Charalambos Ladopoulos will be retiring from the role of Consul General for Educational Affairs to Greece, a position he has held for over three years. He will be replaced by Vasilios Gokas who will be arriving from Greece next week.
Like Ladopoulos, Gokas comes from a background of primary school teaching. Ladopoulos told Neos Kosmos that he may resign from this role or take leave, he is still undecided. He did say, however, he will definitely be staying in Australia and going back to his old position of primary school teacher. “I enjoyed it very much,” said Ladopoulos of his role as Consul General for Educational Affairs to Greece.
“One thing that was lacking when I started this role was a network of all teachers of Greek in Australia, something I created.”
Ladopoulos said that his three-year position offered him a variety of ways to support and heighten awareness of the education of the Greek language in Australia.
“This was a very interesting role and I was able to open up the position and not just make it an administrative role. He rates the community aspect of this role, and the network of people around him as the most rewarding part of his job. “I enjoyed bringing together a network of people within the community who supported the Greek language.”
There are many career highlights that Ladopoulos enjoyed during his time in this role, the many discussions and the inclusion of Modern Greek in the education system. The support and increase of seconded teachers and the plan to create a network of teachers in regional schools such as Ballarat and Geelong.
But of all the career highlights, he sees getting the first Greek Film Festival up-and-running for students last year, as the pinnacle. Due to the successful festival they had in 2010, it has opened the doors to make the Greek Film Festival open to the whole of Australia, and not just Victoria.