Commencing with Emmanuel in the very first year of the College’s history in 1991, the work and career of Ms Catherine Taggart has travelled along quietly, yet significantly alongside the development of the College itself. We caught up with the dedicated educator following her retirement, and despite her work as the genesis of many of the sophisticated systems we enjoy today, she repeatedly insists that she is not spectacular.

With a 30 year long career in teaching at Emmanuel, it may surprise some that Ms Taggart’s, teaching career began some thirteen years before she joined us officially in 1991. Initially inspired by the Mercy Sisters who taught her in Ballarat, Ms Taggart knew from very early on that she wanted to be a teacher. “I can remember as a primary school student, that all I wanted to do was teach and be like the Sisters who taught us,” she explains.

While Ms Taggart will be remembered as a teacher of English, Religion and the Humanities, her early days at Emmanuel were focused on the foundations of what we now know as Learning Diversity. Since moving into a class teaching role, she has loved watching the development of this area continue and is delighted to see how it all works today.

“It is now understood that we need to integrate everyone, and that students have individual programs according to their learning needs. But there was quite a different mindset twenty plus years ago. What happens now, is just so good in this school. It’s great! There has been a complete change in the culture and understanding of what Learning Diversity is,” Ms Taggart highlights.

Another area that Ms Taggart contributed to that few may know about, was the prequel to what we now know as PAT Testing. However, again, Ms Taggart focuses our discussion on the great things happening in this space at the College today, distancing herself from the project and its development, which she acknowledges was further streamlined and built upon the work commenced by Mrs Pam Wade. “My priority was to teach kids when to use apostrophes correctly,” she emphasises with her iconic Taggart wry smile.

Ensuring students had a strong learning foundation will, without a doubt, be what Ms Taggart is remembered for. Throughout our interview, Ms Taggart refers to it as The Taggart System (a term originally coined by the students themselves). . . A system that, by all accounts, was one that students either loved or loved to hate.

Ms Taggart describes some students’ own account of their initial reaction to being assigned to her classes, “They (students) would see their name on a class list under my name, and they would hate it. Absolutely hate it! ‘How am I ever going to survive in Taggart’s class?’ they’d say.”

Like so many of the best teachers, Ms Taggart never lives up to this reputation. As classes begin, students too begin to appreciate The Taggart System. By the end of the year she would be met with comments like, “I want to be in your class next year!” “Do you teach Year 9 English?” “Do you teach Year 12?”

The Taggart System involved a huge amount of diligence and consistency on Ms Taggart’s part. She would individually check in with each and every student to ensure that class work was up to date, and homework completed. “It almost killed me at times!” she exclaims, then goes on to admit, “The Taggart System was a ‘tough’ system, but it was a good system in the end . . . even by students’ own accounts.”

This strong routine set up students incredibly well for the rest of their secondary school experience, despite students often referring to it as ‘strict’. “That’s an interesting concept, ‘being strict’,” she ponders. “I used to say to the students - What does that mean?”

Ms Taggart wisely took these comments as a positive, and defined ‘strict’ as, “the teacher sets the boundaries, sticks with it, encourages students to be accountable, is fair and reasonable, and provides support to students.”

“I think most students appreciated what I tried to do for them. I mean, you can’t please everyone all the time, and that is not what it is about. I’d be the world’s worst to some people. But many students, when I have met them beyond the classroom, say that they really appreciated the ‘Taggart System’.”

As she enters retirement, Ms Taggart is going to miss the daily interactions with students. “You do build up relationships with students. Seeing them achieve with their learning is very rewarding. And being in the situation where I have had an influence on and been part of their development, supporting them is what I’ll miss, and I do miss in many ways already,” she comments. “I won’t miss all the meetings.”

The moments that Ms Taggart feels particularly privileged to have been a part of were with her Religion classes. She explains, “The young people that I worked with had a thirst just to ‘find out’. Often facts. Often to discuss the bigger questions of life. It was a privilege to be with a class when students were at the point where they felt safe enough to be able to ask these questions and have genuine, meaningful discussions.”

She again reminds me at this time, that none of this is spectacular.

Immediately following her retirement, Ms Taggart was given a little insight into some of the impact she has made, in the most unlikely of places. While casually dining at a local hospitality venue with some of her family, she was met with an unplanned salute to her teaching.

“Ms Taggart!” This simple, yet loud declaration by an alumni caused a steady stream of past students to approach her, share their stories of her classes and thank her for all the seen and unseen things she had done for them.

In trying to conclude this piece, I think Ms Taggart says it best, “I often think that I haven’t done anything too spectacular; that’s how I look at it. My philosophy has been to just try to do the basics well. However, what happens in a classroom when dealing with young people’s lives is very significant. . . if not spectacular! I genuinely appreciate the privilege of what I have been able to do each day.”

We think you’re pretty spectacular Ms Taggart - enjoy a well earned retirement!