Are The Staff Rooms a Hotbed for Student-related Gossip?

BY eve becker

While a group of students were chatting one day an important question was raised. “What if the teachers gossip about us?” Once asked, this question had to be answered. Just imagine your educators sitting around in their staff room talking about your classroom behaviour, or perhaps even your personal life. This possibility might be more real than you think.

According to the Department of Education for Victoria, schools collect a great deal of information about their students, and even their families. If Unihigh’s teachers are told that information, who's to say your personal information doesn’t take the form of interesting news in the staff rooms of the school 

When pupils at our school were asked whether or not they thought that “the teachers of Unihigh gossip about students” one hundred percent of them said yes. However, only twenty-five percent considered even “trashing talking” students to be completely unjustified. “I mean we talk about teachers so why can’t teachers talk about students?” Other students said that it depended on whether it was good or bad, but one went so far as to say that they would feel “betrayed”. “Teachers are supposed to be a safe place.

Something had to be done. The students of Unihigh had to know the truth. So one brave student decided to risk it all, by entering the English staff room. 

Upon first being questioned the teachers seemed reluctant to divulge anything. “No” they responded when asked whether they gossiped about students. “I wish” said one jokingly. Slowly though, the truth began to come out. “I gossip and swear [in the  staffroom]” one admitted, though quickly clarifying that it was never about students because they “aren’t that interesting”. Ms Costelloe, however, was prepared to confirm what we all suspected. “We have been known to comment on people going out together” she remarked, to no disagreement.  “[But] the only students I complain about are my own children.” 

The students of Unihigh can be proud because they predicted one thing incredibly accurately. 75% of students who were questioned expected most of the staff room gossip to be positive rather than negative, and the fact that most of their student-related talk was positive was something many of the teachers appeared eager to make clear. “We celebrate student successes.” Ms Sanders said. “We talk about students positively, '' confirmed new teacher Ms Quinn.

The negative gossip that 25% of pupils anticipated seemed to be directed at someone other than them. “We’re currently speaking on how much we hate Andrew Tate.” summarized Ms Costelloe, when asked. Other staff weighed in, and while some were not inclined to use strong words of distaste towards him, others maintained that he was “abhorrent”.

And so, the question asked was answered. Presuming the teachers are telling the truth, the staff rooms can’t exactly be called a hotbed for student-related gossip. They can however be considered places filled with discussions of many kinds, including, but not limited to, the teens of Unihigh.