Mid Calder teacher Ron rewarded OBE

Jun 18 2009 by Debbie Spalding, West Lothian Courier

MID Calder man Ron Smith said his OBE was “an honour” for every teacher in Scotland.

The 58-year-old was recognised by the Queen for services to education.

Ron has been a teacher since 1973 and began his career at Whitburn Academy.

He started off teaching Latin before moving on to modern studies and in 1988 he left to work full time as assistant secretary for the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS).

He was appointed general secretary of the institute in 1995 and has since become president of European organisation, Education International (EI).

Ron has two grown-up children and lives in Mid Calder with wife Mae, a home economics teacher at Armadale Academy, .

He said his OBE was completely unexpected, adding: “I’m absolutely delighted, this is something that you know nothing about, or who instigated it.

“My family are all very pleased for me and a few former pupils have been in touch to congratulate me.

“But I have to say this is for teachers in general and for the work they do, you can’t hand out OBEs to 60,000 people so this is a collective honour.”