Three UK teachers shortlisted for million dollar ‘world’s best teacher’ prize

Three UK teachers have been shortlisted for the “world’s best teacher” award, in which the winner will take home $1m (£800,000).

Emma Russo, a physics teacher from London, Andrew Moffat, an assistant headteacher from Birmingham and music teacher Jimmy Rotheram from Bradford are all in the running for the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize, which is now in its fifth year.

The winner will be selected from the top 50 shortlist which will be narrowed down by a committee to 10 finalists, who will be revealed in February.

All 10 will be invited to Dubai for the award ceremony at the Global Education and Skills Forum on 24 March next year, where the winner will be announced live on stage.

The winner of the 2018 prize, announced in March, was Andria Zafirakou, an art teacher from Brent in North London who beat finalists drawn from 30,000 entries.

Mr Moffat is the assistant head and a personal social health education teacher at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham, whose “No Outsiders” programme teaches inclusiveness and reduces the potential for radicalisation among students.

Mr Moffat, who was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2017 for services to education, runs an after-school club which helps create opportunities for children at his school – where 99 per cent of students are Muslim – to meet people of different races, religions and cultures around Birmingham.

He has previously written for The Independent about the challenges of being an openly gay man teaching LGBT+ equality at a mostly Muslim school,

Also shortlisted is Ms Russo, who teaches at the all-girls South Hampstead High School in London, and uses techniques including virtual reality headsets to encourage her students to share her passion for science.

She also regularly sets up video calls between scientists and pupils, helping to improve students’ confidence and grades, with one class achieving 100% A-A* grades in physics.

She has also made considerable efforts to break down barriers for women in science, and runs Girls in Physics, an event which takes place once a term at nearby Highgate School, where girls from across London are invited to hear from women in physics or engineering.

Mr Rotheram teaches music at Feversham Primary Academy in Bradford, West Yorkshire, where every child is given a minimum of three music lessons per week.

His approach to teaching music follows aspects of the Kodaly approach, a nurturing rather than critical method that has led to many pupils from poorer or minority backgrounds becoming keen musicians.

Mr Rotheram’s teaching helped take his school, in one of the most impoverished areas of the country, from special measures to the top 10 per cent of schools in England for progressing children’s learning in core subjects.

Sunny Varkey, founder of the Varkey Foundation and the Global Teacher Prize, said: “Congratulations to Emma, Andrew and Jimmy for reaching the final 50.

“I hope their stories inspire those looking to enter the teaching profession and highlight the incredible work teachers do all over the world every day.

“Our recent Global Teacher Status Index finally gives academic proof to something that we’ve always instinctively known: the link between the status of teachers in society and the performance of children in school.”

She added: “Now we can say beyond doubt that respecting teachers isn’t only an important moral duty – it’s essential for a country’s educational outcomes.”