Teacher Mr Ryan ref lects on a 54-year career
A Wimmera educator is calling time on a 54-year career.
Brendan Ryan’s career has included teaching, principal and education department responsibilities.
A celebration in Horsham this week marked his retirement.
Mr Ryan started his career teaching commerce at Horsham High School.
He was on a studentship and posted out of Melbourne University to Horsham at age 17.
“At that time, there were about 750 girls and 150 boys because Horsham Tech School had most of the boys,” he said.
He spent about 10 years working in Horsham before postings to Stawell, Murtoa, Goroke, Lake Bolac and Ararat.
“I then had a part-time role in senior school project management but then I went full-time in what they used to call the senior education officer,” he said.
“The role is now known as senior education improvement leader, SEIL.”
Mr Ryan said SEILS managed groups of schools, looked after principal’s management and performance planning and dealt with any arising issues within different schools.
Mr Ryan remembers specific schools and students with fondness – no matter how many years since he has taught them.
“My wife, Maureen, who also taught in the Wimmera, and I were trained in secretarial certificates and we think back to when we taught shorthand and typing,” he said.
“To this day, I walk up the street of Horsham and there are girls that we taught back in the 1970s that still call me Mr Ryan and say it was the best part of their education. They’ve gone onto management administrative jobs and say it was a real opportunity for hands-on experience and a skill that they’ve used as we use computers more.
“I also remember when I was at Goroke, they asked me to teach a prep class and the truth of the matter was they were out of control. I couldn’t manage them at all, so I decided to get a giant jar of lollies and I stood at the door of the classroom and I held it up in front of the 16 preps and I said, ‘now if you’re good kids everybody will get a lolly at the end of the class’.
“It settled them down but the following day their mothers started complaining that I was giving lollies to the kids.”
Mr Ryan said rural school students were ‘wonderful’.
“They are disadvantaged, to some extent, in terms of what’s been provided to them compared to metropolitan areas, but they punch above their weight consistently and their families are dedicated to their education,” he said.
Wimmera residents might also know Mr Ryan from the sporting arena.
He coached Wimmera school boys for about 15 years and held many positions with Victorian Country Football League, VCFL.
“I had a Friday night radio program on 3WM, which was terrific, promoting junior football, and when I was on the VCFL board I was also the state director of junior football and that was very rewarding,” he said.
“I am a life member of the VCFL and was involved with not only grassroots development of junior football but also at state and national levels.”
Mr Ryan plans to spend the beginning of his retirement in Horsham, between playing bowls for Coughlin Park and his roles as chairman at Coughlin Park sporting precinct and president of Wimmera Southern Mallee Local Learning and Employment Network.