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Opinion: If he wasn’t in education, you can imagine Westlake Boys High School’s outgoing principal David Fergusson on the catwalks as a model - albeit a reluctant one who would scoff at this kind of stuff being said about him.
The Englishman, who oozes charm and mixes old school with an earthy, simple and on-the- ground approach with his pupils, arrived in New Zealand 21 years ago to become director of sport at the North Shore, Auckland, school.
He says then principal Jim Dale “took a punt on me”. That punt has paid massive dividends. Not just for Fergusson, but for thousands of boys who sing his praises.
Now his influence will be felt nationwide. After 15 years running the school - being on the sidelines at sport matches, having the backs of the boys and being firmly entrenched in the wider community - Fergusson shocked the 2700 pupils and their caregivers with the news that he was leaving to become CEO of the recently formed Teachers Institute.
Pupils performed a haka that shook the foundations of the school; Fergusson stood visibly shaken. He did a fist pump to the boys, and they roared like it was some kind of earth-moving political rally that was about to change the direction of the world.
That, of course, is overstating the importance of all this, but one boy did yell out, “I love you, Mr Fergusson.”
For a bloke revered by many within the school community, the news of his imminent departure was devastating. I was one who, as an old boy, was shocked -- but I quickly understood why. He’s leaving to help put more teachers in classrooms.
Fergusson is about impact, and he sees himself as more modern than old school. He’s quick to defend the NCEA, and when I suggest it’s too easy, he gets his stern face on and says it keeps boys engaged in education for longer.
When I say they’re on their phones too much, he points out that he banned them in the school 12 years ago and the results speak for themselves. The boys communicate better, hang out and have face-to-face conversations, and the resulting behaviour across the school is matched by results.
Teaching and education are in Fergusson’s DNA. He’s from a family of education leaders, and the values instilled during his formative years continue to stand him in good stead: “Working hard, being nice to people and contributing positively to a community -- I think teaching is the best job in the world.”
The school’s loss is New Zealand’s gain – and we need him and his new teacher trainees, to succeed.
The initiative he’s part of could be truly transformative (and I use that word sparingly, if at all), helping to turn teacher training in New Zealand on its head. The Teachers’ Institute will pay its students $12,500 a year to train to become a teacher, largely on the job within schools and one day a week at its central Auckland headquarters. Fees are covered by the government, and the institute is NZQA accredited.
A pilot programme has seen 97% of 200 newly trained teachers land jobs across four years. Westlake has 20 of them, including former All Black Lelia Masaga, who decided on a new path as a teacher. After one year, Masaga is already qualified and teaching in Westlake’s Te Whānau o Te Puna, the school’s Māori unit. Training four days a week at the school that ends up employing you is obviously a huge bonus, meaning you really can “hit the ground running”.
For a country short of teachers, this could well be the prompt some may need to give teaching a go. We’ve all heard stories of people who are well-qualified and have careers in other professions but would like to teach – if only they could afford to retrain. If you’re unhappy in your current career and aged 30-60, it could represent a good chance to change direction without having to do a whole new degree.
Young learners stand to benefit, too, by having teachers with a huge range of real-life and business experience. That’s one of the main aims of the institute, a charitable trust founded with the support of secondary schools all over Auckland. Originally called the Auckland Teachers Training Programme, it started in 2020 partly in response to headlines about the teacher shortage - with some schools unable to put a teacher in front of some classes, leading to rostered days off and the government looking overseas for teachers.
Fergusson, and others behind the institute, thought differently to set up another pathway into teaching. I’ve always regarded Fergusson as a critical thinker and a savvy communicator (he once convinced me to attend a fundraiser where I purchased former All Black Brodie Retallick’s boots for $3000).
He’s never been happy at seeking success only to sit on it and not progress, so the time has come for him to do what he does best elsewhere. He says you have to leave things better than you found them. He’s certainly done that at Westlake, and I wouldn’t mind betting he’ll do the same nationwide. The school’s loss is New Zealand’s gain – and we need him, and his new teacher trainees, to succeed.
