Are TikTok influencers educating your kids? See who’s turning classroom content into posts and profits.
TikTok teachers are inspiring, educating and entertaining millions of students. Check out some of the brilliant videos created by turning classroom chaos into clickable content.
Savvy TikTok teachers and Instagram educators are turning classroom chaos into content gold, racking up millions of followers and making serious cash.
Australian teachers are also trading blackboards for blue ticks in order to raise the profile of their profession, inspire others and generate laughs.
International teacher influencers with broad appeal include Tom Egleton, 37, who posts online as @teachertommyt. A social inclusion educator, he recently received the royal seal of approval when he was invited to a Buckingham Palace garden party to meet the king.
Local superstar teachers with an impressive side-hustle as influencers include Adelaide’s Luke Springer (@iam.mrluke) and Sydney’s Eddie Woo, whose YouTube channel @misterwootube has nearly 2m followers.
Mari Koyama from talent agency M&Co Creative says teachers “are becoming an increasingly significant segment within the influencer marketing space”.
“This niche is rapidly growing, and influencers in the education space are proving to be valuable partners for brand campaigns,” she says.
“The influencer economy is broad, and income can vary widely. However, top-performing education content creators – particularly those doing it full-time – can earn a sustainable income, with many generating enough to comfortably support themselves through brand deals, sponsored content, and diversified revenue streams,” Ms Koyama says.
Mr Woo is a great example. He’s a bona fide rock-star teacher thanks to the 5000 videos he’s downloaded to his channel over the past 13 years.
“I didn’t ever set out to be an influencer,” he says. “I was motivated to help others and delighted and surprised when I discovered I was helping other teachers as well.”
As Australia prepares to ban social media for under-16s and schools crack down on phone use, it’s presenting teacher influencers with an interesting paradox. They’re promoting their profession online while protecting their students from the very platforms that made them famous.
Not everyone thinks teachers online get the balance right.
One mother recently questioned the ethics of an educator from her children’s school on the Australian School Mums Facebook group. “I ended up blocking the recommendation as their content doesn’t align with mine,” she wrote in June.
“They share some fairly strong opinions on various topics including politics, parenting styles and the school education system and also support larger creators who are at times controversial.”
Such reactions are why most working teachers who have an online presence keep their dual roles as educator and creator as separate as possible.
These include Kailen Stockden (@mrsstocko) who has a strict rule of not posting any student photos, no school locations and no classroom tales.
Rather, her posts include survival tips for teachers, help to avoid burnout and self-care advice. One post reads: “I’m not here to survive teaching. I’m here to thrive while I teach. And that means resting, setting boundaries, and choosing me.”
Clare Southerton, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Education at Monash University, says teacher influencers are popular because of their unique insights from the classroom.
“People are interested in what really happens in a school,” she says. “But this can be tricky to manage because they are trying to capture the day-to-day but preserve privacy.”
Another influencer juggling this dual brief is Alice Leung, a Sydney mother-of-two and maths and science teacher at Concord High School.
Her @teach_with_missaliceleung posts include modelling plate tectonics with Oreo biscuits and revealing what teachers really get up to on school holidays. “I want to promote teaching as the best job in the world, and it is, but there are complexities, to be honest,” Ms Leung, who attracts more than half a million views on some posts, says.
Like Ms Stockden, she doesn’t post any photos of students although she warns the odd hand creeps into science experiments posts.
Her online presence is growing and her students love spotting “Miss Alice” in the wild. “A few times I’ve been recognised at Westfield. It’s so nice when students and others come up and say, ‘Excuse me, are you Miss Alice?’”
The rise of educators in the social media space comes as teachers are fighting for lighter administrative workloads, higher pay and better professional recognition. This can be a trap for those showing the “real” side of teaching.
James Sutherland (@relatable.teacher.jim) is another teacher who’s found fame on TikTok and Insta, where he has 87,000 followers. Posts include teacher morning routines, tips on how to find the best whiteboard marker and being “over the week” on a Monday morning. At times he has copped criticism for showing how difficult and relentless the job can be. His response is that it’s “important to talk about the things that are good about teaching … but it’s important to talk about things that are hard as well”.
“Teaching has evolved a lot in the last 20 years and I’ve found great joy in trying to help other educators know that they aren’t alone in the profession,” he says.
“I’ve had really positive feedback from 99% of people and so I’ll continue to try and share some funny things, some helpful things and just be a positive upbeat human that happens to also love being a teacher.”
Sarah Weston (@giftedandtalentedteacher), left her work as a primary school teacher to focus on her business full-time. Her colourful posts attract 180,000 followers on Instagram and include classroom displays, curriculum ideas and snippets of her daily life. She says the feedback from parents has been “so positive” – but she’s also faced complaints for having a public account as a teacher.
Like others, she’s very aware of the dangers of sharing content of children:
When she was teaching she wouldn’t include photos of students, even when blurred, or recordings of their voices.
Another former teacher who’s turned playful learning tips into a burgeoning empire is
Mackay-based mother-of-three Kayla Muscat (@beyondtheclassroomwithkayla).
Her posts offer educational play-based learning for the home, including recipes for everything from pumpkin cake to gooey slime.
She now has an impressive 270,000 followers on Instagram, a manager and partnerships with brands such as Officeworks. “I only take on jobs that make sense in terms of my content with early years and primary students,” she says.
She is “very conscious of privacy issues and never shows my kids’ faces or names”.
There are occasions when she receives negative comments, but her audience is overwhelmingly positive about her creative play-based activities for parents.
Ms Muscat says the biggest joy is “feedback from individual parents or followers from all walks of life taking time to show appreciation for something I’ve shared”.
“One contacted me saying she was using my activities in an aged care home, and I was thrilled by that.”
Mr Woo says he “cares so deeply about helping people” and cites this as a key reason why his work is seen as real and authentic.
“A lot of people want to go viral by doing something great. But doing something good for a long time is a much better way.”
Ms Koyama suggests potential influencers should “start by identifying a clear niche and developing a strong, authentic brand identity.”
“Consistency is critical – not just in posting, but in the type of content and message you deliver.
“Your audience follows you for a reason, and staying true to your brand helps build loyalty and trust. With time, dedication, and strategic partnerships, success will follow.”
Despite the difficulties, Ms Koyama says the number of teacher influencers will continue to grow. Most see this is a positive: what’s not to like about what UK influencer Tom Egleton calls “school-based comedy”, not to mention science experiments using chocolate biscuits?
Got some feedback or a story tip? Email education@news.com.au
Top Teacher Influencers
Tom Egleton
@TeacherTommyT
TikTok 2.5m followers
1.5m subscribers on YouTube
Luke Springer
@iam.mrluke
949,000 followers on Instagram
Eddie Woo
@misterwootube
1.9m followers on YouTube
Jamie Gilbert
@mrgteacher
284,000 followers on Instagram
1.2m followers on TikTok
James Sutherland
@relatable.teacher.jim
87,000 followers on Instagram
20,000 followers on TikTok
Sarah Weston
@giftedandtalentedteacher
180,000 followers on Instagram
64,000 followers TikTok
Kayla Muscat
@beyondtheclassroomwithkayla
270,000 followers on Instagram
Kailen Stockden
@mrsstocko and @calmclassroomcreations
16,000 Instagram followers
Alice Leung
@teach_with_missaliceleung
2592 followers on Instagram
6500 on TikTok
