Is this normal?

DISCUSSION

 I am a second-year graduate teacher currently on a mid-year, fixed-term contract at a primary school in Victoria. I am at my absolute breaking point and need some urgent perspective and advice on how to maneuver a clean exit from my current school while keeping my VIT registration completely safe and intact.

I feel like I have been completely set up to fail, and the institutional gaslighting from leadership is actively destroying my physical and mental health. Here is what has been going on:

  • Total Lack of Graduate Support / VIT Mentor: Since starting this job mid-year (maternity leave position), the school has completely failed to provide me with a VIT-trained mentor, timetabled mentoring blocks, or my legal face-to-face workload reduction. Interestingly, another graduate teacher at the school who started in January was given a fully compliant mentor framework, so the school is clearly aware of its statutory obligations. They just chose to withhold them from me.
  • The Thursday Management Ambush: During my release time on Thursday, I was called into a high-pressure meeting with leadership. They explicitly threatened to invoke Section 13 (Immediate Dismissal/Suspension) and told me I could lose my teaching license because I am "unable to keep the students safe." This is not the first time they have called me in for a meeting during my release time.
  • Weaponizing Petty Issues: The basis of their threats relies entirely on minor administrative adjustments. For an excursion on Monday, I forgot to print out a hard copy of the roll on Friday afternoon. To solve the problem immediately, I digitally pulled up the maths results spreadsheet that contained all the students' names so I could copy-paste it and print a functional roll. They weaponized this as a safety failure. They also expressed disappointment that I wasn't at the office on time to check student medication on the morning of the excursion, despite the fact that nobody had ever communicated this rule or routine to me. They also criticized me for editing my work program during a planning meeting, even though I was actively engaging and listening while we mapped out our r.e. and inquiry assessments.
  • Unmanaged Classroom Harassment: The composite Year 5/6 class I was handed is a known horror show that an experienced CRT flat-out refused to touch because it was too difficult. The Year 5/6 boys engage in wolf-whistling and making crude, inappropriate comments about women's bodies. I have flagged this, and while my team leader spoke to them, leadership has offered no systemic behavioral support, choosing instead to blame me for their bad behaviour, no matter how many times I have sent them to the principals office.
  • Hostile Surveillance & Unethical Behavior: Leadership flooded my room with middle management and LSOs completely unannounced. They walk in while I am teaching without prior notice to frantically take down notes. What's worse, while I was recently away on sick leave (and also during my first fortnight teaching in the class), leadership took over my classroom for a session and formally interrogated my Year 5/6 students behind my back, explicitly asking the children what I "need to improve on" as a teacher, completely undermining my professional authority. Earlier this week, when they came into the class while I was away, they were asking kids about what we were learning and the students complained that we had not done R.E. in a week- we had excursions the book week last week, as well as me being sick and leaving R.E. for the CRT to complete- some students said they did it & others didn't so I am confused and a little fed up.

The extreme daily anxiety of wondering what trouble I'm going to get into next has completely destroyed my nervous system.

Posted Sep 6, 2026, 3:20 AM UTC

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