A north London teacher was announced as the first British winner of a prize for the world’s best teacher in Dubai last night. The finalists were drawn from more than 30,000 nominations in 173 countries.
Andria Zafirakou, an arts and textiles teacher from Alperton community school in Brent, was presented with the fourth annual Varkey Foundation Global Teacher prize, which is worth $1m (£720,000).
Former US vice president Al Gore, Tony Blair, Olympic champion Mo Farah and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton attended the “Oscars-style awards ceremony” honouring Zafirakou, says the BBC.
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Zafirakou called for more support for arts programs, saying she has “seen how the arts help students to communicate. The arts help to give so much confidence and really create incredible young people.”
The Varkey Foundation, an education charity, launched the prize in 2015 to give the teaching profession more recognition.
Prime Minister Theresa May sent a video message commending Zafirakou that was played during the ceremony, saying that great teachers needed “resilience, ingenuity and a generous heart”.
Alperton community school is in Brent, one of the poorest areas of the country, where about 130 languages are spoken. To build relationships with her students, Zafirakou learned basic phrases in languages including Gujarati, Hindi and Tamil and visited family homes.
“What is amazing is that whatever issues they are having at home, whatever is missing from their life or causing them pain, our school is theirs,” Zafirakou said.
As a prize winner, Zafirakou is required to continue working as a teacher for at least five years. She will be paid the prize money in instalments.
