ERIC Roach always knew he wanted to be a teacher.
"I think what we do for children is so important. You get a lot of out if and it's a very important position," the Croudance Bay resident said.
Mr Roach who is now 89, taught for 38 years, starting near Orange and then across several schools in Newcastle and the Hunter.
He was one of the first cohorts to graduate from the Newcastle Teachers' College in 1955.
Friday, October 25 marks World Teacher's Day and this year, the University of Newcastle is also celebrating 75 years of education.
Both are a special occasion for Mr Roach who is a proud father of two teachers Julie and Vicki, and his youngest granddaughter Hannah who is also studying to be a teacher.
"It's only taken me seven grandchildren to get one grand child to want to become a teacher," he joked.
Where it all began
Mr Roach said his mother wanted to be a French teacher, but family illness meant she had to stay home and care for her mother.
"She never got to be a teacher, but she really wanted to be. I think that's where it started for me and that's what I always wanted to do," he said.
Mr Roach went to Newcastle Boys High School and entered the Newcastle Teachers' College in 1953 to complete a two-year degree.
The college was opened by Griffith Duncan in 1949, with 13 staff and 182 students in Darby and Union Street. It was alamgamated into the University of Newcastle's School of Education in the late 1980s.
At 19 years-old Mr Roach was qualified, and assigned his first appointment at Cumnock Primary School.
"In those days we won scholarships which were worth three pound, 10 shillings a week, and if you lived away from home you got an extra pound," he said.
He had just one week to find his way out to Orange, NSW.
"I didn't have a car so my parents drove me out and then I had to arrange board. I taught there for three years," he said.
In his first year taught 43 children aged from kindergarten through to year 3.
"I was only 19 years-old and I'd never been away from home, so it was pretty tough but I survived. I really enjoyed my three years there," he said.
Back to the Hunter
After three years Mr Roach was allowed to apply for something closer to home.
"I was appointed as a teacher at Nelson Bay Central School where I taught for one year and then I was moved to Raymond Terrace High School," he said.
It was 1958 and he said there was a shortage of high school teachers with several of them going away to war. Mr Roach taught geography and PE in high school.
"A lot of my mates were appointed to secondary schools and I taught at Raymond Terrace for four years. Then I had to decide if I wanted to remain a secondary teacher or go back to primary, and I decided to go back to primary," he said.
From there he came back down to Newcastle, got married and taught at Plattsburg Public School and then New Lambton South for about five years, before becoming a regional sports organiser for the Hunter for three years.
"I organised the school sports for the primary and secondary schools in the Hunter region," he said.
After a short stint he went back to teaching at Gateshead for a couple of years before being appointed assistant principal at Garden Suburb public school which was his last position before retiring in 1993.
"I didn't really want to retire because I loved my job, but a financial offer was made that was pretty hard to refuse," he said.
Fond memories in the schoolyard
Mr Roach said he was lucky to work with good people at every school he was at.
"I really enjoyed my job, I've got lots of good memories," he said.
When at Raymond Terrace, he taught South Sydney Rabbitohs alumni Eric Simms who was an Indigenous boy from Karuag.
"He was a lovely boy and I remember when he was just 13 or 14 he could kick goals barefooted from halfway," he said.
Another memory was taking year 5 and 6 Garden Suburb students to the sport and recreation camp at Lake Keepit.
"We had some wonderful times there, the kids in year six wouldn't tell the year five's what was going to happen like if they were going to get a bucket of water tipped on their head," he said.
A teaching family
Mr Roach said one of the best quotes he ever heard was 'I would not be in this position I am in today if it wasn't for a teacher or teachers'.
With his family spanning across decades of the University of Newcastle's education in the region, he couldn't be prouder.
"I'm just delighted to have three daughters who all had tertiary education, two who became teachers and my eight grandkids have all appreciated education because they've either finished university or at university," he said.
His daughter Julie Saperas, 55, was part of the first cohort at UON to be offered a fourth year of study to obtain a degree in education.
"Originally it was a three-year, diploma of education course. So 25 of us only decided to forgo getting out and getting some money and stay on and do that extra year. Which I was really pleased to do," she said.
Mrs Saperas is now an ESL teacher at Hamilton Public School and also teaches at St Benedict's at Edgeworth.
"I think it kind of just felt the natural thing to go into teaching, because I'd seen dad teaching and I've always had a love of children," she said.
Her daughter Hannah is in her first year of her teaching degree and often joins her mum to do some SLSO work.
'A remarkable milestone'
University of Newcastle Dean of Education and Head of School, School of Education, professor Susan Ledger said Mr Roach, his daughters and his granddaughter are real-life examples of the university's commitment to educating teachers for the region.
"As Dean of Education in the School of Education I work with Maree, Eric's other daughter, who is our key research strategist for the college. The whole family is committed to teaching and education," she said.
"Our alumni are the beating heart of our local schools - there isn't one school in our region without a graduate from our School of Education. We are so proud of their contribution to the region."
She said the university has developed a teacher education program involving emerging technologies such as simulation and virtual reality in the classroom.
"Our graduates embrace the quality teaching model and exit with a strong literacy and numeracy foundation," she said.
"Our mission is to shape future teachers with the knowledge, values and skills to shape and inform the future citizens of the world."
