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It’s fair to say that anything Ray Boyd does, he does full throttle. Eleven Perth City to Surf titles, a handful of WA track and road running records (some which still stand), and WA Primary School Leader of the Year in 2014 are just a few of his accolades.

Now he’s completing his Doctorate of Education at UWA and setting his sights on new goals.

“I knew after my first teaching practical at university that I wanted to teach. Fast forward to 2017 and I’m finishing off the second year of my Doctor of Education.

“I have always believed that the career paths you can take with teaching have a lot to offer. That has certainly been my experience,” he says.

Ray stepped into a classroom as a fully qualified teacher in 1988. A natural born coach, it’s his ability to bring the best out of students and colleagues that set him apart so it’s no surprise his career quickly progressed.

“My first leadership role came in 2001. Moving away from the classroom was a transition but I’m a goal setter by nature so it was really interesting to be more involved in the data measurement side of things.

“By reviewing data sets we can identify where we’re doing well or not so well and this information forms the foundation for planning. From here we can set goals and track how we are going,” he says.

A perfect example of this is the culture change he spear-headed at West Beechboro Primary School, where students went from underachieving to above average. It was during this time Ray was recognised as Principal of the Year.

It is this goal-setting mentality that has helped Ray achieve, not only in and out of the classroom, but also as a runner. And while he doesn’t compete any longer he’s still putting his skills to good use and coaching runners at Guildford Grammar.

“Coaching is all about personal bests. Maybe it’s in a race, or in the workplace, it doesn’t matter. What matters is working out what you are trying to achieve, and planning and effective way to get there.

“Perhaps teaching isn’t a career that appeals as much as it used to, but there will always be a need for great teachers, and great teachers will always make a wonderful difference in the lives of our children,” Ray says.