Teachers could be fired for engaging in hate speech even outside the classroom under changes dividing education groups.
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Staff at more than 3000 NSW schools are affected after the state government on Tuesday unveiled an explicit ban on hate speech in the code of conduct.
The bolstered rules apply to staff working at government, independent and Catholic schools.
"We know young people are impressionable and we know that people who are in positions of authority, particularly educators, are responsible for shaping their views and outlooks in the years ahead," NSW Premier Chris Minns told reporters.
"If they are tipping bigoted, uninformed or racist information into young minds, it can have devastating effects on the cohesion in our community."
While most schools already have rules governing hate speech, a union representing non-government school staff welcomed the move towards strengthening protections.
"These new requirements will make it crystal clear that hate speech based on race or religion is not acceptable," Independent Education Union NSW/ACT branch secretary Carol Matthews said.
"We don't anticipate teachers will be impeded in classroom discussions by the new requirements."
But activist group Teachers for Palestine argued the NSW government's stated aim was inconsistent with its previous actions.
"Mr Minns has no business lecturing anyone on hate speech or social cohesion," spokesperson Chris Breen told AAP.
"He is welcoming (Israeli President) Isaac Herzog to Sydney, when he has helped arm Israel's genocide in Gaza and politically supported it."
The changes follow instances of prominent teachers or principals being accused of hate speech, including a principal at an Islamic school in regional NSW who was stood down in January for inflammatory social media posts.
Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car defended the measure as a small change that empowers the regulator, NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), to act immediately by including the phrase hate speech in the code of conduct.
The code of conduct would apply outside the classroom and extend to social media posts, Mr Minns said.
"We're not going to wait for a police prosecution and then a court case. If it's clear to NESA that there's been a breach ... then sanctions will apply," he warned.
The premier referred to racial hatred laws passed in August 2025 that would have to be violated.
It's reasonable for educators to follow the legal threshold of inciting or vilifying people based on race, he said.
The opposition said it planned to introduce a bill to define anti-Semitism in law to ensure it was understood and acted upon consistently across government and public institutions.
The definition, written by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, includes hatred of Jews and comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
The latest changes build on a suite of reforms to state and federal hate speech laws proposed after two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach in December, killing 15 people.
Mr Minns said the measures would not target and discriminate against Palestinian students or staff for expressing their cultural identity.
"It's not an attack on freedom of speech or association with that cause or concern about Palestinians and innocent civilians in Gaza," he said.
"It's not designed to clamp down the freedom of expression by students."
One teacher reported being called into a principal's office in 2024 and asked not to wear his keffiyeh during a school-themed day aimed at celebrating multiculturalism.
They had been asked to don the Palestinian cultural scarf on previous occasions.
Other educators have reported censorship of discussions about Palestine in a 2025 report by the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network.
Australian Associated Press
