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23. The One Where We Talk About The Education System No One Wants to Fix
17 Plays16 days ago
In this episode, Victoria gets honest, reflective, and a little bit fiery as she opens up about something close to her heart - the state of today’s education system.
After nearly two decades in education, across multiple roles and settings (classroom teacher, School of the Air, support roles, relief teaching, admin), Victoria shares how dramatically things have changed…and not always for the better.
This episode explores:
✅ What’s Really Going On in Schools
- Why so many teachers are leaving the profession
- Increasing admin, programs, assessments, and expectations
- Classrooms feeling more like businesses than supportive learning environments
- Stress and wellbeing impacts for both teachers and students
✅ The Cost of “More, More, More”
- Less creativity, more ticking of boxes
- Over-assessing instead of trusting trained educators
- Behavioural challenges increasing - with minimal consequences
- Teachers feeling unsupported, overwhelmed, and unprotected
✅ Where Parents Come In
- Schools can’t (and shouldn’t) carry 100% of responsibility
- The importance of emotional intelligence in the early years
- Setting kids up with problem solving, empathy, resilience, and respect
- Working with schools, not against them
✅ So…What Now?
- The system needs change - but waiting for government may not help
- Why alternative schooling is becoming more popular
- Small, grassroots changes we can make to protect children and teachers
- The importance of parents showing appreciation and partnership with educators
Victoria shares openly from her experience - including what led her to move away from traditional classrooms toward mindfulness, emotional wellbeing, and real human skill-building for kids.
✨ If you’re a teacher
You are not alone.
Your wellbeing matters just as much as the kids you support.
Boundaries aren’t selfish - they’re essential.
✨ If you’re a parent
You are your child’s first (and most important) teacher.
Your behaviour sets the tone long before school does.
✅ Join the Conversation
This episode may stir strong opinions - and that’s okay.
Victoria genuinely wants to hear from parents, teachers, and anyone impacted by the system:
- What’s working?
- What isn’t?
- What would you change?
- What support do teachers and students really need?
Send a message, share your experience, or continue the discussion with respect and open minds.
Thanks for listening — and if you loved this episode, please share it with a teacher, parent or school community leader who needs to hear it. 💛
Get in touch -
hello@victoria-r.com.au
www.victoria-r.com.au
@the.victoria.r
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Transcript
Reflecting on Changes in Education (2005-2025)
00:00:37
Victoria R
Hello everyone, welcome back to the Mindful Educator podcast. I'm so excited um to talk about this today because it's something that I'm also a little bit nervous, i'm going to be honest, because it's something that obviously as a teacher I'm very involved in and I'm going to be talking just about the education system a little bit.
00:00:59
Victoria R
And it's something that has been playing on my mind for a little while. So i just as a bit of background, i graduated from university to become a teacher 2005.
00:01:11
Victoria R
two thousand and five So it's been 20 years that I have technically been a teacher for or just under. And things are a lot different now than what they were when I first started teaching.
00:01:26
Victoria R
And those changes I'm not so sure if they're that great.
Why are Teachers Leaving?
00:01:32
Victoria R
What we are actually finding and what the research is suggesting is that there are a lot more teachers leaving the profession now than what there has been previously.
00:01:45
Victoria R
And I have a few ideas as to why, and this is just my personal opinion. There are others that may or may not feel the same way.
00:01:58
Victoria R
For me personally, i obviously have got three children. So for me, when I became a mum, my priority wasn't so much in the classroom anymore. I wanted to put that effort and that energy into my own children.
00:02:14
Victoria R
And so that's where relief teaching was really good because it meant that, yes, I could still kind of keep a foot in the door of teaching, but I wasn't necessarily responsible for a whole classroom.
Impact of Structured Programs on Creativity
00:02:26
Victoria R
When I was younger, before I had children, i really enjoy teaching. It's something that I loved doing and it took me many places. I ended up in the UK teaching over there.
00:02:39
Victoria R
Some interesting experiences. um I worked at School of the Air over here in WA. I worked in a normal classroom setting. I worked in admin roles. I, you know,
00:02:51
Victoria R
I was also a support teacher at different times. So I've actually done quite a lot in terms of the teaching, um the the different types of teaching that you can do.
00:03:06
Victoria R
And I really enjoyed all of those. I really enjoyed spending that time with the students, you know, coming up with amazing lessons that we could do, just that creative creative side of things as well, where you were able to kind of come up with some really awesome lessons or um programs for the term.
00:03:25
Victoria R
Things that maybe weren't so great were things like the admin side of things in terms of like the reporting and the assessment, which definitely have a place, but I wouldn't say that was my favorite thing.
The Rise of Reporting and Assessments
00:03:40
Victoria R
Nowadays, I can see huge changes in that even the programs that occur within the classroom now. And this is also very dependent on the school, but I know there's a lot of programs out there and it means that, you know, for numeracy, there may be a program that you follow. All right. So everything's already set out for literacy. There may be a program.
00:04:01
Victoria R
So there's a lot of programs that schools use and it almost kind of takes that creativity out of um the lesson planning, so to speak. You still get a little bit of it, but there's some that are so structured that you actually don't really get the chance to change it much at all so ah know that has changed a lot also the assessment and reporting has the level of that has increased a lot and it was already starting to increase um from when I started to kind of when I was finishing you know before I had my children and that was you know over 10 years ago now
00:04:39
Victoria R
So obviously it's still important to know where the students are at. So to, you know, assess where they are so you know kind of where to take them. But the assessments that are happening now, they're a lot more detailed. They are are a lot more frequent.
00:04:54
Victoria R
And you kind of have to wonder, is it as necessary, like is it necessary to have this many assessments all the time? Yes, it's good to kind of keep track of where we're going.
00:05:05
Victoria R
But a lot of the time we could do like your anecdotal notes. So... It would be the teacher going around, you just write down, oh, yeah, you know, you such and such can do this, this and this. It wasn't necessarily as formal. It was a case of using the teacher's judgment to see where that student is at.
00:05:23
Victoria R
You know, the teacher that has studied for four plus years has that knowledge, has that education in terms of being able to recognise where their own students are are at. Unfortunately, what we're seeing happen now is that isn't necessarily enough these days.
00:05:38
Victoria R
It has to be a certain test or a certain um assessment that needs to be done. And we're not necessarily relying so much on a teacher's own knowledge to see where their students are at.
00:05:52
Victoria R
And i I get this in some ways. I get that it can take that bias out of it. I get that it can mean that maybe those that weren't doing a good job of um using their own brains to assess, I get that side of it.
00:06:08
Victoria R
But it's also meaning that those teachers that are actually really good at that aren't getting the opportunity to do it either. So it's kind of like, oh, it's bit of that catch-22 there.
Education as a Business: Stress and Support Issues
00:06:18
Victoria R
But I do know that the demands on the teachers are a lot higher nowadays. day There is a lot more behind the scenes work that needs to be done. The school's priorities are shifting a lot more as well.
00:06:32
Victoria R
ah The whole kind of, the whole system has kind of shifted in terms of its priorities. And a lot of people have commented on the fact that it almost feels like a business now. It doesn't feel like a school, it feels like a business.
00:06:46
Victoria R
And I've seen that as well firsthand in different areas that I have um worked in or seen over the years. You know, there's a lot more demand on the teachers to do different things and there's not always as much support.
00:07:02
Victoria R
And I think that's where, i think this is where there is a big issue on teachers leaving the profession because they don't have that backing and they don't have that support.
00:07:13
Victoria R
Whether that be, from their own admin, whether that be from the parents, whether it be from, you know, the colleagues, whatever it is, there's definitely not as much support there as what they used to be.
00:07:27
Victoria R
All this combined kind of leaves us with a system that isn't really working so well anymore. it's not It's not working in terms of the student's mental and emotional health.
00:07:42
Victoria R
It's not working in terms of the teacher's mental and emotional health. And it's a big, big piece that seems to be missing from the education system, which is actually what is so important.
00:07:57
Victoria R
This, the emotional wellbeing and the mental wellbeing and the health of your students and your teachers should be a priority. You know, in any situation that should be a priority.
Violence and Lack of Support in Schools
00:08:11
Victoria R
And we are seeing an increase in teachers being beaten up, in teachers being abused by parents and by students, um of things being thrown around classrooms, of bullying increases. Like what is actually happening is getting worse and worse. It's not actually getting better.
00:08:32
Victoria R
And there doesn't seem to be anything to kind of anything from the government or anything to kind of go, all right, this is how we're going to approach or address this.
00:08:45
Victoria R
If anything, that they're now saying, oh, well let's actually start our children full-time younger. And it's like, well, that's not going to help anything. If anything, we should be starting them later. um And it's just, it's kind of like all these elements thrown together and we really kind of need to look at this system isn't working anymore.
00:09:06
Victoria R
It's not working. For some, yes, it still will. All right. For some, some people thrive off this school system and this education system. All right. And that is totally okay. with you know What works for one may not work for another and vice versa. And that's that's the joy of life.
00:09:24
Victoria R
Everyone's different. But for the vast majority, what we're seeing is it's not working. What we're seeing is so many teachers leaving the profession after a few years because it's just not happening for them. It's just not working well.
00:09:38
Victoria R
Or they're being so traumatised while they're at work that they actually can't physically or mentally deal with going into their jobs. And i know of teachers that have ended up in hospital because of what our students have done to them.
00:09:54
Victoria R
And the consequences of these students' actions are so minimal that they end up doing it again. And it's like, okay, where are we protecting the the staff here that have then dealt with this? You know, is there something that we can actually be doing to help that child in a different way?
The Role of Parents in Education
00:10:13
Victoria R
Because what we're doing hasn't actually worked.
00:10:15
Victoria R
You know, something's not connecting here. And I think as parents, we also need to step up and take some responsibility here. Schools are getting blamed for an awful lot, an awful lot.
00:10:32
Victoria R
Whereas realistically, children are only there for six hours of the day. The remaining hours of the day, they are not at school. so whose responsibility is it then?
00:10:47
Victoria R
Yes, schools can teach so much, but a lot of it comes from the parents. A lot of it comes from you and what you do in those early years. And so we really need to look at ourselves as parents and go, okay, how am I actually setting up my child four yeah for, yeah, for the benefit and for the benefit of themselves and for others? How are we ensuring that they are equipped with the skills to handle different things?
00:11:14
Victoria R
How are we ensuring that, you know, they've got that emotional intelligence to deal with things that are going to come up? And I just... like I said, there's so many areas that I can see kind of need to be addressed. And there's so many different things that we really need to look at whether, I don't know if the right word is fixing or improving in some way.
00:11:39
Victoria R
We definitely also need to look at the actual curriculum itself. Another thing that had started happening before i kind of stepped out full-time was that there was more and more and more being asked and required of the teachers to do every day or every week within the classroom setting, more that they were required to teach, more stuff added into the curriculum.
00:12:05
Victoria R
And like I said, there's only so much that they can do within six hours. And on top of that, I can guarantee you pretty much every teacher that has gone in to teaching has done it because they love working with children, has done it because they love seeing children grow and they want what's best for the students in their care. And the problem is when you start adding on more and more stuff to do, that care side of it, that that side of wanting the best for your students almost kind of has to go on the back burner because you've got so much stuff that you have to tick off the list that you've done and that you've assessed or that you've
00:12:47
Victoria R
you know, written this report or that report on, that a lot of the time that wellbeing and that care for the students isn't necessarily always forefront because you've got so much other stuff to do. and I think we need to realise if we've got stressed teachers, if we've got unhappy teachers, that is going to filter down into the students in their classroom.
00:13:06
Victoria R
you know, despite your words, students and what children of any type are really good at picking up on those, you know, cues that we may not realise that we're giving off, but if they can sense when we're stressed, they can sense when things aren't quite as they should be.
00:13:26
Victoria R
And it's like, well, how's that making it a good classroom for anyone. How is that making things okay for anyone in that environment? And it's almost like, like anything, it kind of always streams down from the top.
00:13:40
Victoria R
If we've got admin that are putting really unnecessary pressure on the teachers, then that's going to filter through to the students. If we've got admin that aren't supporting their staff, again, the flow on effect that kind of goes through is And it's no wonder then that we do have people going, you know what, stuff this. Like I'm not putting up with this for the next however many years of my career.
00:14:05
Victoria R
Not happening. And I know for me personally, i i much prefer the mindfulness sessions and the things that I do with students or with children because it means that I'm able to focus on teaching them things that are actually going to help them with their emotional and mental wellbeing that kind of helps them become a, hopefully a more rounded person.
00:14:33
Victoria R
That means that they have those skills to kind of move through life. And don't get me wrong, there is definitely a place for numeracy and literacy and all that, but we we need to come back to the fact that these are little humans that,
00:14:48
Victoria R
that we are shaping for the future. How do we want to be shaping them? What do we want to be equipped equipping them to be able to handle and deal with?
00:15:01
Victoria R
And this is where things like our emotional intelligence is really important, but we're not really seeing that happening so much within a classroom setting.
Exploring Alternative Education Options
00:15:11
Victoria R
You know, how do we equip them to deal with different problems that arise without, you know,
00:15:17
Victoria R
falling in a heap and crying? How do equip them to, you know, show compassion and empathy towards others? How are we teaching them these vital skills that help them work with others and respond to others and generally just be a decent human being all around when they're not necessarily in the environment that is conducive to that?
00:15:43
Victoria R
Now, there are some schools out there the ah more alternative schools which do focus on these. And I love the fact that so many parents are now becoming a lot more aware of what is happening and aware of what they can do. We're seeing definitely an increase in those that are doing homeschooling.
00:16:03
Victoria R
I know that the Steiner schools and the Montessori schools and all those, they're gaining more popularity as well. There's even things like Bush School, like how awesome.
00:16:15
Victoria R
You know, all these alternative type schools which aren't necessarily alternative, they're just the alternative to the standard system that there was. And I think it's really empowering for parents and for children to be able to make these choices that are best for them.
00:16:32
Victoria R
I know in some cases, like for us in particular, We're in a situation where we have the one school in town and that is it.
Focusing on Mental Health and Wellbeing
00:16:40
Victoria R
Luckily, it is an amazing school. Others may have their point of view about that, which is totally fine.
00:16:46
Victoria R
um And I think it's it's great that we're getting teachers coming through that are so much more aware of the mental health and the emotional health of their students and like I said this is something that has always been the case but it's just it's always a ah time factor as well trying to find at that time throughout the day to do this when you've got so many other things on the to-do list.
00:17:13
Victoria R
I do think we definitely to focus definitely need to focus more on our teachers well-being ensuring that there's not too much pressure on them. i think as parents we should be supporting while also um being what's the right word for it I think we need to support our children I think it's important to support the teachers but and the school, but within reason as well.
00:17:43
Victoria R
Obviously, if things have happened and things are unreasonable, we do need to address those, but we need to do it in a respectful manner. And we need to do it in a way that comes across where we can get our point heard without it necessarily um hurting or berating others.
00:18:00
Victoria R
which is also so a tricky thing to do sometimes. But what I would really love to see is if we can get these changes kind of happening from a higher up level, which I don't know if that's going to happen.
00:18:15
Victoria R
I honestly don't because to take the system that we have now and to overhaul it, I think it's probably been put in the too hard basket.
Collaborative Parenting and Education
00:18:25
Victoria R
So I think we need to try and focus on the students' and the teacher's wellbeing, starting and doing what we can as parents, um recognising that we're actually our child's first teacher.
00:18:41
Victoria R
We're the ones that kind of set those, set the scene before they even hit school. And remembering that we also have that influence as they move through school as well. And it's it's not a case of, oh, they're at school, my job is done.
00:18:57
Victoria R
um No, we need to kind of, work in tandem with the school to bring forth those values, to ensure that we're teaching our children how to be decent human beings and how to have critical thinking skills and problem solving skills and empathy and all the rest of it as they move forward and become adults themselves.
00:19:17
Victoria R
And I guess as parents, if you're able to do research and shop around, so to speak, for a school that suits your children, do it. If you have, if you've got more than one school in your area, you are definitely able
Appreciation and Self-Care for Teachers
00:19:32
Victoria R
to do that. There is a lot of us that aren't able to do that for those of us that live in smaller towns. So if you are, use that, you know, take that and run with it. So you can actually do what's best for your children and for the benefit of your own family as well.
00:19:48
Victoria R
I just think, like I said, that there's a lot of different factors and It would be lovely if we can focus on improving this for our students and our teachers so we don't have so many teachers leaving as well. I've seen some of the most amazing teachers no longer teaching and it is heartbreaking because these are the teachers that kind of gave it their all.
00:20:14
Victoria R
They care so much for their students that it actually ended up being at the detriment of their own health and it's heartbreaking to say it's heartbreaking to say that these are the teachers that we're losing to a system that isn't really supporting them that well.
00:20:33
Victoria R
As a parent, if you can um show appreciation to the teachers provided that obviously they're, they're doing the right thing. Obviously you are like any, any industry, you're going to get some shitty teachers. I'm not going to lie about that, but if you have got great teachers, good teachers,
00:20:51
Victoria R
Tell them that, support them, show them that you appreciate what they are doing. For the teachers that may be listening, please make sure you're taking the time for yourself amongst all this.
Setting Boundaries to Prevent Burnout
00:21:05
Victoria R
Please make sure you're looking after your own mental and physical health. Yes, teaching is such an important job, but as with anything, it shouldn't be at the detriment of your own health.
00:21:17
Victoria R
It shouldn't be at the detriment of your own enjoyment. make sure that you are also looking after yourself amongst this and like anything try and put some boundaries in place where possible you know teaching is one of those professions that can consume you you can literally spend 24 7 sorting out stuff for teaching i knew i know like when i was full-time in the classroom you just you're constantly thinking about things. You see things, you like, oh, that would be good. Oh, that would be great. Oh, this one, that one. Like it literally is always on your mind. It's almost like a different form of parenting. ah So it's where it's just always on your mind.
00:21:57
Victoria R
So if there's a way that you can kind of put those boundaries in place so that you have that time for you please do so because we don't want burnt out teachers. We don't want teachers leaving the profession, especially those amazing ones that do you give the job their all.
Listener Feedback on Education Improvement
00:22:13
Victoria R
That is all I'm going to say for today. There is a lot of other stuff I could probably speak about, but I think this is it for the moment. I'd love to know your thoughts on the education system. I would love to know your thoughts on teachers. I'd love to know your thoughts on students and what you think would be great to change, what you think may be an option to improve what has been happening a way to stop teachers leaving, ah way that we can really benefit our children within the school system.
00:22:50
Victoria R
Any feedback is most welcome. Totally don't mind if you disagree with everything I've said. i am more than open to feedback and to hearing other people's points of view. So just let me know because, like I said, it's it's one of those topics that can be quite controversial.
00:23:08
Victoria R
Everyone's got their own opinion, which is totally okay. And people have their own perspectives about it as well. So I'm always open to hearing that. As long as it's a respectful conversation, of course.
00:23:19
Victoria R
All right, have an amazing day. i can't wait to hear your thoughts and I will speak to you soon.