The Unteachables Podcast

#131: 4 sobering statistics that prove that teaching is the hardest, and most important job in the world.

• Claire English • Season 6 • Episode 131

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TW: Mention of self-harm and suicide

Ever left school feeling completely wrung out, wondering if you’re even cut out for this job?

Same. And in this episode, I’m opening the curtain on one of the most raw, real reflections I’ve ever shared—because I know I’m not the only one who’s felt that way.

This one’s a mix of real talk, sobering stats, and a whole lotta love for you and the incredible, emotional, life-changing work you do every single day.

I’m giving you a front seat to the moment I sat in a seminar sobbing into my notebook, while simultaneously remembering why I started The Unteachables in the first place. The mental health stats? They’re scary. But they also confirmed something I’ve always known in my bones:

Teaching is the hardest job in the world.
 And it’s also the most important.

I’m also finally sharing something I’ve never opened up about publicly before: the burnout, the breakdown, the toxic school environment that almost broke me, and why I had to take stress leave even when I felt too guilty to go.

But more importantly, I’m walking you through WHY this matters for you and how the “tiny” choices you make—moment to moment—can literally change a student’s brain.

Let’s roll the tape.

What you'll hear:

  • The statistics that will stop you in your tracks—and how it impacts every classroom
  • Why 47% of Aussie teachers consider quitting within their first year (spoiler: it’s not just the workload)
  • The one thing I said to my Year 10s before taking mental health leave—and why it mattered
  • What emotional literacy and co-regulation actually look like in a regular, chaotic school day
  • How tiny moments of connection can shift brain chemistry (yes, literally)
  • Why your role is even more powerful than you think—and how to honour it without burning out

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

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Speaker 1:

Oh, hi there, teachers. Welcome to the Unteachables podcast. I'm your host, claire English, and I am just a fellow teacher, a toddler mama and a big old behavior nerd on a mission to demystify and simplify that little thing called classroom management. The way we've all been taught to manage behavior and classroom manage has left us playing crowd control, which is not something I subscribe to, because we're not bouncers, we're teachers. So listen in as I walk you through the game, changing strategies and I mean the things that we can actually do and action in our classrooms that will allow you to lean into your beautiful values as a compassionate educator and feel empowered to run your room with a little more calm and, dare I say it, a lot less chaos. I will see you in the episode. Hello, fabulous teacher. Welcome back to the Unteachables podcast. It is a joy to have you back here with me or, if you're listening for the first time, welcome. It's lovely to have you here and I hope that you stick around. So I'm just going to crack straight into it, because I'm getting another chest infection.

Speaker 1:

Last week I went to the Resilience Project Teacher Seminar and anybody who knows, if you're an avid podcast listener like me, you might know the Imperfects podcast and the host on there, hugh. He has another um, another kind of project called the resilience project and it's like a kind of wellbeing curriculum for for schools and students. So they, in the seminar they were taking us through, um, you know things about student mental health and teacher wellbeing and you know, going through those pillars of their curriculum which are gratitude, empathy and mindfulness and then emotional literacy, and this is like the power of connection, the power we have to kind of work with these young people and change lives. Really, and it sounds like quite cheesy. I'm always really conscious of saying things like, oh, we're changing lives, but obviously I do this work, like I work here doing classroom management stuff. I am called the Unteachables for a reason. It's because I am all about you being able to go in and support every single student, even the ones that are deemed unteachable, in the best way that you possibly can be, the most empowered way that you can be the most equipped, all of those things Anyway. So it does sound cheesy Like we have the power to change the lives of these young people.

Speaker 1:

But this seminar that I went to right, it just realigned me with why the hell I sit here and do this every single day. It was so I feel like I was meant to go to this conference. I felt so energized leaving. I mean I was sobbing for a lot of the seminar, just like the narratives they told and the statistics and just the things that they were talking about. It was just yeah, it was really moving Anyway. So I left feeling more energized than ever with this work and feeling like my God, that is why I started the Unteachables. That is why I need to continue doing what I'm doing and not in like a oh, look at how great I am way. Not at all. It's just like this work, freaking matters and work with you as a teacher sitting there like in a classroom who doesn't have the bloody support to be able to support the students who have the most complex behaviors. So, anyway, I left feeling really energized about this work and I wanted to take you through some of the things today that I heard in the seminar that made me it was quite sobering around, like what the state of you know mental health is in schools and in the world in general.

Speaker 1:

So I want to take you through a couple of those things that made me step back and go oof, like health is in schools and in the world in general. So I want to take you through a couple of those things that made me step back and go oof, like this is why we have the most important job in the world and this is why I need to continue doing the work that I'm doing, and this is why it's so important to be able to, like, put those things in the foreground of connection and compassion and, you know, trying to remain regulated and all of those things. So I will just crack into it, because I'll probably waffle on for ages otherwise, because it is off the cuff this episode. But I have written a couple of these stats down. So the first thing that they went through, like Hugh did this incredible first opening presentation and it was kind of about the general mental health in our society and in our schools and the just the way like the power of it was really about the general mental health in our society and in our schools and the just the way like the power of it was really about the power of gratitude and all of those things. And oh my God, hugh, if you're listening, you're not listening to my podcast, but if you were, oh my gosh, I already told you in person but, yeah, it was really moving, but anyway.

Speaker 1:

So the World Health Organization predicts that by 2030, the leading disease in the world will be depression. Like, the leading disease out of every single disease is going to be depression, and the leading cause of death by 2030 is predicted to be suicide. And, as I was saying in the conference, the predictions from the World Health Organization are quite scarily on point. But what the hell do we do with that information? Because it is like it's quite obviously, it's sobering to hear.

Speaker 1:

Well, most children do attend school and we really have more time with our students than they do at home with their families. And we're in this really unique situation as teachers, where we have so many touch points with them and so many opportunities to make choices that connect, to heal, to model emotional regulation, to model emotional literacy, to model vulnerability, to model being open with our feelings and processing them and seeking support. We're just in this really unique, beautiful position for us to be able to touch the lives of so many young people. And I'm not saying that we have, like you know, we don't have any superpowers. We're not going to be, like you know, going out there changing the world but like by changing the narrative for one student, by providing one student with the skills to be able to go out there and ask for help or to have the language to name how they're feeling, like that actually can change the world of that person. And if we're just doing that in little micro ways as teachers every single day, like that is this huge shift in society that we can create.

Speaker 1:

What I'm not saying is that of course, there's like wellbeing curriculums and there's really explicit things that we can do around that stuff. But what I do hear a lot is you know, we're just teachers, we're not psychologists, we're not. You know, we have to get through our curriculum and I'm an English teacher, I'm not a SEL teacher. I hear you, I freaking get it. But that does not mean that when we're standing in front of a student and they're having a really difficult time, that instead of choosing to go down a path that is more disconnecting, we can then choose a path that's more connecting, more calm. We're going to co-regulate with them and every single time we make that choice, we are changing the brain chemistry of that student. We're changing the way that we're connecting with that student where, like through neuroplasticity, we're actually helping them to create neural pathways that help them to then be able to regulate and think about when they have kids and then, instead of you know, continuing a cycle where they're not being emotionally available or open or you know all of those things, they're then able to recognize their emotions, be able to co-regulate with their children. All of those things and I know this is a big ramble, but like it's just in those micro moments. It doesn't mean, of course, like I do do things where we're doing explicit teaching of emotions, explicit teaching of regulation skills. You know, I've got lessons, I've got all of those things that I do encourage people to use as a proactive classroom management tool, and we do that through, obviously, like supporting our students, however, and empowering them with like knowledge around their brains. However, it doesn't have to be in those really big, explicit ways. It can just be through, yeah, making the choices to connect rather than disconnect. It can be as simple as that and being able to model regulation and being able to model like, hey, I'm feeling like crap today, like, um, you know how am I going to work through this? I'm going to take a couple of deep breaths, like let's all do one minute in the morning of deep breathing instead of, you know, going down a pathway where I feel really dysregulated, going into my lesson.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, another couple of statistics. These are student mental health statistics like so specifically that and this is from the Resilient Youth State of the Nation Report 2024. So this is specifically about Australia, but obviously, like you know, things are very relevant worldwide. So one in four primary students experience high levels of depression or anxiety. So 25% of all primary school students experience high levels of depression or anxiety. So 25% of all primary school students experience high levels of depression or anxiety. That is stark. Like these are young children already coming to school feeling like that and, as a result, 18% of primary students are turning up to school ready to learn, like they're there with their books, they're sitting at their desk and they are feeling regulated and ready to learn.

Speaker 1:

Now let's talk about secondary students, because things just keep going downhill. Because one in three secondary students experience high levels of depression or anxiety. One in three. That is a huge number. Like if you've got 30 students in your class, 10 of them are experiencing high levels of depression or anxiety and 16% of secondary students are turning up ready to learn. So if you've got a class of 30, I'm not going to do the math. If anyone wants to do the math for me and get back to me. 16%. So if you've got a class of 30, you might have five-ish of secondary students who are turning up ready to learn. I'm sorry for my horrible maths, but it is really scary.

Speaker 1:

And this tells me three things right. The first thing is that teaching is the hardest job in the world because those stats men, we are up against it. If we have only got 16% of our students turning up to class ready to learn, that is just so sobering for the job that we need to do. And no wonder 47% of Australian teachers considered leaving the profession within 12 months. One year we go to university teacher prep training. Whatever you do around the world, we go there for years. Imagine turning up into a class. You don't need to imagine because you're doing it like going into a classroom and going. I actually don't think this is for me Like it's too hard. 47% half of Australian teachers considering leaving within 12 months. And I know that that statistic is relevant for a lot of you out there who are working in other countries as well, because I've worked in the UK. Man, it's the same thing. I've seen statistics from the US. It is the same thing, anyway. So that's the first thing, right, teaching is the hardest job in the world. No wonder we're thinking about leaving.

Speaker 1:

The second thing is that the work that we do here at the Unteachables is so important because this isn't an additional thing, this isn't just one more thing. As I said before, these are choices that we make in the everyday to connect. So when people say it's not our job to worry about social, emotional learning, that it's not our job to teach them about their feelings because, you know, I'm a blooming maths teacher it is our job, because we have a responsibility every single time we are in a position where we're face toto-face, not just with a student, but with another human being. In the state of our current world, to choose kindness and compassion over, you know, being critical or shaming or disconnecting, I feel like we really do have a responsibility in our world to be the most kind version of ourselves, because that is life-changing for somebody. We just don't know what somebody else is going through. We don't know who those 16% of students are in our class that are ready to learn and who the other. Oh my gosh, 84%. I hope that is the right, like minusing number. I really hope that's the case. Anyway, you know, it's so important because we don't know what people are going through. So that is why this job is important. And not only is teaching the hardest job in the world, like I said first, but the third thing is it shows us that teaching is the most important job in the world because, yes, we have a responsibility every time we're in a position, when we're face to face with another human being, to be the kindest version of ourselves. You know, just so we can try to shift this and try to. I don't know. You know, like I hope that this is resonating with anybody out there, but it makes it the most important job in the world because we're doing that on a mass scale with the most vulnerable people in our society who maybe don't have access to an adult role model who is able to co-regulate with them because of whatever they've gone through, who maybe isn't able to show compassion for what they're going through because they're stuck in crisis mode. You know, and it makes it the most important job in the world for that reason, just showing compassion and kindness and you know all of those things to our students is just so crucial and we can weave that into the everyday. It does not mean that we have to be soft and, you know, not have boundaries, because those things boundaries are kindness and expectations are kindness, and that consistency is so important. If you listen to any other episodes of my podcast, you will know how much of an advocate I am for those things. But yeah, I think you see where I'm going with that.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about teacher mental health statistics now. So 47% of Australian teachers considered leaving within 12 months. So you already knew that statistic. I said it before 52% of teachers experience serious depressive symptoms in comparison. So you might think, but that's adults. That's the world that we're living in. This statistic shows you that that is not the case. So when people say, oh, teachers think they've got it hard, but no, like this is is really genuinely a problem with teaching and something that we need to address, because 52% of teachers experience serious depressive symptoms in comparison with 12% of the general population, and 46% of teachers experience serious anxiety symptoms in comparison with 9% of the general population. That is scary and it is a problem in the profession that we need to be addressing and not through hey, let's pop a couple of cupcakes in the staff room and people will be happy.

Speaker 1:

There are serious issues and when you look at the student mental health statistics, it is no wonder that teacher mental health statistics are so bad because of compassion, fatigue and, you know, secondary trauma. And we are constantly having to absorb that one in four primary students that's coming in with high levels of depression or anxiety, or that one in three secondary student who's experiencing high levels of depression or anxiety. They're coming into our classrooms and we are having to absorb that every single day, that 10 out of 30 students who are experiencing high levels of depression or anxiety. We are constantly trying to co-regulate with them, we are constantly trying to support them in whatever way that we can. Those students are going to be demonstrating behaviors that are a manifestation of that depression or that anxiety, whether it is through you know them withdrawing or with them having explosive fight or flight behaviors. We just we're constantly on the receiving end of that and no wonder if we are experiencing that on mass. No wonder 52% of us are experiencing serious depressive symptoms or 46% of us are experiencing serious anxiety symptoms. And I have been there and I completely understand it. So I'm not just sitting here on a pedestal working for the unteachables going, hey, like guys, like it's a really hard at the moment, uh, in my foot and I don't think I've ever.

Speaker 1:

I think I've told you on the podcast before that I experienced burnout. I have left schools before because of certain reasons, but in my first school that I ended up leaving, it was so toxic. Things got so bad that I was signed off to go on distress leave because I was on the brink. I was not okay, I was so anxious, I was so sick. I remember sitting in my car every and it was just a toxic school environment. So that school was in a low socioeconomic area of Sydney. So those statistics like you know, one in a low socioeconomic area of Sydney. So those statistics like you know, one in three students experiencing high levels of depression or anxiety. I would not be surprised if it was more like two in three because of the context of the school. So I felt like I was constantly absorbing this stuff.

Speaker 1:

But on top of that, when you're working at a school where you're, you know, trying to support students that are the most vulnerable or in deprived environments, all those kinds of things when you're trying to do that. But then you're also dealing with a school that does feel very toxic and I don't want to say too much about that. But when you're, you get it right. If you get it, you get it. But if you're also dealing with that on top of it and the environment isn't conducive to a lot of support and it's actually adding to the problems, then that is just this perfect storm of what I was then having to carry home with me every single day. But it was like also the context of what I was going through. But, um, you know, I I had to go on distress leave because I I could not function. I was in the car and I would have an anxiety attack. Going into the, I would see the gates and I would feel so sick. I'd get home and I would not be able to connect. Like I just went numb. And I do think that I, looking back now, I do think I had compassion fatigue, but I think I was also experiencing a lot of secondary trauma.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, at the time as well, I also found out that I so I had a pap smear get your pap smears. Like please, please, go get your pap smears. And I had done a pap smear about six months earlier and that pap smear. So I got a call and the doctor had said that that pap smear had been lost, like the results had been lost. So I got a call and the doctor had said that that pap smear had been lost, like the results had been lost. And I got this frantic call from the doctors saying that you need to leave work and come in now and talk to us about your results. And when I went to the doctors they're like hey, look, we're really sorry, but we the pap smear did six months.

Speaker 1:

You know, you just think that it's okay, like you just think, if you don't hear back about your results, that it's all good. But they're like hey, you know that, that you know that little test you did six months ago to make sure you didn't have cervical cancer. Well, I'm actually sorry, but it was bad and you have a lot of what they call transformation zones. They didn't know that at the time, but they said I had a lot of irregular cells in the pap smear. So I then had to go and get biopsies done and they found like the whole cervix was a transformation zone. So I had, and that just means that um, like, there's huge, huge patches of abnormal cells anyway. So that was just. It was horrific.

Speaker 1:

So dealing with that, having, like they just said, like it's pre-cancer and I had to get that dealt with and obviously everything's fine um, but please go and get your pap smears if you need to my partner at the time was also very psychologically abusive. Um, I was in a situation where, like I mean, my upbringing was quite difficult. Um, I had a lot of situations going on there, but then I went into this relationship that was very psychologically abusive and, on top of, like, dealing with the stuff at school and dealing with, you know, all of that kind of health stuff, I had a partner who would kick me out every week, every weekend, because he wanted to go and hang out with his friends. I was living with him and he would just say nah, and start a fight and and I would be out on my bum trying to couch surf around. So that was not very healthy, obviously, and I was also still trying to heal from all of the things that had happened in my childhood and adolescence, um, with my mom's um severe OCD and if anyone has um had to care for a parent who has significant mental health issues. I am just sending so much love to you because it is yeah, it's, it's really hard and it's something that still impacts me today.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, so the point is that everything happened at once and I was so reluctant to go on stress leave because, as I said before, my students had also experienced high levels of depression or anxiety. They were struggling and I felt like I had a responsibility. But I had to go and talk to that class about this and one of the classes I was very close to, my year 10 class and that was a class where a lot of them were struggling with their own mental health and I was very aware of that because they used to come to me and talk to me about that all of the time and I didn't want to pretend that it was like you know, I didn't want to just say to them like hey, I'm just, I'm just going off on leave because I'm on holiday, or you know, I felt like it was my responsibility at the time to normalize it rather than pretend that it wasn't happening. So I told them and you know, I just said I'm taking some time away for a little bit because my mental health. I'm going to be very honest with all of you, it's not good and I explained that I needed to be okay, to come back and then work with them in the best way that I could. And I explained you know where I was sitting on the mental health continuum to them, or whatever it's called. You know, like if we're in a zero to 10, like where I was, and I was saying like right right now I'm here and you know when we go down there, like it's really important to seek help. And I went and sought help and there's no shame in doing so, and I told them like that, just as if it was somebody who had a flu and needed time to get better and to feed their body nutrients and to stay hydrated and to pull the cover up over their damn heads and get better. I just felt like I needed to do the same when it came to my mental health. And that's how I kind of explained it to them and I told them I didn't want to leave them and I told them that I wanted to be back, but it wasn't the important thing that you know I was going to do that so then I could be back, and now some of you are probably out there thinking that's pretty heavy for year 10 students to hear.

Speaker 1:

Some of these year 10 students were dealing with the most horrific things imaginable domestic violence, sexual assault, severe depression. Some were self-harming, some were going home not knowing if they were going to be able to eat and some just felt so hopeless with their lives and, of course, in my head I thought I needed to stay there for them. But I was just going numb from it, like I was absorbing that day after day and I felt like the best thing that I could do in that situation was model model taking care of myself, but also model how normal it is to not be okay and to model going and seeking help, because I was a role model for them. I was an adult, I was a very stable adult in their lives and I felt like it was my responsibility to um to let them know that I wasn't okay and the steps that I could take to be able to take care of myself, um, anyway. So, yeah, all of those things meant that I wasn't showing up for them in the way that I wanted to, anyway, like just secondary trauma, the compassion fatigue. Anyway, that was a lot.

Speaker 1:

That's the first time I've ever spoken about anything like that on the podcast. So please be kind, um, I hope that you know. You understand, um, where I'm coming from with that. But yes, it is so important, right, you're doing such important work. But those stats, they're scary and show just how important it is to take care of yourself, and I don't mean in a it's your responsibility alone kind of way. I mean, like you know, you really need to take care of yourself, and I know that there's so many barriers to doing that as teachers. But just like I did, like I needed to step away for a minute, you know, and I came back so much stronger and I feel so, like empowered by the work that I am doing, because I know how important it is. But I couldn't have done that, I couldn't have come back, if I didn't address what was going on for me. So, yeah, please, if you're struggling, please get help. Please acknowledge the early warning signs of compassion, fatigue or of secondary trauma. Go and speak to someone.

Speaker 1:

At the seminar yesterday we did this reflection activity and it was like, when you're stressed, how do you know and how do other people know, and how can other people help you? And I was like, oh crap, I feel like I'm on edge a lot, but just being able to acknowledge that and being able to put things in place or talk to people about like hey, when you notice that I'm acting like this, like that's what's going on, I've had a really hard day at school. Or what I used to always say to my husband was I just need five minutes after school to go into the bedroom and not speak to you Like I know you want to talk to me about my day, I know that you want to connect with me and that's great, but I actually just need five minutes to decompress before I say anything to you. Anyway, that's it for this episode. I know that was a long one and it was a heavy one, but that seminar just it really highlighted how important the work we're doing is and also it made me feel like it was so important to share our stories, because the one thing that presenters did so well at this seminar was share their stories like in a real and meaningful and raw and vulnerable way, and that is how we connect with other human beings.

Speaker 1:

And I'm not saying go out there and talk to your kids about mental health in a way. That's like, you know, like trauma, bombing them, like that's not what we're doing here, and it was a very specific situation that I spoke to my attends about and I did it in a very careful way. Um, that's not what I'm saying, but I'm saying modeling, self-care, modeling, connection, modeling how we can take care of ourselves, and you know all of the things. But, um, just think, what is one thing I can do right now to take care of myself and what's one thing I can choose to do in this moment to connect. Like that's it.

Speaker 1:

You don't have to do a wellbeing course, like you don't have to do a bunch of like convoluted things, like hey, like what's one thing right now that I can do to take care of myself and what's one thing I can choose to do in this moment with my students to connect rather than disconnect. Do in this moment with my students to connect rather than disconnect. And I'm going to leave it there before I keep on rambling, but I am sending so much love to all of you and until next time, take care. Also, reach out. If you related to any of this, please reach out and let me know. But, yeah, big love, bye.

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Claire English

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