By Andrew Humphries
It’s fair to say that life presents many challenges when it comes to parenting.
After all, there is no ‘to-do’ manual and it’s a constant case of learning on the job.
But what about those times when your child or children are at school and you have no real say in what is happening to them during that time.
The hope is, of course, that the people guiding their learning have their best interests and wellbeing at heart.
If so, it’s likely their teacher is someone like Lachie Wright, a shining light in education at Scotch Oakburn College in Launceston.
When we talk about inspirational teachers, Lachie certainly fits the bill and, in June, he was honoured for his 40 years of service to Scotch Oakburn as Head of Junior School.
As a former student, himself, Lachie had already made a substantial mark there as college captain in the 1960s, before his return in 1983 as Head of Junior School.
While Lachie appears far too modest to blow his own trumpet, there is no doubt about the significant and positive influence he has had over literally thousands of students in his time as Head of Junior College.
In reflecting on his service at Scotch Oakburn, which has enjoyed strong formal and informal links to the Uniting Church over many years, Lachie admitted that teaching was one of the few professions in which one lay awake at night thinking about other people’s children.
“There is certainly a weight of responsibility around the role of a teacher,” he says.
“You are always thinking about what might catch and engage a particular child’s interest, particularly one that might just require a little bit of guidance or a nudge to turn them around and to start believing in themselves.”
For Lachie, satisfaction in his role comes through helping students reach their full potential.
“Well, it’s obviously the students, and being able to work with them and help them, that I enjoy so much about what I do,” he says.
“It’s about getting to know the students, building relationships with them and putting them in a place where they know that they belong, are valued and are important.
“If students know that you care, they are probably going to enjoy learning.
“I don’t see it as just a job, though, for me it’s been more of a calling or a quest, and it’s something that you have to love doing and want to do.”
Make no mistake, though, a caring teacher can have a lifelong positive impact on a student, a fact Lachie is well aware of as he reflects on some of the many students who have gone on to achieve wonderful things.
“One example is a young girl in my very first class here in 1983,” Lachie recalls.
“Last year she made contact with the school and asked if she could come back and have a look around.
“She now lives in Portland, Oregon and is an executive with Nike, an obviously exciting and high-powered job, but she is just one example of someone who has gone on to great things.
“Another young student told me some years ago that he didn’t need to do much in the way of schoolwork because he was going to become a racing car driver.
“He went on to be a top NASCAR driver in the US and touring car driver here in Australia.
“They are two examples of what I see as our work helping to lay the foundation for students to realise their dreams.”
Like the Uniting Church, a strong set of values drives Lachie and Scotch Oakburn in ensuring that each student is given every possible advantage to succeed.
“We are very heavily values-based and, while we modify those from time to time, values like compassion, respect, responsibility, grace and humility have always been prominent,” Lachie says.
And while teaching has changed over the years, some of the fundamentals still apply, he says.
“Forty years ago it was about delivering a curriculum and content and doing our best to keep children on the straight and narrow, whereas now there is a lot more recognition about the important of students having a voice and agency in the whole process,” he says.
“It’s about recognising that learners do the learning, and it’s not about teachers forcing the learning on to them.
“It’s about guiding, coaching and mentoring, rather than just delivering content.
“It’s about allowing children to build their traits and attributes as learners, and helping them enjoy a love of learning.”
It’s been a wonderful and rewarding career for Lachie, who has seen teaching change significantly over his five decades at Scotch Oakburn.
“It’s been a pretty exciting journey around innovation and change,” he says.
“The growth of the school itself has been a pretty big change, from 14 teachers, two learning assistants and about 200 students when I started, to about 50 teachers and 600 students today.
“We frequently hear that the school is viewed very positively in the community and is considered a very inclusive one.”
Much of that is no doubt due to the inspirational teacher who has cared for and nurtured Scotch Oakburn students since 1983.
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