Between them, Grade One teacher Melissa Tinkler and her husband, Principal Andrew Augerinos, have 64 years of experience in the Australian education industry.
They're just emerging from their second Victorian coronavirus lockdown, which saw them forced out of classrooms and behind the chaos of screens, and the headache of remote learning. Yet Melissa will still passionately tell you: "I honestly love my job."
That doesn't mean the last six months haven't been scary though.
There were more than a few days in remote learning where Melissa found herself working 7am until 10pm. Between trying to keep up with preparation for the next day, meetings, finding fun new costumes or engagement techniques to entertain six-year-olds via Zoom, and parents who couldn't submit their kids' work until after they'd finished work, but still needed feedback before the next day's lessons. The list of 'to-dos' was never ending.
"The workload doubled, sometimes tripled," Melissa told Mamamia, who is thrilled to be back face-to-face teaching now that Victorian school holidays are over and the lower numbers of COVID-19 cases have allowed them to return.
She didn't sign up for a desk job, and the hours of sitting in front of a computer left her with posture issues and on one occasion, a splitting migraine that saw her bedridden for half the day.
As she's been putting her all into supporting her students' education from home during the global pandemic, it's been a relief to know that her own health is covered through the not-for-profit health insurance for teachers, education staff and their families, Teachers Health.
"We've been with them over 10 years. You can call anytime and speak to a person, and you know it's a health fund for educators. I feel they understand things we are going through and what we need," she told Mamamia.
When Melissa, 52, was younger she thought she was invincible. But with two kids now in their 20s, one of whom has needed two knee reconstructions and multiple hospital visits, she's realised over the years how great it is to have a health fund that not only gives her kids the best treatment they can get, but understands her profession.