Aussie news: Queensland schools file 12,000 child harm reports

MORE than 12,000 reports of suspected child abuse were made by Queensland school staff over the past year.And that number is expected to soar even higher.

The Education Department has revealed it is projecting more than 15,000 suspected child harm reports will have been made by staff in both private and state schools last financial year.

That's a jump of more than 40 per cent on the previous year.

However, figures provided by the Department of Child Safety yesterday show only a small number of the reports have been substantiated.

Of the 12,339 reports made by school staff in the year ending March 31, only 3090 were deemed worthy of investigation by the department. And only 858 of those cases were found to be true.

The alarming figures have been released by the State Government in response to a report that claimed Queensland laws failed to protect children from sexual abuse that ``may be highly likely to occur''.

Acting Education Minister Karen Struthers disputed the findings of the Queensland University of Technology report, saying a mix of legislation and the department's student protection policy served to protect children.

``The fact that there (could eventually be) more than 15,000 reports in the past year shows just how seriously teachers take their job,'' she said.

She said the figures demonstrated teachers and principals erred on the side of caution.

``In every circumstance in a state school where a staff member or non-staff members suspects a student has been harmed or is at risk of harm, they must report it,'' she said.

Ms Struthers said that if a teacher or principal ``failed in their duty'' (to report possible abuse) they faced disciplinary action, including losing their jobs.

The Queensland Teachers Union, Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations and Independent Education Union of Australia all said they weren't concerned by the high number of reports.

QCPCA president Margaret Black said while the data was likely to be inflated because teachers reported ``even the slightest suspicion'', that was not a bad thing.

However, the Queensland University of Technology report ``Teachers reporting child sexual abuse: Towards evidence-based reform of law, policy and practice'' made 13 recommendations in relation to strengthening the state's laws, policies and training which dealt with the reporting of child sexual abuse by teachers.

The report is being considered by Queensland's education stakeholders, including the State Government, the Queensland Catholic Education Commission and the Queensland College of Teachers.

It criticized Queensland and the ACT as the only states and territories which did not require teachers to report cases where there was a likely risk that sexual abuse would occur in the future.

``The Queensland legislation should be amended to also require reports of suspected risk of sexual abuse that has not yet occurred,'' it recommended.

But the report also acknowledged policies in Queensland did require teachers to report suspected future sexual abuse

My News:

12339 reports have been lodged for the children abuse in Queensland based on the statistic released by the Education Department. This figure is higher 40 % than previous record and is presumed to skyrocket more. Despite the high number of cases, the Queensland Teachers Union, Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Associations and Independent Education Union of Australia all are not daunted by the alarming statistics. They think that the figure is inflated due to the vigilance show by the school staff. It is a good sign because this shows that teacher nowadays are more observance with their student in school. Of the 12,339 reports made by school staff in the year ending March 31, only 3090 were consider as worth to be investigated and only 858 are substantiate to be true. On the other hand, this report gained serious attention from Queensland's education stakeholders, including the State Government, the Queensland Catholic Education Commission and the Queensland College of Teachers. These organizations accuse Queensland as the only state that doesn’t require teachers to report cases where there are high possibilities of a sexual children abuse to take place and advocate for the amendment of Queensland legislation which require teacher to report any suspected risk of sexual abuse.