What happens when the classroom door closes, but the workday continues at home? Join us for an eye-opening exploration into the personal lives of educators, as seen through the eyes of their significant others. Discover the surprising truth that 65% of teacher partners report their loved ones bringing work home often. This episode reveals the intricate dance of maintaining a fulfilling relationship while balancing the demanding nature of teaching, particularly for elementary educators. Tune in for heartwarming stories and candid insights into the long-term commitments that often define educator relationships, and see how these commitments withstand the pressures of the profession.
In our candid conversation, we uncover the toll that teaching takes not just on professional life, but on personal health and family dynamics. Hear firsthand accounts from teacher partners about the exhaustion that leaves teachers too drained to engage with family and friends, and the quiet moments needed to reset before rejoining their loved ones. With alarming survey results highlighting the negative impact of teaching on physical health, we stress the importance of adopting healthier lifestyle choices to counteract stress. Join us as we wrap up this segment with a commitment to continuing the conversation in part two, delving deeper into these vital issues affecting educators and their families.
Buy The Minimalist Teacher book from ASCD+ISTE.
Follow on Instagram @PlanZEducation and @minimalist_ed_podcast.
The Minimalist Educator Podcast is a Plan Z Education Services adventure.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a
podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, TammyMusiewski-Bornemann and
Christine Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi everyone and welcome to the podcast.
Before we get started on themain part of our episode today,
I wanted to let you know thatthe discussion you're listening
to today is the first half of atwo-part discussion that we're
having, so we will not have thecomplete episode shared with you
today.
It was just too long to sharein one go and we know how you
(00:57):
like those short, sharp episodes.
So if you are still interestedin hearing the rest of the
discussion, make sure you tuneback in next time for part two.
Welcome everyone to today'sepisode of the Minimalist
Educator podcast.
I am here with Tammy.
How are you doing today, Tammy?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, I'm having some good giggles with you this
morning, so that is great.
That's always what we want.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, same.
It is nice to be able to do ourwork with joy, for sure,
absolutely Exactly.
Yes, we have got a very coolepisode to share with you today.
So here is the situation.
Everyone, tammy and I haveshared out a survey, not for
teachers but for the partners,the significant others of
(01:46):
teachers, to get a broadoverview of their experiences,
their feelings, their thoughtson our profession as educators.
So what we have done is sharedthis survey out and Tammy has
not looked at any of theresponses.
Only I have had a look.
So we're going to share ourresponses here today on the
(02:09):
podcast episode, but it will allbe new information for Tammy.
How are you feeling about that,tammy?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Well, I'm quite excited, so I know that.
What I do know is that we got anumber of responses from, just
kind of spread out everywherelike from Florida to Arizona,
netherlands, just you know, thisis educators, partners,
responses from a bunch ofdifferent places and we did talk
(02:40):
about well, not even reallytalk about, but mentioned to
each other there's.
Are there trends?
And and you said, yes, thereare, which is so interesting
because these aren't surveystaken from just one place.
So, and most of these people Idon't even think they know each
(03:00):
other or, like you know, theremight be a handful maybe, but
they're random that's it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
and.
And they have different jobsand they're in different school
sectors.
Uh, we have public schools, wehave international schools, we
have private schools.
We have a really big range ofdifferent locations and roles
within those schools and, astummy says, around the world as
well, some in Australia and theUK, all over the place.
So it is interesting to seethat there are patterns, even
(03:32):
though we have such a diversegroup within our survey.
So let's get into it.
The first thing I'm going to sayis it's not the biggest sample
set in the world.
We would love to have hadhundreds thousands of responses
to really see these patterns,but it is a smaller sample set.
(03:53):
That's okay, we're going to gowith that anyway.
The first few questions werecensus-type questions that
probably aren't super importantor relevant to what we want to
talk about today, but I wouldlike to point out, tammy, that
educators seem to be in verycommitted relationships.
(04:14):
We have got 95% of respondentshave been with their partner for
more than three years and 70%are over 10 years.
Wow, yeah, we've got a group ofreally committed people.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, oh, that's so interesting.
But also makes sense, right,Because often people will choose
teaching or education as theirforever career, right, Whether,
like, it might not be the samerole, but there are definitely
people who, you know, they teach25, 30 years and they stay in
(04:51):
that same role, maybe differentgrades or whatever.
But then there's going to bepeople who, like, have changed
roles from teacher to principaland whatever.
But yeah, yeah, there'sdefinitely longevity in the
profession, for sure yeah, so,yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So there you go.
Uh, and speaking of roles wehave, most of the respondents
are working in elementary orprimary, so 60 of the
respondents are in that place,and then the other 40 are
scattered middle, secondary,coaching, leadership district.
It's a bit of a scatteringacross the other 40% are
scattered middle, secondary,coaching, leadership district.
It's a bit of a scatteringacross the other 40%.
(05:28):
So that also is something tokeep in mind with these results
as well, that it's predominantlyelementary people that we're
talking about.
Okay, so the next question herewas how often does your partner
bring work home?
So, tammy, what percentage ofpeople do you think never bring
(05:51):
work home?
We've got real, true work-lifebalance humans who never bring
work home.
What do you think?
Oh, I would say zero.
Yeah, correct, it is zero, notsurprising, I'm sad to report.
It is zero percent.
Yeah, so we've got 65 percentreporting that their partner
(06:13):
brings home work either severaltimes a week or daily.
Sixty five percent, that's alot, it is a lot, and 35 percent
it's either once a week orrarely.
So good on those people, proudof those people.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
But it looks like that habit of bringing some work
home with you is continuing on.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
That is not surprising, as mentioned, with
the 0% never bringing work home.
It's not surprising, asmentioned, with the 0% never
bringing work home.
I would like to know of the 35%who bring it home like once a
week what their roles are orwere right and yeah, I would
(07:01):
like to know a little bit moreabout that.
And, if there, because I thinkit's just inherent, especially
for elementary teachers, tobring things home, Because I
feel like your brain doesn'treally turn off teaching,
Because you see teaching ineverything.
Or in a lot of places Right when, like you'll just go to the
(07:25):
like even now I'm not aclassroom teacher anymore, but
I'll go to, like, the grocerystore and see these perfectly
aligned you know cereal boxes orwhatever and I'm like, oh, what
a fun math prompts.
You know things like that.
It's not intrusive into mythoughts, but it's just the way
I think.
I know a lot of teachers thinkthat way.
(07:46):
So it's hard to just go homeand not think about, oh, this
would be a good fun lesson,cause, like you might not even
intentionally be working at thetime, but you can't stop your
thoughts.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Absolutely A hundred percent.
But we do have to keep in mindthat this is what their partners
are witnessing.
What their partners arewitnessing, what their partners
are seeing True, that's right.
This is obviously what they areseeing.
They're physically seeing theirpartner them working, yeah,
them working.
Good point.
So I 100% agree with you.
It's hard to turn it off in thebrain, but this is obviously a
(08:21):
huge percentage of people whoare like like getting the laptop
out or getting the marking out,or you know, they're actually
seeing it happening at that rate.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Okay, yeah, so thank you for bringing me back to that
.
So then, what teachers I'msorry, what partners aren't
seeing is what is going on intheir partner's brain?
Right, that's scary, I know.
Oh, my goodness, yeah, yep,absolutely yeah.
(08:53):
But I mean, and also like thinkof the conversation sometimes
you have when you get home too.
I wonder if that's included,cause like that's decompression
time 's, you know, unloadingyour day.
It might not, it doesn't looklike work because you're not
like working on your laptop orlike in your plan book or
whatever, but it's stillsomething related to your work
(09:15):
day.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
So, right, that's yeah too, it would be good to
have some follow-up questions onthat one, wouldn't it?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
yeah, but yeah, I mean good info it is it is okay.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So the next question is how often does your partner
share rewarding experiences fromtheir job?
So this is people who arecoming home and talking about
light bulb moments or funnymoments or really great
experiences with their students.
So what kind of frequency doyou think people are sharing
(09:49):
these rewarding experiences fromtheir job?
So we had daily, several timesa week, once a week, rarely or
never.
What kind of frequency wouldyou predict?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I would say probably, and my hope would be daily that
there was some kind ofsomething funny or like a good
story that made it home to share.
Yeah, I would say maybe, like Iwould hope that the percentage
for daily is high.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It's not too bad.
The highest one was severaltimes a week.
Okay, it's not too bad that thehighest one was several times a
week.
So so, several times a week ordaily together was 55 of
responses, so that's more thanhalf the people.
Yeah, but it's more than halfthe people.
Once a week or rarely.
Once a week or rarely is 45.
(10:42):
And then yeah, that's, that's alot yeah right, I guess so like,
but I still I feel encouragedthat 55 percent of people are,
several times a week or daily,coming home and going yeah, this
great thing happened today.
You'll never guess what whathappened and also with the 45
(11:04):
percent.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
It doesn't mean it didn't happen, it just wasn't
shared, that's true, true,potentially, that's true.
So then my hope would be thatthere was some positivity, that
there's some positivity ineverybody's day, every day.
But yeah, maybe it's just notshared Possibly.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Because I guess if you say you and I went for
coffee after work and I told you, guess what this kid said to me
today, it was hilarious Iprobably wouldn't also feel the
need to go and say that again,maybe.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, that's true.
I think it would be dependingon what the thing was.
Yeah, that's true.
So because if it was reallyfunny, I'd be telling a lot of
people, Telling everybody.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Of course, keeping all confidentiality at the same
time, of course.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
That's right.
Yes, and you know, because,like, especially when you work
with little ones, like theirwriting can really crack you up.
So, yeah, that's always fun toshare, yeah those spelling
errors can be gold, can't they?
Yes, yeah, and that's likethose are worth like taking the
photo of and then, when you'rehaving a bad day, look at it
(12:17):
again.
So you can get a laugh out ofit absolutely for sure, yeah,
okay.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
so our next question was how would you rate the
impact of their job on theirpersonal time?
So we're talking about timeaway from work, the impact on
their plans, the events they'regoing to, their personal life.
So what would you predict isthe percentage of people that
(12:47):
are being significantly ormoderately impacted in their
personal life?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Okay, so like they won't go do something because
they have work to do basically.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, or yeah, they're distracted or they're
too tired, like there could belots of different reasons why
it's being impacted.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah Ooh, I hope this is a low percentage.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
It's not.
It's not, I'm afraid.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Oh no, I was going to say like 20%, but that makes me
sad that, and with youmentioning, like you know,
people being too tired or maybebeing too stressed and they
don't want to maybe be aroundpeople or whatever, the social
event is okay.
Is it like 60 percent?
No, it's higher.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Oh, dang, yeah, um, wow, wow yeah, so like 75 it's
75 75% of the partners reportedthat we are having either
moderate or significant impacton our personal life.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah, oh shoot, that's a tough one.
Like okay, I'm going to takemyself back to full-time
teaching.
And I know that there weredefinitely like Saturdays I
wouldn't plan social thingsbecause that was a planning day.
(14:22):
I would meet with my co-teacherand we'd go have breakfast and
plan together.
So at least I was kind of likesort of social but actually
working for a few hours.
So you know, there's that, butthere was definitely.
I remember waking up some daysand thinking, as soon as I woke
(14:42):
up, I can't wait to be home, Ican't wait to come home after
school.
Yeah, because I was just knowinghow tired I felt and not
wanting to like encounter theday feeling that way and you
know, sometimes it's just likethat because you're just waking
up and you're not ready for theday yet.
But I do definitely rememberthinking this is going to be a
(15:05):
long day.
I can't wait to just be homeand like not talk to people.
This is going to be a long day.
I can't wait to just be homeand like not talk to people.
So like social things are verydifferent and good for you, or
like even just being outside orwhatever.
But even that it was like, oh,I just don't want to engage at
all.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, this is bringing back memories of my
first year in Brussels and a biggroup of us had organised to go
to the Christmas markets inCologne in that first year, and
if you have heard aboutChristmas markets in Europe,
you'll know that the markets inCologne are just something else.
They're beautiful.
(15:45):
And we'd arranged it, paid forthe hotel, bought the train
tickets, did the whole thing,and we got to it.
Paid for the hotel, but boughtthe train tickets, did the whole
thing, and we got to the end ofthe week and I was like I have
reports due, I'm exhausted, Ican't do it, and I just bailed
out, completely bailed out, ohman.
So I mean, there might be sometruth to this.
(16:06):
There might be some truth tothis answer.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah, for sure, yeah yeah, that it's just real,
though, right, you just get it'sjust a next level of tiredness
and like I just yeah, I justremember feeling like not
functioning properly or I don'tknow like you, when you're just
(16:29):
so tired you just can't thinkstraight, you don't function
well, you just yeah, it's justreally hard.
So I guess it makes sense whenyou put every all of your energy
into those eight hours or ninehours at school and then you
just you're like, nope, you'renot doing it Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
But I would like to applaud the 10% of people here
that have they're reporting zeroimpact on their personal life.
Well done to that 10%.
That's amazing.
Good on you.
Yeah, Feeling very proud of youand your efforts there.
Well done.
We should all strive to be alittle bit more like you.
Okay, the next question.
(17:13):
So this, knowing what you knownow from the last question, the
next question is how would yourate the impact of their job on
family relationships?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Oh yeah, Mm-hmm.
Oh, I would say that there'sdefinitely an impact on
relationships in and I hate tosay, like a negative way just
because people you don't want toengage with people.
Sometimes after you've been atschool, you've been at school
(17:52):
and, especially if you haven't,if the day is like your average
school day, it's fine, and I'mnot saying that every day is,
like you know, super hard andwhatever, but you know every day
is different.
But I can definitely see thatsometimes when teachers come
home they don't want to talk toanyone and so that would not sit
well with partners and kids.
(18:13):
Absolutely, because you gethome and you're a needed person
again, still Exactly, and so youfeel the strain of having to
continue conversation or mealprep or pack up to go to the
next thing or whatever, and it'sa lot of energy that you just
(18:34):
feel like you don't have andlike we always say that say or
not like we, but generally inthe population you know, like
you hear people say you can'tpour from an empty cup and
that's what's happening.
It's like you're going, you'reputting yourself in a deficit.
It's like you're going, you'reputting yourself in a deficit.
And so sometimes, even if youjust get like 10 or 15 minutes
of just disengagement frompeople, that can change that
(19:00):
feeling of negative.
I think, like you come home andyou're a very negative person
because your day was very hardand you're exhausted.
And sometimes you just can'twalk through the door and
immediately be greeted by allthe things or, you know, pick up
people and whatever.
But even just that short bit oftime just to have like some
mental quiet and then go outsideof your room or wherever you
(19:26):
are and be ready to like, then Idon't want to say like face
your family.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
No, but I 100% know what you mean, because I'm sure
everyone wants to be coming injust 100% there for their
families, for their partners,for their kids.
But if you are depleted alreadyfrom dealing with the emotions
and the stress and the noise ofbeing in your workplace all day,
(19:52):
they're not getting that full,complete version of you, are
they?
So yeah, I mean it makes senseif they're.
You know, especially in lightof that last question, if
they're not having time forpersonal events and personal
interactions, of course it'salso going to be impacting the
immediate family as well.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So, yeah, yeah, real shame, real shame.
There is this other quote too,and I think I learned this from
our friend, krista um.
It's something like we oftengive what's left of us and not
the best of us, and so when wego home, family is getting
(20:33):
what's left of us from the day,and that's not good and it's not
okay, but it's just whathappens.
And you can kind of revert backinto your best self if you just
get a little bit of quiet time,because, like school life is
noisy and sometimes it's justthat constant voices and noise
that go in your ears, like ittakes up a lot of mental space,
(20:56):
and so just having like thatlittle bit of few minutes of
quiet to just like okay, I feelokay now, that can just like
change your relationships,because then you're not snapping
at people and you're not, likeyou know, not wanting to engage
with people or go out and dothings and whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
So exactly, yeah, exactly okay.
This one I found fascinating.
All right, so how would yourate the impact of their job on
their physical health?
Okay, so there's different waysyou could look at this right.
(21:38):
In one way in my head I'mthinking it's like we're active.
We don't have a sedentary job.
We're not sitting still all day.
We're active.
We get outside while we're onplayground supervision, we move
around a lot of people,especially these elementary
teachers.
We're getting on and off thefloor.
That's really good for you, foryour mobility and everything.
(21:58):
So you could look at that asbeing like this is good for your
physical health, health.
But then you could also look atyou know how many, how many
germs are floating around schooland what is all that stress and
worrying doing to us?
So I found, I found theresponse here very fascinating.
So, okay, what percentage doyou think?
(22:22):
Responded that it is having apositive or a very positive
impact on our physical health.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Oh, I'm going to say that's a low percentage, correct
?
Because?
Yeah, because I would say thatwhen the school year begins,
things might be fine, but as theyear progresses, you definitely
will your habits change.
Like, remember when we taughtin Singapore and I had that
(22:51):
drawer of snacks?
Yes, I do, yes yes, I do.
And when we and when we had likereally smoggy days or whatever
and the kids couldn't go out toplay, or it was like raining or
something, and there waschocolate in that drawer and I
just remember like we wereeating a lot of chocolate during
indoor recess days.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I also seem to remember quite a lot of donuts.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Which is like not a healthy habit, right?
And that when we have thosekinds of habits, like consistent
we're talking habit here, notjust like a chocolate once in a
while, having chocolate everyday at like first recess or
lunchtime or whatever justbecomes part of your routine,
then that's going to impact,because we know that stress can
(23:44):
you know we can stress eat oremotional eat or whatever and
that's one of those things thatmany of us will go to is like I
just need like a fix ofchocolate, I need a sugar fix, I
need something to just likemake me feel like it's okay.
And if it's that piece ofchocolate or like even if you go
home and at the end of yournight you're having like a glass
(24:06):
of wine or something to justlike decompress and sit there, a
beer or something whatever,it's fine but like is it
something you should be doingevery night?
Like that again can turn into adifferent kind of habit where
you're relying on somethingexternal like that to help you
get your fix right.
And those are habits that canturn, you know, into something
(24:30):
that's bad for your body and badfor your mental state for sure,
absolutely yeah, so we we hadzero percent reporting that it
had a very positive impact andonly 10 percent saying positive.
So okay, so like yeah, so peoplearen't starting up, like people
(24:51):
aren't saying I'm gonna beteaching and I'm gonna make sure
I go to the gym every day orgoing for a walk or yeah, like
those things don't generally gotogether, although that's like a
great habit to create, likeright after you're done school,
go for a walk around your block,have that as your decompressed
(25:12):
time or whatever, but thatthat's yeah absolutely, and when
you look at the research ofwhat things can lower your
stress and can give you thosehappy chemicals, we should be
putting our attention indifferent areas than the 4 pm
(25:35):
chocolate, because that is yes,and becoming sedentary.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yep, just sitting still and zoning out once the
kids leave the room, things likethat.
Yeah, absolutely.
There's a lot of researcharound the things that are going
to actually energize you andunfortunately, it's not the
things that we generally go tofirst, unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's unfortunate, butnot surprising, correct?
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Maybe this is a part I'm stretching here.
It's not surprising, correct?
Maybe this is a part I'mstretching here.
It's not really a positive.
I was going to say that 65% aresaying negative, but only 15%
are saying very negative.
Is that a good thing?
I?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
mean it's a bit of a stretch.
Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch.
Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch,but yeah, it just it's.
It is very sad.
It makes me sad for teachers.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That that's how we feel, for sure, and that's what
our partners are experiencingalongside us.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, hi,absolutely yeah, hi, everyone.
This is where we're going topause between part one and part
two of this discussion.
We hope you have enjoyed theresults of the survey so far and
(26:56):
will join us again next timefor part two.
Today's episode was brought toyou by Plan Z Professional
Learning Services forwardthinking educator support.
Find out more atplanzplservicescom.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the MinimalistEducator Podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at planzPLSon Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
Gaia Moretti.
Thank you.
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast, a
podcast about paring down torefocus on the purpose and
priorities in our roles withco-hosts and co-authors of the
Minimalist Teacher Book, TammyMusiewski-Bornemann and
Christine Arnold.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Hi everyone and welcome to the podcast.
Before we get started on themain part of our episode today,
I wanted to let you know thatthe discussion you're listening
to today is the first half of atwo-part discussion that we're
having, so we will not have thecomplete episode shared with you
today.
It was just too long to sharein one go and we know how you
(00:57):
like those short, sharp episodes.
So if you are still interestedin hearing the rest of the
discussion, make sure you tuneback in next time for part two.
Welcome everyone to today'sepisode of the Minimalist
Educator podcast.
I am here with Tammy.
How are you doing today, Tammy?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, I'm having some good giggles with you this
morning, so that is great.
That's always what we want.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, same.
It is nice to be able to do ourwork with joy, for sure,
absolutely Exactly.
Yes, we have got a very coolepisode to share with you today.
So here is the situation.
Everyone, tammy and I haveshared out a survey, not for
teachers but for the partners,the significant others of
(01:46):
teachers, to get a broadoverview of their experiences,
their feelings, their thoughtson our profession as educators.
So what we have done is sharedthis survey out and Tammy has
not looked at any of theresponses.
Only I have had a look.
So we're going to share ourresponses here today on the
(02:09):
podcast episode, but it will allbe new information for Tammy.
How are you feeling about that,tammy?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Well, I'm quite excited, so I know that.
What I do know is that we got anumber of responses from, just
kind of spread out everywherelike from Florida to Arizona,
netherlands, just you know, thisis educators, partners,
responses from a bunch ofdifferent places and we did talk
(02:40):
about well, not even reallytalk about, but mentioned to
each other there's.
Are there trends?
And and you said, yes, thereare, which is so interesting
because these aren't surveystaken from just one place.
So, and most of these people Idon't even think they know each
(03:00):
other or, like you know, theremight be a handful maybe, but
they're random that's it.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
and.
And they have different jobsand they're in different school
sectors.
Uh, we have public schools, wehave international schools, we
have private schools.
We have a really big range ofdifferent locations and roles
within those schools and, astummy says, around the world as
well, some in Australia and theUK, all over the place.
So it is interesting to seethat there are patterns, even
(03:32):
though we have such a diversegroup within our survey.
So let's get into it.
The first thing I'm going to sayis it's not the biggest sample
set in the world.
We would love to have hadhundreds thousands of responses
to really see these patterns,but it is a smaller sample set.
(03:53):
That's okay, we're going to gowith that anyway.
The first few questions werecensus-type questions that
probably aren't super importantor relevant to what we want to
talk about today, but I wouldlike to point out, tammy, that
educators seem to be in verycommitted relationships.
(04:14):
We have got 95% of respondentshave been with their partner for
more than three years and 70%are over 10 years.
Wow, yeah, we've got a group ofreally committed people.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah, oh, that's so interesting.
But also makes sense, right,Because often people will choose
teaching or education as theirforever career, right, Whether,
like, it might not be the samerole, but there are definitely
people who, you know, they teach25, 30 years and they stay in
(04:51):
that same role, maybe differentgrades or whatever.
But then there's going to bepeople who, like, have changed
roles from teacher to principaland whatever.
But yeah, yeah, there'sdefinitely longevity in the
profession, for sure yeah, so,yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So there you go.
Uh, and speaking of roles wehave, most of the respondents
are working in elementary orprimary, so 60 of the
respondents are in that place,and then the other 40 are
scattered middle, secondary,coaching, leadership district.
It's a bit of a scatteringacross the other 40% are
scattered middle, secondary,coaching, leadership district.
It's a bit of a scatteringacross the other 40%.
(05:28):
So that also is something tokeep in mind with these results
as well, that it's predominantlyelementary people that we're
talking about.
Okay, so the next question herewas how often does your partner
bring work home?
So, tammy, what percentage ofpeople do you think never bring
(05:51):
work home?
We've got real, true work-lifebalance humans who never bring
work home.
What do you think?
Oh, I would say zero.
Yeah, correct, it is zero, notsurprising, I'm sad to report.
It is zero percent.
Yeah, so we've got 65 percentreporting that their partner
(06:13):
brings home work either severaltimes a week or daily.
Sixty five percent, that's alot, it is a lot, and 35 percent
it's either once a week orrarely.
So good on those people, proudof those people.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
But it looks like that habit of bringing some work
home with you is continuing on.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
That is not surprising, as mentioned, with
the 0% never bringing work home.
It's not surprising, asmentioned, with the 0% never
bringing work home.
I would like to know of the 35%who bring it home like once a
week what their roles are orwere right and yeah, I would
(07:01):
like to know a little bit moreabout that.
And, if there, because I thinkit's just inherent, especially
for elementary teachers, tobring things home, Because I
feel like your brain doesn'treally turn off teaching,
Because you see teaching ineverything.
Or in a lot of places Right when, like you'll just go to the
(07:25):
like even now I'm not aclassroom teacher anymore, but
I'll go to, like, the grocerystore and see these perfectly
aligned you know cereal boxes orwhatever and I'm like, oh, what
a fun math prompts.
You know things like that.
It's not intrusive into mythoughts, but it's just the way
I think.
I know a lot of teachers thinkthat way.
(07:46):
So it's hard to just go homeand not think about, oh, this
would be a good fun lesson,cause, like you might not even
intentionally be working at thetime, but you can't stop your
thoughts.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Absolutely A hundred percent.
But we do have to keep in mindthat this is what their partners
are witnessing.
What their partners arewitnessing, what their partners
are seeing True, that's right.
This is obviously what they areseeing.
They're physically seeing theirpartner them working, yeah,
them working.
Good point.
So I 100% agree with you.
It's hard to turn it off in thebrain, but this is obviously a
(08:21):
huge percentage of people whoare like like getting the laptop
out or getting the marking out,or you know, they're actually
seeing it happening at that rate.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Okay, yeah, so thank you for bringing me back to that
.
So then, what teachers I'msorry, what partners aren't
seeing is what is going on intheir partner's brain?
Right, that's scary, I know.
Oh, my goodness, yeah, yep,absolutely yeah.
(08:53):
But I mean, and also like thinkof the conversation sometimes
you have when you get home too.
I wonder if that's included,cause like that's decompression
time 's, you know, unloadingyour day.
It might not, it doesn't looklike work because you're not
like working on your laptop orlike in your plan book or
whatever, but it's stillsomething related to your work
(09:15):
day.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
So, right, that's yeah too, it would be good to
have some follow-up questions onthat one, wouldn't it?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
yeah, but yeah, I mean good info it is it is okay.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So the next question is how often does your partner
share rewarding experiences fromtheir job?
So this is people who arecoming home and talking about
light bulb moments or funnymoments or really great
experiences with their students.
So what kind of frequency doyou think people are sharing
(09:49):
these rewarding experiences fromtheir job?
So we had daily, several timesa week, once a week, rarely or
never.
What kind of frequency wouldyou predict?
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I would say probably, and my hope would be daily that
there was some kind ofsomething funny or like a good
story that made it home to share.
Yeah, I would say maybe, like Iwould hope that the percentage
for daily is high.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It's not too bad.
The highest one was severaltimes a week.
Okay, it's not too bad that thehighest one was several times a
week.
So so, several times a week ordaily together was 55 of
responses, so that's more thanhalf the people.
Yeah, but it's more than halfthe people.
Once a week or rarely.
Once a week or rarely is 45.
(10:42):
And then yeah, that's, that's alot yeah right, I guess so like,
but I still I feel encouragedthat 55 percent of people are,
several times a week or daily,coming home and going yeah, this
great thing happened today.
You'll never guess what whathappened and also with the 45
(11:04):
percent.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
It doesn't mean it didn't happen, it just wasn't
shared, that's true, true,potentially, that's true.
So then my hope would be thatthere was some positivity, that
there's some positivity ineverybody's day, every day.
But yeah, maybe it's just notshared Possibly.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Because I guess if you say you and I went for
coffee after work and I told you, guess what this kid said to me
today, it was hilarious Iprobably wouldn't also feel the
need to go and say that again,maybe.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, that's true.
I think it would be dependingon what the thing was.
Yeah, that's true.
So because if it was reallyfunny, I'd be telling a lot of
people, Telling everybody.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Of course, keeping all confidentiality at the same
time, of course.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
That's right.
Yes, and you know, because,like, especially when you work
with little ones, like theirwriting can really crack you up.
So, yeah, that's always fun toshare, yeah those spelling
errors can be gold, can't they?
Yes, yeah, and that's likethose are worth like taking the
photo of and then, when you'rehaving a bad day, look at it
(12:17):
again.
So you can get a laugh out ofit absolutely for sure, yeah,
okay.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
so our next question was how would you rate the
impact of their job on theirpersonal time?
So we're talking about timeaway from work, the impact on
their plans, the events they'regoing to, their personal life.
So what would you predict isthe percentage of people that
(12:47):
are being significantly ormoderately impacted in their
personal life?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Okay, so like they won't go do something because
they have work to do basically.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah, or yeah, they're distracted or they're
too tired, like there could belots of different reasons why
it's being impacted.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah Ooh, I hope this is a low percentage.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
It's not.
It's not, I'm afraid.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Oh no, I was going to say like 20%, but that makes me
sad that, and with youmentioning, like you know,
people being too tired or maybebeing too stressed and they
don't want to maybe be aroundpeople or whatever, the social
event is okay.
Is it like 60 percent?
No, it's higher.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Oh, dang, yeah, um, wow, wow yeah, so like 75 it's
75 75% of the partners reportedthat we are having either
moderate or significant impacton our personal life.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah, oh shoot, that's a tough one.
Like okay, I'm going to takemyself back to full-time
teaching.
And I know that there weredefinitely like Saturdays I
wouldn't plan social thingsbecause that was a planning day.
(14:22):
I would meet with my co-teacherand we'd go have breakfast and
plan together.
So at least I was kind of likesort of social but actually
working for a few hours.
So you know, there's that, butthere was definitely.
I remember waking up some daysand thinking, as soon as I woke
(14:42):
up, I can't wait to be home, Ican't wait to come home after
school.
Yeah, because I was just knowinghow tired I felt and not
wanting to like encounter theday feeling that way and you
know, sometimes it's just likethat because you're just waking
up and you're not ready for theday yet.
But I do definitely rememberthinking this is going to be a
(15:05):
long day.
I can't wait to just be homeand like not talk to people.
This is going to be a long day.
I can't wait to just be homeand like not talk to people.
So like social things are verydifferent and good for you, or
like even just being outside orwhatever.
But even that it was like, oh,I just don't want to engage at
all.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, this is bringing back memories of my
first year in Brussels and a biggroup of us had organised to go
to the Christmas markets inCologne in that first year, and
if you have heard aboutChristmas markets in Europe,
you'll know that the markets inCologne are just something else.
They're beautiful.
(15:45):
And we'd arranged it, paid forthe hotel, bought the train
tickets, did the whole thing,and we got to it.
Paid for the hotel, but boughtthe train tickets, did the whole
thing, and we got to the end ofthe week and I was like I have
reports due, I'm exhausted, Ican't do it, and I just bailed
out, completely bailed out, ohman.
So I mean, there might be sometruth to this.
(16:06):
There might be some truth tothis answer.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Yeah, for sure, yeah yeah, that it's just real,
though, right, you just get it'sjust a next level of tiredness
and like I just yeah, I justremember feeling like not
functioning properly or I don'tknow like you, when you're just
(16:29):
so tired you just can't thinkstraight, you don't function
well, you just yeah, it's justreally hard.
So I guess it makes sense whenyou put every all of your energy
into those eight hours or ninehours at school and then you
just you're like, nope, you'renot doing it Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
But I would like to applaud the 10% of people here
that have they're reporting zeroimpact on their personal life.
Well done to that 10%.
That's amazing.
Good on you.
Yeah, Feeling very proud of youand your efforts there.
Well done.
We should all strive to be alittle bit more like you.
Okay, the next question.
(17:13):
So this, knowing what you knownow from the last question, the
next question is how would yourate the impact of their job on
family relationships?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Oh yeah, Mm-hmm.
Oh, I would say that there'sdefinitely an impact on
relationships in and I hate tosay, like a negative way just
because people you don't want toengage with people.
Sometimes after you've been atschool, you've been at school
(17:52):
and, especially if you haven't,if the day is like your average
school day, it's fine, and I'mnot saying that every day is,
like you know, super hard andwhatever, but you know every day
is different.
But I can definitely see thatsometimes when teachers come
home they don't want to talk toanyone and so that would not sit
well with partners and kids.
(18:13):
Absolutely, because you gethome and you're a needed person
again, still Exactly, and so youfeel the strain of having to
continue conversation or mealprep or pack up to go to the
next thing or whatever, and it'sa lot of energy that you just
(18:34):
feel like you don't have andlike we always say that say or
not like we, but generally inthe population you know, like
you hear people say you can'tpour from an empty cup and
that's what's happening.
It's like you're going, you'reputting yourself in a deficit.
It's like you're going, you'reputting yourself in a deficit.
And so sometimes, even if youjust get like 10 or 15 minutes
of just disengagement frompeople, that can change that
(19:00):
feeling of negative.
I think, like you come home andyou're a very negative person
because your day was very hardand you're exhausted.
And sometimes you just can'twalk through the door and
immediately be greeted by allthe things or, you know, pick up
people and whatever.
But even just that short bit oftime just to have like some
mental quiet and then go outsideof your room or wherever you
(19:26):
are and be ready to like, then Idon't want to say like face
your family.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
No, but I 100% know what you mean, because I'm sure
everyone wants to be coming injust 100% there for their
families, for their partners,for their kids.
But if you are depleted alreadyfrom dealing with the emotions
and the stress and the noise ofbeing in your workplace all day,
(19:52):
they're not getting that full,complete version of you, are
they?
So yeah, I mean it makes senseif they're.
You know, especially in lightof that last question, if
they're not having time forpersonal events and personal
interactions, of course it'salso going to be impacting the
immediate family as well.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So, yeah, yeah, real shame, real shame.
There is this other quote too,and I think I learned this from
our friend, krista um.
It's something like we oftengive what's left of us and not
the best of us, and so when wego home, family is getting
(20:33):
what's left of us from the day,and that's not good and it's not
okay, but it's just whathappens.
And you can kind of revert backinto your best self if you just
get a little bit of quiet time,because, like school life is
noisy and sometimes it's justthat constant voices and noise
that go in your ears, like ittakes up a lot of mental space,
(20:56):
and so just having like thatlittle bit of few minutes of
quiet to just like okay, I feelokay now, that can just like
change your relationships,because then you're not snapping
at people and you're not, likeyou know, not wanting to engage
with people or go out and dothings and whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
So exactly, yeah, exactly okay.
This one I found fascinating.
All right, so how would yourate the impact of their job on
their physical health?
Okay, so there's different waysyou could look at this right.
(21:38):
In one way in my head I'mthinking it's like we're active.
We don't have a sedentary job.
We're not sitting still all day.
We're active.
We get outside while we're onplayground supervision, we move
around a lot of people,especially these elementary
teachers.
We're getting on and off thefloor.
That's really good for you, foryour mobility and everything.
(21:58):
So you could look at that asbeing like this is good for your
physical health, health.
But then you could also look atyou know how many, how many
germs are floating around schooland what is all that stress and
worrying doing to us?
So I found, I found theresponse here very fascinating.
So, okay, what percentage doyou think?
(22:22):
Responded that it is having apositive or a very positive
impact on our physical health.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Oh, I'm going to say that's a low percentage, correct
?
Because?
Yeah, because I would say thatwhen the school year begins,
things might be fine, but as theyear progresses, you definitely
will your habits change.
Like, remember when we taughtin Singapore and I had that
(22:51):
drawer of snacks?
Yes, I do, yes yes, I do.
And when we and when we had likereally smoggy days or whatever
and the kids couldn't go out toplay, or it was like raining or
something, and there waschocolate in that drawer and I
just remember like we wereeating a lot of chocolate during
indoor recess days.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I also seem to remember quite a lot of donuts.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Which is like not a healthy habit, right?
And that when we have thosekinds of habits, like consistent
we're talking habit here, notjust like a chocolate once in a
while, having chocolate everyday at like first recess or
lunchtime or whatever justbecomes part of your routine,
then that's going to impact,because we know that stress can
(23:44):
you know we can stress eat oremotional eat or whatever and
that's one of those things thatmany of us will go to is like I
just need like a fix ofchocolate, I need a sugar fix, I
need something to just likemake me feel like it's okay.
And if it's that piece ofchocolate or like even if you go
home and at the end of yournight you're having like a glass
(24:06):
of wine or something to justlike decompress and sit there, a
beer or something whatever,it's fine but like is it
something you should be doingevery night?
Like that again can turn into adifferent kind of habit where
you're relying on somethingexternal like that to help you
get your fix right.
And those are habits that canturn, you know, into something
(24:30):
that's bad for your body and badfor your mental state for sure,
absolutely yeah, so we we hadzero percent reporting that it
had a very positive impact andonly 10 percent saying positive.
So okay, so like yeah, so peoplearen't starting up, like people
(24:51):
aren't saying I'm gonna beteaching and I'm gonna make sure
I go to the gym every day orgoing for a walk or yeah, like
those things don't generally gotogether, although that's like a
great habit to create, likeright after you're done school,
go for a walk around your block,have that as your decompressed
(25:12):
time or whatever, but thatthat's yeah absolutely, and when
you look at the research ofwhat things can lower your
stress and can give you thosehappy chemicals, we should be
putting our attention indifferent areas than the 4 pm
(25:35):
chocolate, because that is yes,and becoming sedentary.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Yep, just sitting still and zoning out once the
kids leave the room, things likethat.
Yeah, absolutely.
There's a lot of researcharound the things that are going
to actually energize you andunfortunately, it's not the
things that we generally go tofirst, unfortunately.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's unfortunate, butnot surprising, correct?
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Maybe this is a part I'm stretching here.
It's not surprising, correct?
Maybe this is a part I'mstretching here.
It's not really a positive.
I was going to say that 65% aresaying negative, but only 15%
are saying very negative.
Is that a good thing?
I?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
mean it's a bit of a stretch.
Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch.
Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch,but yeah, it just it's.
It is very sad.
It makes me sad for teachers.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That that's how we feel, for sure, and that's what
our partners are experiencingalongside us.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, hi,absolutely yeah, hi, everyone.
This is where we're going topause between part one and part
two of this discussion.
We hope you have enjoyed theresults of the survey so far and
(26:56):
will join us again next timefor part two.
Today's episode was brought toyou by Plan Z Professional
Learning Services forwardthinking educator support.
Find out more atplanzplservicescom.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Be sure to join Tammy and Christine and guests for
more episodes of the MinimalistEducator Podcast.
They would love to hear aboutyour journey with minimalism.
Connect with them at planzPLSon Twitter or Instagram.
The music for the podcast hasbeen written and performed by
Gaia Moretti.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.