A TEACHER who helped pioneer an employability programme for school students is trading in the classroom for 'the good life'.

Marcel Ciantar, 58, of Budmouth Academy in Weymouth is retiring from formal education to set up a smallholding and compete in the sport of carriage driving.

Mr Ciantar and his wife are hoping to buy a farm in the Dorset countryside and he will keep a hand in education, writing bespoke employability programmes for schools.

The groundbreaking Centre of Excellence for Industrial Liaison (CEIL) founded at the school - then known as Budmouth College - became a blueprint for other schools to follow.

It was launched in 2010, two years after Mr Ciantar joined the school. He became head of the CEIL, which was designed as a business centre preparing sixth formers for the world of work.

Mr Ciantar said: "It was my proudest achievement. I may have been the driver of it but it was never me on my own, many people have helped along the way.

"Budmouth was like a real home to me and I will miss it. Still to this day Budmouth is the only school that has got a specialist centre of excellence dedicated to the professional development of the students."

And the CEIL made a real difference, Mr Ciantar said, with many sixth formers citing the skills learnt at school as helping to give them an advantage in the world of work.

Year 12 students at the school spend four hours a week developing employability skills and can then choose to continue this learning in year 13.

"This teaching has given students a major advantage for when they leave sixth form," Mr Ciantar said.

During his time at Budmouth Mr Ciantar was awarded a prestigious Sinnott Fellowship for research into the issues of employability and enterprise training/education.

Becoming a teacher came about by chance for him after travelling the world and working as a professional art restorer for 19 years.

Now Mr Ciantar will have more time to focus upon his 'absolute obsession' of carriage driving and graduate from driving two ponies to four.

"I'm still a novice but I have my first competition in July. I love carriage driving because it's the only time I'm not thinking about something else.

"Your life can sometimes take turns you don't expect," he said.

And Mr Ciantar is hoping to draw inspiration from his new 'good life', which will see him keeping sheep, pigs, chickens and horses.

The employability programme he is drawing up for students will introduce an outdoor activities element.