In his forties, Hamish Wedd is happily pursuing a second career studying to become a primary school teacher.

Hamish worked in the travel industry for 25 years, specialising in wholesale and airline travel.  He and wife Karen left Auckland in 2000 so their children, Joe and Phoebe, could enjoy an upbringing in Hawke’s Bay.

Two years ago, the couple sold their House of Travel business in Havelock North, but Hamish felt he was too young to retire.  While contemplating his future direction, he enrolled for extra-mural university papers, helped his brother out on his farm and worked on an orchard for a friend.

“The idea that I might retrain as a teacher came from listening to a radio programme,” he says.

As a senior high school student, Hamish had been considering teacher training when he was awarded an American Field Scholarship.

“It was quite an opportunity for an 18-year-old who had never been on a plane before.”

Returning to New Zealand after a year in upstate New York, he found his friends were away at university and that he was going to have to wait another six months before he could join them.   Rather than hang about, he enrolled for a travel course – a decision that determined his next chapter in life.

It was the radio broadcast about teaching that reminded Hamish of his original plan.

“I thought yes, that’s what I want to do.”

Now he’s nearing the end of his first year on New Zealand’s first undergraduate practice-based degree programme.   Like other “candidate teachers”, he has been spending three days a week at EIT and two in a school – in his case, Te Mata School, which is close to home in Havelock North.

“It’s excellent, really good,” Hamish says of the first Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) to be offered by a New Zealand institute of technology. “I like the hands-on in the classroom; the practical experience that it’s giving me in teaching.”

Hamish recently attended a hui where candidate teachers thanked mentor teachers in their schools.

“You get quite attached,” he says of partnering schools and their staff.  “It got quite emotional.”

Programme coordinator Jan Byres says the degree continues to attract interest from would-be students and is well supported by the region’s education sector.

“We’re delighted that it’s encouraging a variety of applicants interested in primary school teaching.   Many are school leavers but there are others who have had other careers and, as with Hamish, in some cases teaching has always been what they wanted to do.”

Jan says applicants may be in a related job but lack long-term prospects, or degree study can be an opportunity for a parent planning to move back into training and the workforce.

EIT will be taking up to 35 new candidate teachers for next year.

“Having the primary teacher education available locally suits many,” Jan says.  “It’s a real advantage in terms of cost and it can also help having the ongoing support of family and friends.”