He has taught more than a few thousand children in the North and South of the state and knows of at least one family which he has taught three generations.

When you mention his name, it's not surprising to get the response, ``I know Peter''.

He is known as the recently departed Hagley Farm Primary School principal after 15 years in the job, but is also a West Tamar councillor, 43-year member of the Australian Education Union, former priest of Hobart's St David's Cathedral and to put it bluntly, he likes to stir the pot once in a while.

His time working in the education system in Tasmania has been interesting to say the least.

It was late February 1967, just after the Hobart fires, when Mr Kearney began his teaching career.

``It began because I was in Hobart . . . and I needed a job and I wrote to the Education Department and I said I've got three quarters of a science degree in maths, physics and chemistry, and I'm looking for a job,'' Mr Kearney said.

``I got a telegram back from the head office in Bathurst Street and I went in there and they said, there's a job waiting for you at Taroona High School.

``So I went down to Taroona High School and I went into the staff room and a guy came in and said, `Are you the new part-time teacher?', and I said, `Yeah I think so', and he said, `We don't like part-time teachers'.

``That was my introduction to the culture of education.''

After stints at different schools around Hobart, Mr Kearney eventually met then teacher and now national education consultant Michael Middleton, and together they came up with the plan for the alternative school Tagari that ran for four years.

Around this time Mr Kearney also became an ordained priest taking the less formal Sunday service at St David's. He gave it up to take up a teaching position in Papua New Guinea.

He was at the forefront of education changes in the state including maths excursions, working with classes made up entirely of ``problem kids'' and teaching with activities outside of the set curriculum.

He has witnessed many changes in the education system, the way schools operate and teaching methods, including a focus on individual children, the development of early childhood learning, and the introduction of computers.

``Correctly used, I think IT in classrooms could be amazing and I think we're really only starting to scratch the surface in that area,'' Mr Kearney said.

``It will only change when the teacher's are doing it.''

He believes Tasmania is very lucky to have a school like Hagley with its farm and environment centre which has been built up over generations and yet there still remains capacity for its future growth.

Mr Kearney said talk of its potential closure might come on the back of a decline in revenue from the farm but that he hoped Northern Tasmanians would come together to deal with the problem not just close it down and lose a valuable resource.