Combatting inflammatory media rhetoric
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 131 No 7, 2 October 2026, page no.7
As your President, a lot of my time is spent on media enquiries and, as you can imagine, some of them can be pretty wild.
In my time here, I’ve seen the rise of media education clickbait, articles that are usually posted behind paywalls with snarky or controversial titles designed to generate negative reaction and then interaction with people like us.
These are usually inflammatory in nature and often use tired generalisations or tropes to upset audiences and are usually driven by commentators with no education experience other than their own schooling as a reference.
We’ve seen catchphrases like woke, feminisation, gender bias, undue influence, and other criticisms unfairly levelled at teachers and school leaders, without evidence or basis.
Sadly, angry engagement rejecting these crass types of media from people like our members is exactly the outcome desired.
We go out of our way to shut these down and correct them at every opportunity. It’s the right thing to fight for.
We live in a time when the truth has never been more important for the future of state education and our students.
And the truth is we need more resources from our elected officials; we need more colleagues in our schools; we need an employer that protects us; and we need students to have what they need for a bright future.
But most of all we deserve more respect from some of these ill-informed media commentators and outlets, who I would challenge to walk in our members’ shoes for a week so they can see the real truth about what they claim to speak of so confidently and destructively.
Frankly, teachers and school leaders deserve better.