Catholic schools to roll out training to fight racism, sexual harassment
Programs to tackle “racism and gendered violence” will be delivered at Victorian schools governed by Catholic education body Edmund Rice Education Australia to help address women’s safety and behavioural issues that have emerged at some campuses.
The “culture training” will be delivered to seven schools, including St Kevin’s College in Toorak, after reports of sexual harassment and disrespect to women and anti-Semitic behaviour among some students.
Dozens of female staff at St Kevin’s College in Toorak have made allegations of sexual harassment at work by male colleagues and students.Credit:Pat Scala
On Tuesday, it emerged that 60 complaints about sexual harassment and alleged gender-based maltreatment by male staff or students had been made by teachers at St Kevin’s, one of the nation’s most prestigious boys’ schools.
Teachers said nothing was done about complaints and that they did not believe the school had taken them seriously. The complaints include several relating to a male member of staff who was alleged to have sexually harassed colleagues, but was allowed to remain on campus for seven months before he resigned in June.
They revealed that a safety survey of staff in May this year had shown 13 per cent of staff said they did not feel safe at work.
Last month, The Age revealed female teachers at another Edmund Rice school, St Bernard’s College in Melbourne’s north, said they worked in fear of sexual harassment by students and that the school’s leadership had failed to confront a misogynistic culture among some schoolboys.
One St Bernard’s teacher complained of a student who brazenly made sexual remarks in class in front of other students and told her “I know the way you go home”.
The Independent Education Union began an investigation of harassment and “work-related violence” at the Essendon school and teachers detailed alleged examples of racist behaviour targeting Jewish people.
On Wednesday, Ron Paxton, interim executive director of Edmund Rice Education Australia, said he had emailed all EREA principals in Victoria two weeks ago, telling them that culture training would be implemented in coming months “to specifically address racism and gendered violence” in schools.
Paxton said the organisation was meeting with a culture training organisation this month to discuss how information on gendered violence and racism may be tailored to schools across Victoria.
“At the same time, I met with the Jewish Community Council of Victoria to understand how our existing programs can better develop students’ empathy and understanding not just of the Jewish faith and culture, but the faiths and cultures of all religions,” he said.
“Any form of gendered violence or racism, whether it is harassment, bullying or any form of
prejudice, is simply not good enough. It is not good enough in our society, and it is not good
enough in schools.”
He said stamping out this behaviour and establishing “a depth of understanding and empathy about other cultures” was a priority for EREA.
On Wednesday, St Kevin’s principal Deborah Barker released a statement saying the school, which will part from Edmund Rice in 2023, was committed to a rapid cultural shift.
She refused to comment on the specific allegation that a male teacher was allowed to stay at the school for months after several teachers complained of harassment, but said “occasionally teachers and students do leave St Kevin’s as a direct consequence of inappropriate behaviour”.
“The one thing I have learned from this recent external scrutiny is that our teaching cohort expects the pace of cultural change, in measurable and tangible ways, to continue at a faster pace. I am committed to playing my part to make this happen,” Barker said.
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