Educators are silently battling an unseen mental health challenge, with new research revealing the profound impact of secondary traumatic stress on teachers’ wellbeing and their commitment to the profession.
Australian educators are experiencing unprecedented psychological strain, with new research revealing that nearly 40 per cent of teachers are considering leaving the profession due to overwhelming secondary traumatic stress.
A groundbreaking national study by Dr Adam Fraser and Deakin University has uncovered the profound emotional challenges facing Australia’s educators, exposing a critical issue that extends far beyond traditional workplace stress.
Dr Fraser has worked with over 1,100 school leaders across Australia since 2016 in his sustainable leadership program The Flourish Movement. Through this program he had some interactions that lead him to realise that it was more than burnout occurring in educators.
The report, The Silent Cost: Impact and Management of Secondary Trauma in Educators, was released in May.
“We discovered something extraordinary. Educators have become the social workers of society, but our education systems are dramatically under-prepared to support them,” Dr Fraser says.
The research, which surveyed almost 2,300 educators and collected over 1,000 detailed trauma stories, reveals that teachers are experiencing secondary traumatic stress (STS) at rates higher than professionals in health and social work sectors.
Secondary traumatic stress occurs when individuals are repeatedly exposed to the traumatic experiences of others. For educators, this means hearing students’ distressing personal stories, witnessing their struggles, and carrying the emotional weight of their students’ challenges.
“The length of relationship is crucial,” explains research collaborator Ms Christine Armarego. “Unlike a paramedic who might interact with someone briefly, teachers know their students for an entire year. They understand family dynamics, sibling relationships, and the ongoing context of a student’s trauma.”
The study’s most startling finding is that STS accumulates over an educator’s career, contrary to expectations that experience would make teachers more resilient. In fact, the longer teachers remain in the profession, the higher their secondary traumatic stress levels become.
“It’s like rust in a car,” Dr Fraser says. “The stress doesn’t diminish with experience – it builds up, layer by layer.”
The study revealed that educators are increasingly becoming support systems not just for students, but for entire families. Many parents turn to teachers seeking guidance, further expanding the emotional labour educators must manage.
“Sometimes educators are supporting not just the student, but the entire family. They’re listening to multiple complex stories and trying to provide guidance,” Ms Armarego says.
Critically, the research found that only one undergraduate program in Australia currently addresses secondary traumatic stress, leaving most new teachers unprepared for the emotional challenges they’ll face.
“New teachers are entering the profession without understanding the potential emotional toll. They’re not told about these challenges during their training,” Dr Fraser says.
The research serves as a critical wake-up call, urging education systems, and policymakers to recognise and address the emotional challenges facing educators.
Dr Fraser and his team are developing comprehensive training programs addressing STS at multiple levels: school systems, leadership, individual coping, and peer support.
“We wanted to create more than just another metric showing how difficult educators’ lives are,” Ms Armarego says. “Our goal was to provide practical, actionable strategies to help teachers manage and mitigate secondary traumatic stress.”
The research recommendations include:
- Comprehensive STS training in teacher education programs
- Systematic support mechanisms within schools
- Individual and peer-based coping strategy development
- Recognition of STS as a distinct professional challenge
For many educators, the study validates experiences that have long gone unacknowledged.
“We’re not just talking about a workplace issue. We’re talking about the mental health of the professionals who shape our future generations,” Dr Fraser says.
Ground zero
Former teacher, deputy principal and Victorian Department of Education senior staff member Mr Ben Sacco is familiar with the challenges facing school leaders. With more than 20 years in the education sector, he draws on his experience in his current role as the Managing Director of Education Economy, a national education consultancy which supports schools to respond to student behaviours of concern, teacher retention and school culture.
“The findings in The Silent Cost mirror insights from Education Economy’s Capture Survey across Australian schools, which identifies key ‘at risk factors’ that contribute to workplace adversity, such as stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue,” Mr Sacco says.
“What we find is by identifying these risks early, we can better prepare schools to reduce the frequency of the challenges that directly impacts staff health and wellbeing.”
Similar to Dr Fraser’s observation that educators have become the social workers of society, Mr Sacco says schools are becoming ground zero for unaddressed social trauma, without the support systems found in other frontline sectors.
“This isn’t just a wellbeing issue, it’s an economic one. High stress and burnout among educators naturally increase staff turnover and recruitment costs, reducing productivity and engagement across our education system,” he says.
“Without targeted, preventative measures, such as robust systemic support, responsive classroom behaviour strategies, and mental health resources, the pipeline of effective education professionals weakens. This not only threatens staff wellbeing but also undermines student outcomes and the broader economy.”
Dr Fraser agrees. “Our research showed that trauma informed practice is essential for the students and is now part of an educator’s role, but that there are no system based supports for increased work educators are now expected to do.”
Visit www.theflourishmovement.com to read the report.
