As the school year draws to a close, new data has revealed a dramatic escalation in violence against Queensland state school teachers and teacher aides, with reported assault-related injuries increasing more than 4,000 per cent between 2022 and 2024, while WorkCover claims increased by only 96 per cent over the same period.^[1]

Personal injury lawyer Trent Johnson from Travis Schultz & Partners said the Right to Information (RTI) data confirms what he regularly hears from injured teachers – deteriorating student behaviour, escalating severity of assaults, and a system that is leaving staff exposed and unsupported. 

“Teachers are reporting physical assaults, psychological trauma, and classrooms being trashed with violent students often not restrained until someone has already been hurt,” Mr Johnson said. 

“We’re being told behaviour has worsened significantly in the early primary years, and the severity is unlike anything teachers were reporting before the pandemic.”

The figures reveal a severe and accelerating trend, with assault-related injuries rising 4,100 per cent from 277 in 2022 to 11,887 in 2024. Despite this, WorkCover claims have barely increased – rising from 286 in 2022 to just 560 in 2024.^[2]

While a single WorkCover claim can relate to multiple incidents, the disparity between reported assaults and claims points to a widening gap between the scale of classroom violence and the number of teachers receiving formal support.

“In practical terms, the data shows more than twenty violent incidents for every one WorkCover claim – a gap that simply cannot be ignored,” Mr Johnson said. 

“Even acknowledging that one WorkCover claim can cover multiple assaults, the contrast between thousands of incidents and only several hundred claims suggests a system where serious violence is going unsupported. 

“It raises serious questions about reporting practices, the cumulative nature of injuries, and the barriers teachers and teacher aides face in seeking help.”

Mr Johnson said the gap between the number of reported assaults and WorkCover claims lodged may be partly explained by the cumulative nature of psychological injuries, where dozens of smaller incidents build up over time before a teacher reaches breaking point. 

“At that point, some choose to leave the profession entirely rather than navigate the WorkCover process, while others tell us they fear that lodging a claim could affect their prospects for advancement, particularly in senior/management roles,” Mr Johnson said.

“There is a clear disparity between the regular violence teachers are experiencing and the number of claims being lodged.  

“Injured teachers tell us they are exhausted, unsure of the process, or worried about how a claim will affect their future. In many cases, we only see a claim after repeated trauma has finally forced a teacher out of the classroom.”

Mr Johnson emphasised that Education Queensland is legally responsible for the safety of teachers and teacher aides.

“It is rarely the child or their parents who is legally liable – it is almost always Education Queensland,” Mr Johnson said. 

“If a school is aware that a student has violent behavioural issues and continues placing them in a classroom without proper boundaries or protections for its staff, that is a breach of their duty of care. We are seeing an increasing number of psychological injury cases where multiple incidents have occurred without adequate intervention.”

Department of Education data shows that suspensions and exclusions have not increased in line with the rise in reported injury related assaults and, in some cases, have decreased – despite student enrolment numbers remaining largely stable across the same period.^[3] In primary schools, total suspensions and exclusions fell 3 per cent in 2024 on the prior year, and in secondary schools dropped 13 per cent.^[4]

Mr Johnson said this trend raises serious questions about safety and accountability, particularly when viewed alongside the sharp rise in assault-related injuries.

“If suspension rates are dropping while assaults are skyrocketing, that suggests violent behaviour is being minimised, not managed,” Mr Johnson said. 

“That leaves teachers and teacher aides dangerously exposed and raises serious questions about whether the Department is meeting its duty of care.”

Mr Johnson warned that without urgent intervention, Queensland risks losing even more teachers. 

“If Education Queensland doesn’t take this seriously and closely scrutinise the injuries being reported, we will see a dwindling profession. More teachers will leave, more will take extended leave or drop to part-time arrangements, and the volume of WorkCover claims will inevitably rise. This is not just a workforce issue – it’s a wider community issue.”

Mr Johnson said stronger protections teachers and teacher aides, greater transparency in reporting student behaviour and more robust consequences for violent student behaviour are urgently needed. 

“Teachers deserve and have a right to feel safe at work. At the moment, too many are being hurt – and too few are being heard.”

^[1] 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. Calculation based on assault-related injuries rising from 277 in 2022 to 11,887 in 2024 = 4,189% increase.

^[2] Source: Queensland Department of Education, School Workforce Statistics, January 2024 + 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. 

^[3] Source: Queensland Department of Education, Enrolments Summary (2022–2024), showing state school enrolments of 332,140 primary and 239,410 secondary students in 2022; 330,337 primary and 239,922 secondary in 2023; and 328,049 primary and 240,080 secondary in 2024. https://qed.qld.gov.au/our-publications/reports/statistics/Documents/enrolments-summary.pdf

^[4] Queensland Department of Education, School Disciplinary Absences by Student Demographics 2020–2024, released April 2025, showing primary (prep to year 6) totals falling from 23,290 (2023) to 22,457 (2024) and secondary (year 7 to 12) totals falling from 58,628 (2023) to 50,731 (2024).