FROM chalk and blackboards to LED touchscreens, Gerard Wilkins has seen it all.

With 41 years of teaching to his credit, Mr Wilkins officially retired last week, with a touching farewell from students and staff at Ipswich Central State School.

"It was quite a nice, and emotional, farewell, the whole school turned out to say goodbye," Mr Wilkins said.

Recognising 37 years of service to the school, as well as his leadership in developing the school's IT program, the school's IT building was named the Gerard Wilkins ICT Resource Centre.

"As I left, the whole school lined up, 700 students, from Prep to Year 6, they all wanted to say goodbye, it took 30 minutes to work my down the line."

While it is only a few minutes walk from Blair State School to Ipswich Central State School, it took Mr Wilkins 4 years and thousands of kilometres to make the journey.

"I started teaching in 1975 at Blair State School, and then finished up at Central, but it was quite a journey to get there.

"In my first year, I taught Kevin and Alfie Langer."

After a 12-month stint at Blair, Mr Wilkins next posting was Karumba, sitting on the edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

"That was an interesting experience, it would not happen these days."

With the town devastated by floods, the only accommodation for the teachers was their classrooms.

"I slept in a classroom the whole year I was up there, and you had to shower under a water tank.

"It was a great place, with great people, but the place was rough."

Despite the challenges Mr Wilkins said he loved Karumba, and learned a lot from his time there.

"Those communities give you resilience, you have to rely on yourself."

Without even a television service, Mr Wilkins said you made your own life in the area.

"It was a great town, they closed everything down just to give me a birthday party."

Making himself part of the community, Mr Wilkins said he helped start adult education classes, particularly for the women of the town.

"The men worked on trawlers, it is still a fishing town, so the wives had nothing while they were away, I helped start classes to give them something."

Postings to other small schools followed, including time as a principal, before he returned to Ipswich in 1979.

"In those days, you could not hire your wife, so my wife had to resign her job, and had nothing to do, so I made a decision based on family, to come back to Ipswich, where there were more opportunities for work."

By the 1980s, Mr Wilkins saw the impending rise of computers and IT, and pushed to include it in the curriculum at Ipswich Central.

"Central was the first school to embrace computer labs, despite the Education Department not being interested."

This included teaching students to work with teleprompters and 'green screens' in media classes.

"Fortunately I had some supportive principals, plus other staff, who were willing to test new ideas and developments."

Watching teaching move from chalk and blackboards to 'smart' whiteboards and projectors, Mr Wilkins said one of his final projects was to introduce LED touchscreens to every classroom in the school.

"I have seen many developments through the years, the most recent challenge for teachers is the hybridisation of formal language with 'text' language, which often uses abbreviations instead of words."

Outside the classroom, Mr Wilkins took an active role in sport during his career, including softball.

"I played rugby league when I started teaching, but had to give that up moving to places like Kurumba, so I became involved in organising school sport."

Seeing students outside the classroom gave a new perspective on who they were, he said.

"You get to know people differently, often the ones who were the most difficult in the classroom became your best friend."

While technology has changed the face of classrooms, Mr Wilkins said it has also impacted teachers, who now work longer hours outside the classroom.

"So much data needs to be collected for the Department every day, it is impacting on the available teaching time, it has become more pressured.

"You used to be able to take a class outside for some PE or an art class, but now there are fewer opportunities for that."

The 'digital age' has seen the great change in teaching, Mr Wilkins said.

"Students were changing their approach from home, so teachers must be able to evolve with it."

With his 'school days' now at an end, Mr Wilkins said he expected to 'lose a few golf balls' and get in some fishing.

"I still go to the school one day a week, to help maintain the IT systems, but I am looking forward to spending time with family and friends."