Family violence skyrockets amid COVID: what teachers need to know

Geordie Little

By Geordie Little
Published December 3, 2020

In the midst of this year’s lockdowns, countless children and young people have been affected by a devastating ‘shadow pandemic’ – family violence.

When dealing with students affected by family violence, teachers need to act in a way that is transparent and predictable.

Fears of a massive increase in violence at home, evident in the Federal Government’s decision in March to spend $150 ...

This story appeared in the December 2020 edition of Australian Teacher Magazine.

Nursery Practitioner

Teaching - Early childhood / May 20, 2026

SEN Learning Support Assistant

Veritas South West London

Teaching Aides & Special Needs / May 20, 2026

Koala Childcare and Early Learning Centre Warrnambool – West Campus Warrnambool VIC

Explore how we enhance and support our Story House-ers at our Warrnambool service, proudly certified as a Great Place to Work!

Childcare & Outside School Hours Care / May 20, 2026

School news / Policy pickle: navigating the precarious road ahead for wearable devices in classrooms

Wearable devices in the classroom present serious privacy and data security risks for schools, a legal expert has warned, yet inconsistent rules about their use are clouding the scene for school leaders across the country.

School news / ‘Years behind’: NAPLAN analysis reveals scale of Australia's educational inequity

Australia’s school system is actively widening learning gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children, damning new analysis drawing on 17 years’ worth of NAPLAN data has revealed.

School news / Employment rates for next-gen Indigenous women soaring due to education drive

Rising Indigenous employment is being driven by women who are better qualified than men and more likely to attend school and avoid the justice system, new research has revealed.

School news / Gifted Awareness Week shines light on learners our education system isn’t seeing

The stereotype of the gifted child as a confident, straight-A student sitting at the front of the class does not always match the reality in Australian classrooms, and as many experienced educators know, the consequences of under-identification of...

School news / ‘Nothing to lose by holding out’: Vic teachers not happy with 32 per cent pay offer

An in-principle agreement which will see Victoria’s public school teachers pocket pay rises of up to 32.4 per cent has been struck between the Allan Government and the Australian Education Union – but some argue the proposal fails to deliver bette...

School news / The 50-year fight to recognise rural mums’ unpaid education support role work

For Matilda Pearce, a school day might involve online classes in an outback farmhouse, doing maths in a paddock, practising spelling words in the car or reading a book on the long trip to town.

Opinion / Why more diagnoses won’t fix what’s happening in Australian classrooms

Walk into any school staffroom in Australia and ask what has changed over the past decade and the answer is strikingly consistent.

School news / Canvas breach: Australian schools the likely target of sophisticated phishing scams

In the wake of the Canvas data breach, Australian teachers and school leaders should now brace for an imminent wave of highly targeted phishing scams aimed at their communities, a cyber safety expert has warned.

School news / ‘We took out all the group work’: school’s instructional shift lifts literacy outcomes

Before one small regional Victorian school overhauled its approach to teaching English, there was a lot of ‘busy work’ underway in lessons – but not necessarily much actual learning happening.

School news / Concern grows as Budget targets ‘inappropriate’ disability funding for schools

Described by the Albanese Government as ‘ambitious’ yet grounded in ‘responsible’ economic management, the 2026/27 Budget cracks down on the tax treatment of housing and trusts, and delivers new tax sweeteners to workers – but what’s in it for sch...

Comments