Department of Education Website: here
[9] Cancellation of enrolment in Queensland State Schooling: https://ppr.qed.qld.gov.au/pp/cancellation-of-enrolment-procedure
