200 cases of violence against teachers in first month back at school

But a new ministerial advisory group looking into the management of violence in schools is unlikely to hear directly from the families or teachers affected and will not investigate specific schools, ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry revealed on Tuesday.

As of March 7, school staff had already logged 229 incidents classified as violence on the ACT public service "Riskman" safety portal, and at least one teacher had sustained an injury requiring time off work.

The data does not include violence against students, which is not collected by the ACT Education Directorate. A number of other incidents had also been reported by teachers but not yet classified, a directorate spokeswoman said.

Teachers and public servants across the ACT use Riskman to log incidents they consider harmful. Such reports can range in severity from verbal abuse to physical attacks but a more detailed breakdown of the data was not provided.

It comes as disturbing footage emerged this week of student fights, which had been filmed and then circulated in private messages across social media. An ACT Policing spokesman said police were aware of "several incidents around the ACT involving students fighting" where videos were later published online.

Martin Fisk, chief executive at youth counselling service Menslink, said he had also heard stories of student "fight clubs", where youths egged each other on to film bullying and violence.

"It's almost always picking on a smaller kid. This stuff can be devastating," he said.

"And not just for the victims. I'm working with a young guy who was a [perpetrator] of violence and [filmed it] and he's still struggling five years later himself with having that online."

Following recent revelations in The Canberra Times about schoolyard attacks, Ms Berry has faced down calls from the opposition and parents for an external inquiry and instead ordered a government review into the management of bullying and violence in schools.

On Tuesday, she said an independent expert panel, including child welfare advocate Sue Packer, would examine existing processes in schools and provide advice to her office on how they could be strengthened, using a number of past incidents as case studies.

The committee would not hear from those on the frontline or investigate specific schools, she said. A spokeswoman for the minister later clarified the group would have some discretion over how it conducts the review, which will report back by August 23, and may seek conversations with those affected.

Leann Manunui, who moved her children to another school last year due to escalating attacks on the playground, said she was concerned the government was now looking to sweep incidents under the rug.

"I'm thinking they don't want to look families in the eye because they know how much they've let them down," she said.

Multiple parents, including Ms Manunui, said they were also concerned teachers were copping the brunt of the directorate's "clean-up" when they were desperately in need of more support and more resources.

The Canberra Times has learnt of long-standing complaints about the handling of violence in at least eight schools in the ACT, with staff and students at times seemingly left in harms' way.

The paper has also obtained footage of student brawls posted privately to social media platforms, including one video in which a gang of students follow and then assault a boy running inside to a classroom. Two videos depicting student fights were published by the ABC on Tuesday with some faces blurred.

But the directorate has refused to answer questions on specific schools or provide detail about how such incidents, including those involving children who were strangled, beaten or hospitalised, are being handled.

While a new IT system is expected to introduce centralised reporting of student violence by the end of the year, principals currently have authority to decide their own responses to incidents.

Under the review's terms of reference, committee members will examine the "appropriateness of school vs system level accountability and how this interacts with features of school-based management".

No disciplinary action has been taken against any school or principal in the past six months due to the handling of violence or bullying, a spokeswoman confirmed.

The directorate looked at individual cases when required and was now working to improve responses in schools, she said.

"We've heard from the community that the level of response to incidents needs to be strengthened."

Ms Berry said social media companies should take responsibility for removing violent videos of students.

Canberra Liberal Elizabeth Lee agreed that everyone in the community, including the media, had a reponsibility to stop the spread of such content.

National research released last month found one in two Canberra principals were attacked on the job in 2018, the highest rate in the country.

The ACT government has acknowledged that violence still remains under-reported by teachers, but attributed a recent spike in its own incident data to an improved reporting culture under $8 million occupational violence reforms. New training has been rolled out across schools and an occupational violence team installed at the directorate to monitor teacher incidents.

Two years into the reforms, Glenn Fowler at the Australian Education Union said staff reporting was increasing in the ACT and there was "less acceptance of the unacceptable". The union was already supporting Canberra teachers impacted by violence this year, he said.

A directorate spokeswoman said retention rates for teachers and staff were about on par with other jurisdictions and had been improving in recent years. Surveys revealed satisfaction with the public school system also remained high overall, she said.

Anyone with concerns about violence in schools can contact the directorate's complaints unit for families and students on (02) 6205 5429.

Know more? Get in touch: sherryn.groch@canberratimes.com.au