Special school principals demand change
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 130 No 6, 5 September 2025, page no 17.
More than 35 leaders from Queensland’s 46 state special schools have gathered at the QTU’s Milton office for a Special School Principals Strategy and Planning Day.
The day was born from urgency: the deep and compounding impacts of the 2025 reasonable adjustment resourcing (RAR) model, growing occupational violence, and diminishing systemic support for our most vulnerable learners and the professionals who lead their learning.
This was not a day for complaints. It was a day for collective purpose — driven by the voices of members who are on the frontline of special education, working under increasingly unsafe and unsustainable conditions.
A crisis point in special education
It quickly became clear that many leaders have reached breaking point. The new RAR staffing formula has cut essential teaching and leadership roles across the state — despite a 7.44 per cent increase in enrolments, particularly in the highest complexity categories of "Extensive" and "Extensive Plus".
A preliminary QTU survey of special schools revealed the depth of the crisis:
- Using the new 2025 formula, overall staffing allocations decreased by 7.65 per cent compared to the previous year’s model.
- Classroom teacher allocations fell by 7.97 per cent, and teacher aide hours dropped by 7.9 per cent.
- A total of 2,856 WHS incidents were reported, with 69 per cent related to occupational violence and aggression (OVA).
These cuts are about more than just numbers — they are teachers lost, aides reduced, and leaders stretched past breaking point. They represent real risks to staff safety, student learning, and the legal obligations school leaders hold under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
Key themes from the day
School leaders shared a consistent message: special schools are no longer safe or sustainable under current conditions. Many reported that they cannot meet basic WHS safety thresholds, with workload preventing systems like MyHR WHS being used consistently and post-incident support from the department largely absent. Cuts to leadership and teacher positions, as well as huge reductions in teacher-aide hours, have left principals increasingly isolated, while the "Extensive Plus" (E+) enrolment process was widely criticised as inequitable and burdensome. In response, some schools are now using the “Refusal to Enrol – Risk to Safety or Wellbeing” process for new enrolments if WHS risks cannot be managed safely.
Principals leading the response
Members collectively endorsed a set of resolutions for QTU Executive to consider aimed at both immediate and long-term change, including:
- a formal WHS issues resolution process with the department for unsafe systems of work under the WHS Act
- the removal of the E+ application process in special schools
- writing to the Director-General and Minister for Education to assert that special schools are now unsafe and unsustainable, and to demand urgent and transparent resourcing.
Principals also committed to:
- recording their own physical and psychological injuries in MyHR WHS
- promoting active QTU and United Workers Union membership
- holding staff discussions on the impacts of RAR, and encouraging staff to report WHS risks
- re-examining long-held views regarding student behaviour through a WHS lens
- refusing enrolments if complexity exceeds the school’s safe support capacity and resourcing
- continuing to meet with the QTU and other special school principal members to coordinate and strategise around this campaign.
Executive endorsement and Union support
The QTU Executive formally considered the report from the day and endorsed all resolutions and recommendations, including:
- escalating WHS issues under the Work Health and Safety Act
- referring the matter to the QTU’s Education Leaders Committee and Special Education Committee for further consideration
- supporting further online principal meetings to maintain campaign momentum
- endorsing the drafting of letters to senior departmental leaders and the Minister for Education.
A call to collective action
To our classroom teachers, school leaders, and support staff in special schools — your voices are being heard, and your Union is with you. And to all QTU members: this is a moment to stand shoulder to shoulder with our special school colleagues.
These are our most complex school communities. They deserve our collective voice, our united strength, and our continued action.