This week it was Wagga Christian College principal Hugh MacCallum who revealed that after 19 years in the top job, he would not be returning for a 20^th.

The decision brings to an end an almost 40-year career in one of the most noble and important professions.

There will be many more teachers who announce their retirements in the coming weeks.

Inevitably, these announcements will prompt former students to reflect on their most memorable experiences with a particular teacher.

Most will be positive, however, some ex-students will still hold a grudge over an apparently undeserved detention or bad mark.

The lessons learned from a “good” teacher often stay with you for life.

In journalism, we are privileged to speak to a lot of people who achieve success in their chosen path.

Frequently they cite the support and encouragement of a teacher with inspiring them to pursue their dreams.

On the flip side, a “bad” teacher can do irreparable harm to a student’s education by draining their motivation for learning and dulling their sense of curiosity.

I deliberately put “good” and “bad” in quotation marks because it is rarely black-and-white when it comes to assessing teachers.

In my experience, there are teachers that I loathed and considered “bad” in high school (including my Year 10 and 11 English teacher) who, with the benefit of hindsight and maturity, I now consider some of the most influential from my 12 years of schooling.

Whereas there are those who I liked thought of as “good” at the time (the woodwork teacher who let us play cricket out the back every period), which I now realise I gained very little knowledge from (apart from the ability to bowl a vicious wrong‘un).

Over the next few weeks The Daily Advertiser will be celebrating some of the teachers who have truly mattered to the lives of Riverina’s students.

We wish them well in retirement and thank them for the role they have played in shaping the minds of generations of students.

All the best for the week ahead, 

Ross