Around 58 percent of teachers, principals, and other school-based staff surveyed by Queensland Education United (QEU) have said they will not vote for the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the incumbent state government of Queensland, at the next election, as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
In documents obtained by The Epoch Times, QEU sought responses from a total of around 2,400 principals, teachers, teacher’s aids, cleaners, early child care educators, and other school-based staff on the impacts of the state government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Of these, 65 percent were employed by the state Department of Education, while 20 percent were employed by independent schools, and six percent were employed by Catholic Education.
A broad range of questions were put to them, including where they lived and worked when the mandates were imposed, their education level, years worked, their positions, their COVID-19 vaccination status, their medical exemption status, current employment status, and more.
The results paint a picture of a state education sector in “crisis,” according to Helena from QEU.
“We conducted the survey because we had no idea of knowing the impact mandates were having in the education sector,” Helena told The Epoch Times on March 22.
“There has been no data released and no opportunity for those impacted to have their voices heard. The truth is we didn’t realise the significance of the survey until after we collated and extrapolated the data.
“The number of employees who won’t be returning to education settings and if they do, they won’t be putting in the effort or additional time they once did, is staggering.
“Along with the mental health issues and the treatment of many educators by their employer indicates a crisis in education in the years to come. And it’s our children who will suffer as a result of this,” she said.
The majority of the respondents, around 63 percent, live in Southeast Queensland, the most densely populated region in the entire state.
Eight percent live in Darling Downs and Southwest, seven percent live in Wide Bay-Burnett, six percent live in Central Queensland, three percent in Mackay, Isaac, and Whitsundays; five percent live in North Queensland, and nine percent live in Far North Queensland.
Out of 3,266 responses from around 2,400 respondents, about 391 said their state MP had not replied to their emails about the matter, 40 said their state MP refused to meet with them, and about 108 said their state MP’s office was rude or were not willing to listen.
Meanwhile, 1,431 indicated they had not interacted with their state MP on the matter, but nine said their state MP agreed to meet on the matter.
Based on those interactions, about 58 percent of the respondents indicated they would not be voting for the ALP at the next state election; while about 12 percent indicated they would not be voting for the LNP at the next state election.
Around 20 percent of respondents indicated they would be looking to vote outside the two major parties at the next state election.
Impact of Mandates
In the wake of the state’s mandates, only 152 out of the around 2,400 surveyed reported experiencing no adverse impact.Meanwhile, around 22 percent indicated they had endured social exclusion, while 18 percent reported suffering financial hardship, with 17 percent indicating strained relationships with extended family, nine percent said they now had difficulty paying their mortgages, and nine percent experienced marital or relationship strain, separation, or divorce.
In documents obtained by The Epoch Times, hundreds of teachers have written personal accounts of traumatic experiences they’ve endured in the wake of the state’s vaccine mandates, including receiving “derogatory and discriminating remarks” from colleagues.
Among the accounts, one independent school teacher said they were terminated even though they had a medical exemption, while another suspended teacher had a colleague cancel a catch-up over coffee because she was too scared to be seen with the unvaccinated suspended colleague.
Another teacher wrote that they felt unwelcome at work. “Staff who I thought were very good friends, do not speak to me anymore. My supervisor had not been supportive in understanding my position and personal choice for my body,” the teacher wrote.
In some of the personal trauma statements, school staff described how teachers are struggling to cope without the support they once had and how services have been suspended, such as tuck shops, similar to cafeterias in the United States.
“Before the end of the week one [of the school term] my children’s teachers all looked as if they were falling apart. As a long-time volunteer (and past employee) it has been very hard to stand outside the room and watch my children’s teachers struggle (in Prep especially) at a time when parents are often hands-on volunteering. Our tuck shop has not reopened this year as our volunteers cannot be filled,” one teacher wrote.
A common theme amongst the writers was what they described as a lack of “compassion” from schools they had worked at for many years.
One teacher said they were told by HR the school would push for resignation if they didn’t get vaccinated.
“That didn’t feel right to me so I asked for that in writing three times, but they never gave that to me. When speaking to the union I discovered that doing that is illegal,” the teacher wrote.
“I have been at the school 10 years and have ridden the ups and downs that come with working for that length of time at one school. It made it extremely evident that I was just a number to them and they felt I could easily be replaced. The lack of personal care and compassion I felt was really saddening,” they added.
QEU has also alleged that unvaccinated teachers have reported being suspended without pay until June 2022 as a means of coercion.
Around 68 percent of the survey respondents have said their schools were not functioning or coping well in the first term of 2022. Of those, around 17 percent indicated students or children were told to either stay home due to shortages or school programs were being suspended and children were just being supervised.
Meanwhile, 80 percent of respondents who work at school with mostly First Nations students, categorised by the government as the most vulnerable of students, said they were currently being disadvantaged.
Responding to a question in state parliament about staff shortages at state schools in North Queensland, the education minister said the state’s “back-to-school rollout has been absolutely incredible—the envy of every other state and territory.”
“My officers report that when they have hook-ups about how they are all going, they are envious about the position of Queensland, in spite of the fact that we have one of the most remote, diverse, and regional states in all of Australia,” Grace said.
Grace told the state Parliament that teaching absences had been a low 3.2 percent on average throughout the entire pandemic.
“During the COVID pandemic over the past couple of years, we have had no increase and the sky has not fallen in,” she said, adding: “Obviously, individual schools in regional areas may be more impacted, particularly when they are small schools.”
These figures were based off a survey that was run only during the first two weeks of Term 1, 2022, according to a spokesperson from the Department of Education.
The QEU survey comes after hundreds to thousands of school-based staff were stood down over the vaccine mandates prior to the start of the 2022 school year, with many issued show-cause or suspension without pay notices.
Of those teachers and school-based staff awaiting final outcomes from their dispute processes—The Epoch Times understands that many expect to be terminated—around 46 percent have indicated they might not or will not return to schools.
“All Queensland state schools are complying with the requirements of the COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements for Workers in a high-risk setting Direction (No. 2),” the Department of Education spokesperson told The Epoch Times on March 22.
“The Department is pleased that approximately 98 percent of our teaching workforce has indicated that they are fully vaccinated.
“Under the requirements of the Direction, teachers who are not vaccinated and do not have a legitimate exemption cannot teach in Queensland schools.
“Letters have been sent to staff who have not confirmed their double vaccination status to provide a valid reason why they should not be suspended from duty without pay. Processes and anticipated timeframes related to this are communicated directly with the employee.
“Principals will continue to support employees to receive the vaccine and employees are encouraged to speak with their doctor if they have any concerns specific to their own circumstances or medical history,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, only around 10 percent of school-based staff currently on leave intend to return to work once their leave runs out.
Around 75 percent have said that if they do return to school, they were unlikely to put in the same amount of work, such as volunteering for extra duties, which Helena said will impact students.
“In order for choir, sports days, musicals, camps and many other activities that we have all come to accept to be part of our child’s schooling are all extra activities teachers and support staff volunteer to do. We do it because we want our students to have these opportunities. Without teachers and support staff volunteering their time, these activities they won’t go ahead,” she said.
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