Gavin Muckle

I attended Matamata College from 1960 until 1964. I was in the Intermediate area of the school for two years prior to that. I was a prefect in my final year. I represented the school in Athletics and in Rugby and took part in a number of dramatic and musical productions. I left school with UE and Higher School Certificate. On leaving school I was awarded a Post Primary Teacher’s Studentship and went to the University of Auckland. I graduated with an MA(Hons) in History. I completed training as a secondary teacher at Auckland Secondary Teachers College in 1969.

At the end of 2014 I completed a 45 year career in education.

I began teaching in Auckland at Seddon High School in 1970. After three years, I moved with my family to Hawera in South Taranaki where we lived for the next 20 years. At Hawera High School I taught History, Social Studies and English and became a head of department. In 1989 I moved to Patea High School as Deputy Principal. In 1992 I came back to the Waikato to become Principal of Putaruru High School. I remained at Putaruru for nearly 12 busy, demanding, but mostly enjoyable years, until 2004. Since then I have been working for the Education Review Office (ERO) based firstly in Rotorua and more recently in Hamilton. This has taken me to schools all over the Waikato and Bay of Plenty. At the end of 2014 I retired but have continued to do a bit of work for ERO on a casual, contract basis.

Along the way I have had many other great experiences in education. During my time in Taranaki, I spent 7 years on the national executive of the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) and I was the National Junior Vice President in 1986. Around that time, I was also a teachers’ representative on the Universities Entrance Board and various other committees and working parties at national level to do with secondary school curriculum and assessment. In 1987–88 I was a Commonwealth Relations Trust Fellow at the University of London Institute of Education where I worked on a project about assessment in secondary schools. That was a very exciting experience and as well as work and study, my family and I were able to travel widely in the UK and Europe. While at Putaruru High School I was a member of the Secondary Principal’s Council.

I have been married to Jo for more than 45 years. We have two sons. Adrian is a senior lecturer in History at Victoria University, Bevan works for Amnesty International UK in London. Since our time in London in the 1980s we have had three trips back to the UK and Europe We especially enjoy France and Italy and in 2012 we spent a month living in an Italian village just soaking up the atmosphere Apart from that we still live in Putaruru, but are now contemplating a move.