The first instalment of Ken’s two-part interview was published in last week’s edition of the Castlemaine Mail on May 29.
Throughout his years teaching, Ken witnessed massive changes to public education, including the abolition of technical schools and the introduction of VCE. Locally, this led to the merger of the tech and the high school.
The replacement of the comprehensive T.O.P. arts program with a single VCE art subject was devastating for many teachers.
Through the union, Ken and his Castlemaine colleagues fought back.
“We lobbied the Education Department, saying, ‘Hey, what about us? What about these art courses?’” he said.
“Through our lobbying, they gave us a second arts subject called Studio Arts.”
The new tech school building was built in Norwood Hill, but the art and PE departments operated across the road from the Commercial Hotel, where the IGA carpark is now.
Over the decades, Ken became head of the CSC art department, head of arts, a leading transitions teacher, and later one of the founding teachers of CSC’s Steiner stream — one of only two secondary Steiner streams operating within Victorian state schools.
“I genuinely love the classroom and I do miss it.”
Though increasingly frustrated by growing pressures on teachers – larger class sizes, increasingly complex student needs, and reduced preparation time – Ken remains deeply passionate about public education.
“I still think state schools are undervalued and underfunded,” he said.
“But ultimately it’s such a worthwhile vocation.”
A federally funded study tour to Finland, Denmark, and Sweden years before left a lasting impression on him.
“The biggest takeaway was how empowered the students were,” he said.
“The students greeted us, showed us around the schools, and explained their learning while the teachers sat quietly at the back.”
When Ken and his fellow teachers asked a group of students what they knew about Australia they yelled, ‘ACDC, ACDC!’
He believes Australia could learn much from Scandinavian education systems that invest heavily in teachers and student wellbeing.
Ken has five sons, who all attended school in Castlemaine and his youngest son Caspar, is currently doing is teaching rounds in outdoor education and Castlemaine Secondary College!
Outside teaching, Ken has continued his artistic practice, exhibiting at Lot 19 in recent years. He is also an ordained priest in the esoteric Christian church and helped establish the Castlemaine Johannine Community.
On leave since the beginning of the year, and preparing to officially retire in July, Ken still volunteers in the classroom and will be heading off to camp with a group of students later in the year!
And the all-important questions:
What hobbies do you enjoy? Gardening and breeding rare chooks. I think I’m a chookaholic – I’ve got about 80. I’m in a book club and a biodynamic compost group.
Who are your three dream dinner guests? One of them would be Rudolf Steiner. Jesus Christ. And Nick Cave.
What are your philosophies in life? Human kindness. I think in this day and age, kindness is a radical idea. Not being selfish, caring about others, caring about the environment and caring about the future.
Finally, what do you love most about the place you call home? People are basically kind. Just look at what happened after Harcourt, after the fires, and how everybody rallies together, but at other times, it’s a very divided town. I think it’s a town with a social conscience, generally speaking. And I’m proud of the fact that Castlemaine had a majority yes vote in the referendum.