Bruce began his teaching career aged seventeen after completing a Certificate of Teaching at Kelvin Grove Teachers' College, Brisbane, Queensland in 1960. Having spent three years teaching in large schools in Brisbane he was transferred as Head Teacher to a one teacher school with thirteen pupils from grade one to grade eight, five of them riding horses to school, the nightsoil to bury each Friday afternoon. A steep learning curve in understanding how children best learn commenced at that point. He was an outstanding educator who always put the needs of his pupils before the needs of the establishment. Throughout his long career he has been passionate about educational reform and never afraid to do things differently if he felt these changes would benefit the long term development of his pupils. He was heavily influenced by many of the great educators of the twentieth century and strove to implement child centred learning based on real life outcomes in all of his schools, with some success.