Teacher sues over 'bullying' | National News | Breaking National News in Australia

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A TEACHER is suing the Queensland education department after allegedly suffering years of bullying from her superior at a special needs school.

A teacher's aide at the same southeastern Queensland state school has also come forward with similar allegations against the same boss.

The 49-year-old female teacher alleges she suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of working with the "abusive, volatile and manipulative" boss.

"She would yell, she would scream at you in front of other staff and students, she would slam her hands on the desk and she would write highly critical notes and put them in your pigeon hole," she said in a statement issued by Trilby Misso lawyers.

"People were frightened of her."

When she took stress leave, the superior came to her home and continued to contact her, the teacher says.

"She was trying to intimidate me."

The teacher and 44-year-old female teacher's aide, who wish to remain anonymous, had both complained to the school principal and Education Queensland.

But both had turned a blind eye, the teachers' lawyers say.

Lawyer Gillian Klanke said the teacher had suffered a complete breakdown after years of verbal abuse and intimidation over a number of years at the school.

"The teacher and one of her colleagues have suffered psychological injuries as a result of the mistreatment from the head of special education services at the school," she said.

The law firm is preparing a notice of claim against WorkCover as the insurer of Education Queensland for one of the women, while a teacher's aide is assessing whether she is able to make a claim.

Both women raised their problems with the school principal and officials from Education Queensland, but nothing was done, Ms Klanke said.

The teacher's aide said they were often asked to perform duties outside their job description and were left alone to deal with violent children.

One boy had to be handcuffed by police.

"We weren't given the proper support and suffered injuries as a result of trying to control sometimes violent children on our own," she said in a statement.

"But I don't blame the students - being injured wasn't the issue.

"It's just the total lack of direction and consideration from the department head - she didn't make sure staff were safe and she just didn't seem to care."

The women had not been offered alternative duties while the department head at the centre of the alleged problem remained at the school.

Ms Klanke said the behaviour of the department head went unchecked because the principal, who recently retired, turned a blind eye to the situation.

Representatives from Education Queensland also attended a meeting with staff and were told about the alleged bullying but they did nothing, she said.

A spokeswoman from Education Queensland told AAP it would be difficult to go into any detail about the case because of privacy issues.