Education and the role of teachers in Australian society has never been more topical or visible: the Covid-19 crisis has amplified the important work of teachers, as well as amplified the preexisting challenges facing the profession such as the  increasing issues with teacher attraction, retention, workload and wellbeing.

My mission with this here Possible is to create the 6th and 7th Seasons of the Teacher Wellbeing podcast to help support teachers improve their health, happiness and wellbeing without losing mine! 

I’m seeking funding for Seasons 6 and 7 of the podcast because teachers need to look after themselves now more than ever. 

The mission of Self-Care for Teachers and the Teacher Wellbeing podcast has always been to help Australia’s generous and self-sacrificing teachers learn to fit their own oxygen mask before they help others. That metaphor of course comes from the airplane safety demonstration of what to do in a crisis situation. 

We are in a crisis situation now, and teachers need this message more than ever before.

The Teacher Wellbeing Podcast began in February 2017. Since then there have been more than 70 episodes with 35 guests, and 37,000+ downloads in over 50 countries around the world. 

It is an absolute pleasure to create, however it comes at a personal cost. Podcasts are free to listen to but they’re not free to make. There are some basic operational costs and a significant investment of time. If you don’t have much time, they can cost a lot of money to produce. 

I’ve been very grateful that for Season 3 and 4 I had two brilliant sponsors covering the most basic costs of podcasting, but I still did all the editing and production work myself. 

When I started the podcast I was on leave from my teaching job and I had the luxury of the time and energy to devote to doing it all myself. By the end of Season 4 that definitely wasn’t the case anymore so I made the decision to crowdfund so I could focus on being a great host, finding great guests and creating great content, and let somebody else take care of the production.

After all, I’m a person first and a podcaster second and I can’t do it all on my own!

In 2019 I crowdfunded Season 5 of the podcast and it was the gift that kept on giving. I had planned 10 episodes for that season, but ended up producing 20, thanks to the support of that campaign. 

In 2020 I am hoping to crowdfund both Season 6 and Season 7: Season 6 is happening anyway—it’s started already! But it would be great to have support to produce it, and to make sure I can go on and create Season 7 too.

If you enjoy the Teacher Wellbeing Podcast and think it’s of value to the world, then I’d love it if you would swing me a fiver to support the show.

If you want to invest more than $5, then there are some bonuses for you for doing that too. 

If you have a teacher related product or service and would like to get it in the ears of my audience, then there are episode sponsorship opportunities too!

And if you don’t feel you can spare any money, then you can still help the podcast by sharing this on social media. 

If you are following me @selfcareforteachers, drop a red apple emoji in the comments of any post you see about this because that will help more people see my posts, and use the hashtag #teacherwellbeingpodcast 

The way this crowdfunding is set up means that if I don’t reach my target, nobody pays anything. It’s all or nothing, baby! So pledge to this project now and let’s make this happen. 

And remember, you’re a person first and a teacher second and you are so worthy of vibrant health, happiness and wellbeing.

How much does it cost to produce one episode of a podcast? 

The answer to that is like answering the question ‘How long is a piece of string?’ ....it depends! There are so many options, but the basic costs are for recording, producing and hosting. There are a range of other costs, such as getting episodes transcribed and turning episodes into videos, that many podcasts do but until now I have not. 

A basic breakdown of the costs for this project is below:

For this Pozible campaign, my primary target of $2500 includes all the recording, producing and hosting costs, plus some copywriting and graphic design to get proper show notes on the website and some imagery for sharing the episodes on social media. 

If we reach the target and raise more money than that, then I’ll use the funds to get videos and transcripts of the episodes (which some people have asked for).

So far I have recorded and produced about three-quarters of the episodes for Season 6, and it’s being released at the same time as this crowdfunding campaign. 

With your support I'm looking forward to finishing Season 6 and getting Season 7 out later in 2020.

Thank you for your support so far of the Teacher Wellbeing Podcast. Pledge now and let's get this happening!