Kurt Fearnley hosts The Teachers Who Shape Us podcast

One of the benefits of IEU membership is access to Teachers Health, a member-based health insurance provider to the union members and their families in the education community.

Teachers Health serves union members working as educators and administration and support staff in schools and tertiary institutions. As a member-based not-for-profit health fund, its members are its number one priority, not shareholders.

Teacher’s Health supports educational initiatives, like conferences and scholarships, that focus on the ongoing success and wellbeing of principals, teachers and support staff.

And part of that commitment to the education community now includes a new podcast, The Teachers Who Shape Us, helmed by famous elite athlete, disability advocate, TV presenter and author Kurt Fearnley. Kurt is well known for his high achievements at the Paralympics, but he is also a high school teacher and he’s been a Teachers Health ambassador for 10 years.

He says he became a teacher because some of the most pivotal moments of his life were “given to him by teachers”.

He speaks of a primary school principal who ignored his own bosses “because he knew having this kid with a disability in his school, a mainstream school, wasn’t just good for me, it was good for the entire community.”

“I think when you dream of being a teacher, you’re always looking for that moment that I got. That moment’s the gold medal. Like the gold medal, it takes 10,000 hours of dragging yourself through the hard yards to get that one moment where you change a kid’s life. But you ask a teacher about that moment and they will tell you those 10,000 dragging yourself moments are well worth it.”

He says Teachers Health is made for teachers – they know the specific hardships you’re going through.

In the podcast, Kurt chats with some famous Australians about the teachers who impacted them the most.

So far, the list includes Adam Hills, Jane Caro, Brian Schmidt, Nancy Penfold and Izzy Vincent.

You can access The Teachers Who Shape Us via the Teachers Health website or on Spotify or Apple.