Schools Teacher versus the Vape
At Peter’s* public secondary school in Melbourne’s western suburbs, vaping and vaping-related behavioural issues have become a point of common stress and frustration among teachers.
“You can often tell, students will come out of the bathrooms patting their pockets with a guilty look on their face and smelling of what they will tell you is ‘deodorant’,” he says. “There’s very little we can do about it.”
The teachers have set up a messaging system to keep track of when and how often students leave class, but he says unless they are “caught red-handed” with a vape, no action – such as confiscation and informing their parents or referring them to help resources – is taken.
“We had students openly vaping in one campus. When teachers tried to do something, the students would film them,” Peter says.
“The students were allowed to become a law unto themselves, and it had a significant impact on school culture. It was disastrous for teacher morale, some left [the school] and it exacerbated a lot of problems.”
According to the federal government’s Australian Secondary Students’ Alcohol and Drug Survey released in December 2023, around 30% of Australians aged 12–17 years-old have tried a vaping device.
A small sample of teachers and school staff surveyed by The George Institute for Global Health found that most Australian teachers at both primary and secondary level were concerned vaping was shifting the school culture.
“When teachers tried to do something, the students would film them.”
Vaping or e-cigarettes have been around for a while, but their use in Australia has skyrocketed since 2018 and 2019 with the introduction of cheaper disposable products to the local market.
It is already illegal to sell vaping products to anyone under the age of 18, but that hasn’t stopped the rise in vaping rates among teens, according to Associate Professor Dr Michelle Jongenelis, Deputy Director of the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change at the University of Melbourne.
“We need legislative change at the federal level, we need enforcement of the actual laws, and then we need education and health-based approaches in schools,” Dr Jongenelis says.
She believes that, similarly to historic rates of smoking cigarettes, it will be hard to change the stats on adolescence vaping until more work is done across society to shift social norms and reduce the availability of the products through regulation and legislation.
Schools needing support to help students curb addictions
In March, the Victorian Department of Education released a range of resources for teachers and schools to deal with vaping-related issues in a health- and education-centred way. These clarify that vaping should be classified the same way as cigarettes and be illegal on school premises, but also advise that vaping is not grounds for suspension of students.
The department’s resources discourage measures such as vape detectors or locking bathrooms, citing a lack of credible evidence that they stop young people vaping at school, adding: “Responses that are exclusionary, invasive or restrict all students’ rights to privacy may not be effective, and reduce student and staff trust and engagement.”
A Department of Education spokesperson told AEU News that schools were supported to provide students with education through a range of resources and guidance and as a part of the curriculum.
“We support a national collaboration and continue to work in partnership with organisations, such as Quit and Cancer Council Victoria, to develop and share guidance to schools and families related to e-cigarettes,” they said.
Kate,* a classroom teacher at a small regional Victorian public secondary school, says that several students at her school have come forward seeking help to curb their addiction – emphasising the need for more support for schools to implement education and health approaches to the problem.
“The vapes we have coming into the school were being sold by one student to others. As long as there is that demand for them, it will be hard to stop vaping entirely,” Kate says.
Peter believes he and other staff need more practical support – from their schools and the department – in tackling the problem.
“The last few years have been tough for teachers,” he says. “Behavioural issues are getting worse … and vaping is just another thing we have to deal with.
Staffing is a big issue and [lower] workloads would help address this as well – for teachers to have the time to provide support and health education for students.”
*Names changed to maintain confidentiality
