Interview with Dr. Ray Swann, deputy headmaster, researcher, author, podcast host

In this interview, Dr. Swann talks about healthy masculinity, creating safe spaces, the power of storytelling, and why close male friendships are so important.

Dr. Ray Swann is Deputy Headmaster and Head of Crowther Centre (ELC – Year 12) at Brighton Grammar School, an independent boys’ school in Melbourne, Australia. He was named as one of Australia’s Top 50 Educators for leading ‘generational change’ by The Educator and The Melbourne Graduate School of Education. Dr. Swann’s Crowther team created a B2M (Boys to Men) wellbeing program across the Year 9 and Year 10 programs with the aim to foster healthy masculinity through a range of experiential and workshops. The pinnacle of the program is the First Horizons journey, which involves parents, students, and staff and marks the period when students embark on their final years of schooling. In 2019, Dr. Swann developed and managed the Orygen Project into Positive Masculinity. This project, the first of its kind in the world, seeks to create a new framework that can be shared more broadly with schools across Australia. The project has secured full independent funding from an independent benefactor. This is a global initiative to build a framework for best practice in teaching boys healthy masculinities.Dr. Swann then pioneered the Understanding Boys podcast series in which he has conversations with a variety of guests, from academics to parenting experts, on what makes a good man these days. He is also the author of numerous publications on wellbeing, best practice in career education, and teaching and learning, and has produced a number of position papers on topics relevant to boys and parenting. He is a regular presenter at local and international education conferences on a range of topics including positive education, culture building, well-being, and effective coaching.