Show: Teacher Talk - Weekly Podcast

Segment: New Teacher, Old Teacher- Where we bring in

a recently graduated teacher and a teacher with many
years under their belt and see where their
perspectives on a topic can differ.
* Intro music *
ZOE
Welcome back to teacher talk, the show where teachers from all walks
of life come to discuss current educational issues. I am your host
Kitty Larson and today we will be discussing whether or not the
health of the teacher influences the health of the students. So let
me ask you, what is health? Health is much more than just how fit
you are or how healthy you eat. In fact, Health is an umbrella term
most accurately defined by the world health organisation as a state
of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely
the absence of disease or infirmity.
Today we are bringing back a popular segment we like to call: NEW
TEACHER, OLD TEACHER!(sound effect) Listeners if youre new to
teacher talk, in this segment we bring in a recently graduated
teacher, fresh out of university and a teacher with many years under
their belt to see where their perspectives on a topic can differ.
Today joining the panel we have Samantha, who is currently in her
second year of full time teaching after graduating from RMIT
University (sound effect) and also joining the panel today is
Margaret, a very well-respected educator with over 35 years of
teaching experience(sound effect) Welcome to the show ladies.
So Samantha, something that really stands out to me from the WHO
definition, is how they mention a complete state of physical, mental
and social well-being, which I think is important because it
suggests that health is more than just one thing.
HELEN
First off, hi kitty thanks for having me. I agree with you 100%. In
fact health actually has 5 dimensions: physical, mental, spiritual,
social and cognitive. These 5 dimensions are constantly worked on
and develop you as a person.
ZOE
So tell me Samantha, what do you think about our topic, do you agree
that the health of the teacher influences the health of the
students?

HELEN
Kitty, I believe in this entirely. I know personally in my first
year of teaching, in particular the first 2 terms, I struggled with
at least 3 of those health dimensions. I was overworked, overwhelmed
and I was finding it difficult to fit in with my colleagues and the
school community. I found something in an article titled Well
Teachers, Well Students written by Faye McCallum and Deborah Price,
where they surveyed a cohort of recently graduated teachers from the
University of South Australia and they state that beginning teachers
talked about transition from university to teaching as an anxious
time that impacted on their level of wellness.
Some of the factors included:

Increased workload

Physical tiredness

Stress from dealing with additional issues like disorderly

classrooms, negative school culture or having to multi-task;
and

Emotional tiredness caused by professional conflicts.

This article really resonated with me as I have felt all of these

contributing factors. My mental, physical and social well being then
influenced my students in different ways. As I was so overwhelmed
about being in a new classroom I spent so much time focusing on
content it didnt occur to me to take the students out to play a
game - therefore their physical health was affected. Because I was
so emotionally tired, sometimes the environment that I created in
the classroom was not as engaging as I intended it to be and in turn
the students would sometimes disengage and were not performing to
the level they shouldve been - affecting their cognitive health.
These are just a few examples of how the health of a teacher can
influence the health of the students, in my opinion a teacher needs
to embody a healthy balance of all five dimensions of health in
order to have a well functioning classroom.
ZOE
Margaret, welcome back to the show, always a pleasure, Im very
interested to know what you think about this statement?

SANABEL
Kitty, thanks for having me once again. Personally, I believe that
your health shouldnt affect how you teach When you step into the
classroom, it is no longer about you, it is all about your students
and your personal health shouldnt have any effect on the quality of
teaching you implement. We are teachers, we are there to teach them,

to educate them. I dont bring my personal life into the classroom.

When I walk through that door, I am no longer Margaret with her
minor health issues, I am Mrs.Burn and my students education is the
priority. You wouldnt make students feel incapable if you feel
upset because you had an argument with your spouse. It comes down to
experience. When you have taught for as long as I have you have to
learn to filter your emotions, feelings and issues as it would be
unhealthy if you could not separate your work and home life. At the
end of the day Im at school to educate these students, Im not
their friends, my relationship with them is purely professional and
I believe it would be unprofessional to let my personal life get in
the way of their education.
ZOE
There's some good points from both sides here, and it seems to be
quite controversial between the two of you. I did notice that
Margaret you mentioned your relationship with your students is
purely professional, so you dont think that your personal life or
health should have any influence on theirs, Samantha do you agree?
HELEN
Look I agree that its vital to maintain a professional relationship
with your students but I do also think it is extremely important to
connect with your students on a deeper level. In fact, did you know
according to Bernard, Stephanou & Urbach: 4 in 10 students worry too
much, 3 in 10 students are very nervous or stressed, 2 in 10
students have felt very hopeless and depressed and two-thirds of
students are not doing as well in their schoolwork as they could. I
have made this point because, if I maintain a complete state of
physical, mental and social well being, I will be far more equipped
to create this environment for my students. If I sustain my own
positivity I will be able to address and influence my students
health issues. So those 4 in 10 students who worry too much and
those 2 in 10 that feel hopeless or depressed have the opportunity
to overcome their hurdles, even if it is only at school for those
few hours of a day.

SANABEL
I understand your point Samantha but I just think that I shouldnt
have to be happy to make others happy. If my job required me to
provide support and connect with my students on a deeper level then
I just have to do it!
Let me draw a picture for you. Lets pretend that youve just
returned back to work after a family member passed away, it happened

in the middle of your report writing period and now you are severely
set back from finishing them in time, you get in your car to come to
work and your car wont start. Then later that day when you are at
school a child comes to you in confidence with their own issues
occurring at home but because of all the events that have taken
place in your life in the past week you come across as disinterested
and unapproachable because youre not in the right mind frame to
deal with more issues You would literally be neglecting your duty
of care. There is no way a passionate teacher, such as yourself,
would ever turn away a child because of your own issues.
Therefore the health of a teacher should not influence the students
health.
Charles Kuralt said that Good teachers know how to bring out the
best in their students.
I simply think that a good teacher will put aside their own health
issues, whether they be physical, mental, social or whatever because
their job is to educate and to put the children first.

HELEN:
Margaret I agree with you, we are meant to bring the best out in our
students, but I just want to end by saying, I do not think that is
possible if as teachers we do not exhibit a well rounded healthy
persona. There is an alarming statistic that 20 per cent of teachers
leave education in their first three years and up to 50 per cent
within five years (House of Commons, 2004), with Australian,
American, British and many other European figures mirroring each
other. If so many quality teachers are leaving the profession due to
being overwhelmed, overworked and isolated then students are the
ones who are losing the most. Therefore, if we as teachers work on
our health and wellbeing we will be able to influence our students
health and wellbeing too.

ZOE
Alright ladies, thank you both again for your intellectual
contribution to todays topic but unfortunately thats all we have
time for today. There was definitely some great standpoints from
both sides and so I implore you now, as listeners of the show, to
join the debate. We here at Teacher Talk would love to hear what you
all think, so ask yourself: Do you think that the health of the
teacher influences the health of the students? Well have a poll up
on our website for you at home to have your say. Id like to thank

Samantha and Margaret for joining us today. Thats all for today
folks, well see you next time on Teacher Talk.
*outro music*