“The reward is incredible”: becoming a teacher aged 77

“The reward is incredible”: becoming a teacher aged 77

When most people might be comfortably settling into retirement, 77-year-old Pierre Van Osselaer has returned to the classroom.

Pierre is partway through an education degree at RMIT, mastering new skills while imparting his existing knowledge and experience to the next generation.

“I thought that teaching was really the kind of thing that I wanted to keep on doing,” Pierre said.

“The fact there is a need, particularly in high school, I said, ‘that’s it, I’m going to acquire the additional knowledge to work in that field’.”

The RMIT Master of Teaching Practice (Secondary Education) will be another feather in Pierre’s cap; his rich career spans consultancy, academia, aviation and the creative industries.

“I was already familiar with RMIT, and I knew people who had studied here, which informed my decision to enrol.

“The positive reaction from the RMIT recruitment team, when they learned about my background, was definitely encouraging.”

Pierre has been undergoing his student teacher placement at Lyndale Secondary College in Dandenong.

“When I mentioned [to the students] that I was born in 1947, they looked at me as if I came from another planet. But I think there is a big difference when we teachers can bring real life experience to the classroom.”

Pierre said teaching could be a good option for other mature-aged job seekers.

“I would encourage more people, mature-aged people, that’s not just people at pension age, anybody with a sound professional experience, to consider teaching,” he said.

“The reward is incredible. The main reward is when you suddenly realise a student, who may have struggled with something, comes up with an answer.

“Suddenly you say, ‘that’s it, that’s why we’re doing it’.”

07 May 2025

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07 May 2025

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