The students had to explain their choice of victims and decide the best time and place for their attack. Ms O'Neill said the teacher had been working for about three years and had set the task to get students to see conflict "through someone else's eyes". "Now I think there are better ways to do that, I think it was an inappropriate choice and poor judgement exercise by the teacher," Ms O'Neill said. "The teacher in question was trying to engage the students, have them think about world occurrences from a different perspective. On this occasion she got it wrong, she certainly learned that lesson." She has requested a report from the school and said the teacher had been counselled.

"This teacher from all accounts is a well regarded teacher. She's made a mistake, who doesn't make a mistake from time to time?" she said. "She's taken it hard, she's remorseful, her heart's in it for the kids and she wants to get on with that job." WA Council of State Schools president Robert Fry said he was stunned by the assignment and that there was "something amiss" in the teacher's training. I think it was an inappropriate choice and poor judgement exercise by the teacher. "I couldn't believe that a teacher could ask a class to do that," Mr Fry said.

"Maybe this (teacher) needs to go back to university to learn a bit more. There's obviously something missed out in the training." "There's an expectation of standards and we would expect that (the assignment) would not have made it to students." He congratulated Year 10 student Sarah Gilbert, who brought the matter to the deputy principal's attention. Student horrified by assignment Sarah said she was horrified with the assignment and asked the teacher for an alternative but was told she had to complete it.

"She is a good teacher, she's one of the best that we have and it just really shocked me that she'd ask us to do this," the student told Radio 6PR. Sarah's mother, Tania Gilbert, said she was also "quite shocked" and said after it was brought to the deputy principal's attention it was still not withdrawn. "Sarah said she didn't want to do the assignment and I told her that that was fine by me," Ms Gilbert said. "The deputy told the class that they didn't have to do the assignment and it wouldn't affect their grades, but the assignment wasn't changed." The school's principal, Terry Martino, agreed the assignment was inappropriate, and said he had the task withdrawn as soon as he was aware of its content.|

But Sarah said some students had handed it in despite being "appalled" by the concept. "I know people who have handed it in... I had a friend who had the same opinion as me but she did it because she needed the extra marks," she said.



Ms O'Neill said students who had completed the work in class the same day the task was set had handed it in. Sarah's mother was quoted as saying the assignment was doubly offensive because a member of her extended family had been killed in the 2002 Bali bombings. Mr Martino said students were reminded that the teacher was not promoting terrorism and that if they chose not to complete the assignment they wouldn't be disadvantaged. ''The teacher, who is relatively inexperienced, made a well-intentioned but misguided attempt to engage the students in an assignment on contemporary conflict and how beliefs and values influence the behaviours and motives of individuals,'' Mr Martino said.

"I have spoken to the teacher and she is very remorseful and understands that the topic was inappropriate and potentially disturbing and upsetting to students and their families." Loading He said the incident should be viewed as one mistake by a hard working, keen young teacher "who is highly regarded by both staff, students and the community." - with AAP